Rebecca A. Croxton, MLIS, PhD Candidate. Statement on Diversity

Transcription

1 Rebecca A. Croxton, MLIS, PhD Candidate Statement on Diversity In his article, Race, Culture, and Researcher Positionality, Milner (2007) puts forth a framework for researching the self in relationship to others, engaged reflection and representation, and shifting from self to system. By working through this framework, I have begun to understand the tensions of race and culture in my own research, teaching, and practice. Starting with researching myself, my own consciousness - known, unknown, or unseen issues, perspectives, epistemologies, and positions - is beginning to reveal itself. Positionality To discuss my perspectives on diversity, I feel that I must first reflect upon my own positionality. I am a white, middle-aged female brought up in a middle class, Midwestern, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant environment. I am a first generation college student raised by parents who placed great value in education. My family, for at least the preceding three generations on both my father s and mother s side, lived and worked in rural farming communities of Michigan and Illinois that were, for the very large majority, white, with a few Mexican migrant laborers working in the fields. My ancestors are of western European descent. I claim these racial and cultural heritages based on my life experiences growing up as a participant, an observer, and listener in a close-knit family of oral-story tellers, by the community in which I lived, and my life experiences since growing into adulthood and moving apart from this community. Because my upbringing provided little first-hand knowledge of other races and cultures, I find that it is critical in my current practice to interact with and learn directly from participants rather than trying to gain a true understanding as an outsider. Milner (2007) reinforces this as he explains, Truth, or what is real and thus meaningful and right, for researchers and participants, depends on how they have experienced the world (p. 395). Therefore, I cannot

2 Croxton Diversity - 2 begin to say what is true for others. I can only begin to develop an understanding of others as I value and listen to self, others, and the relationship between others and myself. Race and culture play an important role in society and education. Like Milner (2007), I believe that race (and racism) are pervasive, widespread, and ingrained in society and thus in education (p. 390). While many researchers focus on socioeconomic status (SES) as a way to explain issues of injustice, racism, inequity, and oppression (to include race and culture), looking through the SES lens is not enough. Rather, I prefer Gutierrez and Rogoff s (2003) suggestion to, ground cultural observations in the historical, dynamic processes of communities, labels that refer to research participants can be treated not as categories but as narrative descriptors of the participants backgrounds (p. 23). In my research, I feel that I cannot take my values and biases out of the stories I tell, but instead acknowledge them. These stories must include my own interpretations and those of my study participants. As a member of the privileged, white, dominant group, I must take care to understand and appreciate the cultural historical contexts of different racial and cultural groups. For me, these contextual nuances and realities are critical to understanding the experiences of others. What I see or learn in one context is merely my interpretation of reality at that time or place. Ladson- Billings (2012) cautions the reader not to overgeneralize a particular racial or cultural population, but to look at the context while also look[ing] for student s familiarity of experience with cultural practices by seeking to understand the students short- or long-term history (p. 23). Diversity in Research Taking a deeper look at my own historical and cultural background has allowed me to understand that there are rich and meaningful ways to conduct research in education, including library and information studies, that is attentive to issues of equity. Olsson (2009) in a critique of the library and information science scholarship, states, Despite claims to have moved beyond a systems-centric approach most prevailing approaches [to information behavior research]

3 Croxton Diversity - 3 manifest a task-orientation that is a legacy of the field s origins in library and information system evaluation (pp ). In a review of the literature for my dissertation, Undergraduate Students and Academic Library Utilization: A Mixed Methods Study of Information Seeking Needs, Preferences, & Motivation, I realized that many library and information studies (LIS) researchers have not yet moved away from this prevailing orientation to scholarship and discourse. In other words, the majority of studies that I analyzed for this literature review focused upon if, whether, or how users engage with the library systems in order to achieve particular tasks rather than looking upon these information seekers as knowing subjects and cultural experts (Talja, 1997). What is often missing from these user behavior studies are the voices of the individuals and their perspectives of why they act as they do and what they imagine would better meet their needs. To begin to fill this gap and more fully understand undergraduate students information seeking needs, preferences, and behaviors, my dissertation research takes a mixed methods approach in which trends can be better understood and potential ways by which libraries can better meet undergraduate students information needs are explored by placing students at the center of the design and seeking their input about their information use environments (Taylor, 1991). This design will allow me to better understand the users, their settings, social networks, problems that lead to information needs, and the barriers they encounter in meeting their information needs. Diversity in Teaching As an educator, I strive to follow Gorski s (2008) lead and Demand equitable access to high-quality education for all students, including higher-order pedagogies, multicultural curricula, up-to-date learning materials, and so on (p. 145). As a white, female educator, it takes concentrated effort on my part to create lessons and teach in such as a way as to amplify the voices of those who are different from me with respect to race, ethnicity, gender, and a host of other variables. I feel it is important to take the time to understand my students, including their

4 Croxton Diversity - 4 backgrounds, contextual histories, and goals, as I try to appreciate their perspectives on assignments, courses, and education in general. There is no one-size-fits all approach to education, thus I try to tailor my courses, including discussions, background reading materials, and assignments in a way that allows students flexibility in approach and topic to appeal to diverse learners with varied backgrounds, learning styles, and preferences. Further, through my experiences as an online educator, I have learned the importance of developing courses according to principles of universal design. As I design online learning experiences, I try to anticipate the diversity of my students and plan accordingly by providing simple navigation, working with those who need accommodation, selecting accessible online learning tools, modeling and teaching good online discussion etiquette, providing materials in alternative formats, etc. Diversity in Service and Practice As a doctoral student, I have had the privilege to serve as a graduate assistant to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro s Academic and Cultural Enrichment (ACE) Scholars Program. This program, funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program to increase the diversity in librarianship, allowed 11 students from under-represented communities (including race, ethnicity, and SES) to complete the Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree program at UNCG, preparing them for professional positions in community college libraries. As the program s graduate assistant, I have had the opportunity to work alongside LIS faculty, community college librarians and administrators, and diversity experts to mentor these diverse learners, help to design and implement course curricula and special programs, and serve as assessment coordinator. These activities have further helped me to appreciate the unique historical contextuality that each individual brings to a group and the richness that recognizing individual diversity brings to others.

5 Croxton Diversity - 5 References Gorski, P. C. (2008). Peddling poverty for profit: Elements of oppression in Ruby Payne s framework. Equity & Excellence in Education, 41(1), Gutierrez, K. D. and Rogoff, B. (2003). Cultural ways of learning: Individual traits or repertoires of practice. Educational Researcher, 32(5), Ladson-Billings, G. (2012). Through a glass darkly: The persistence of race in education research & scholarship. Educational Researcher, 41(4), Milner IV, H. R. (2007). Race, culture, and researcher positionality: Working through dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen. Educational Researcher, 36(7), Olsson, M. R. (2009). Re-thinking our concept of users. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 40(1), Talja, S. (1997). Constituting information and user as research objects: A theory of knowledge formations as an alternative to the information-man theory. In P. Vakkar, R. Savolainen, and B. Dervin (Eds.), Information Seeking in Context (pp ). London: Taylor Graham. Taylor, R. S. (1991). Information use environments. In B. Dervin and M. J. Voight (Eds.), Progress in communication sciences Vol. 10, (pp ). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp.