To Whom It May Concern,
I’m writing to you today as a member of the Community of Practice Advisory Group for the Diverse BookFinder (DBF), a coded collection of children’s books featuring Black and Indigenous People and People of Color (BIPOC).
This fall we will be building our third cohort of librarians, educators, and children’s literature experts who will receive training in the DBF’s coding techniques and who will code and share books featuring Black and Indigenous People and People of Color.
We would be delighted to have your students apply to be part of this cohort. Would it be possible for you to share the message below with your students? Please also forward this email to other colleagues who might be strong candidates for this program.
Thank you so much for considering this request. If you have any questions about DBF or this coding project, please reach out to me; Lisely Laboy, at [email protected].
Best,
__________________________________________________________________________
Are you invested in questions about who (which racial/cultural groups) is being represented in children’s books featuring Black and Indigenous People and People of Color (BIPOC) and how (what messages are being sent) they are represented? Are you a conscientious reader of picture books, early readers, middle grade and young adult literature?
If so, the Diverse BookFinder (DBF) Metadata Community of Practice may be for you!
The Diverse BookFinder seeks applications for the 2024-2025 Metadata Community of Practice to code books for children and youth featuring BIPOC characters. The DBF is an online, searchable database designed to facilitate the discoverability and exploration of multicultural books for children and youth. Our goal is to diversify and balance bookshelves everywhere, so that all children can find themselves reflected and celebrated in libraries, schools, and homes across the nation.
We’ve just completed programming under a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) titled “Middle Grade and Young Adult Books with Black, Indigenous People, and People of Color: Where Are They?”. This grant allowed us to build upon our existing infrastructure to integrate early readers, chapter books, middle grade books, young adult books, and graphic novels into the picture book database and Collection Analysis Tool (CAT).
We believe BIPOC communities must be centered in the work we do, and we encourage applications from those who identify as BIPOC. We also specifically seek candidates with a critical understanding of race, culture, gender, and power and a strong interest in the application of this knowledge to analyses of BIPOC representation in children’s and young adult books. We envision a world overflowing with books by and about BIPOC, reflecting the diverse voices and experiences of BIPOC-identified people and communities.
Metadata Community of Practice members will:
- Commit to participating for 14 months: September 2024 to December 2025, with ten weeks of training sessions (both asynchronous and synchronous) from September through November 2024;
- Read, code, and discuss with team members the content of assigned books (25-30 books/year, 3-5 hours/week), using systems and processes established by the Diverse BookFinder from January to December 2025; and
- Participate in regular discussions via Zoom to share and discuss findings as well as for ongoing support.
To learn more about the Metadata Community of Practice please view the document linked below:
Diverse BookFinder Metadata Community of Practice Information Sheet
Apply to the 2024/2025 DBF Metadata Community of Practice HERE.
Applications are due Monday, July 15, 2024 at 6:00 PM EST.
For questions or more information, please email Lisely Laboy at [email protected].
Thank you for your interest in the Diverse BookFinder’s Metadata Community of Practice!