Maryland State Library LibGuides: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Resources for Maryland Libraries: Collection Development Resources

Where to find Diverse Books

American Indians in Children's Literature
Written by a scholar who is Native American, this blog has been going strong since 2006 and “provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children’s and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society.” It links to book reviews as well as social media pages by Native writers, illustrators, scholars, and activists.
Baltimore County Public Schools: Diversity in Collection Development
This useful site has links to articles, blogs, and resource lists; lists of social media hashtags; and resources justifying/explaining the need for diverse resources.
The Brown Bookshelf: United in Story
This site, active since 2007, “is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers” and is the home of the 28 Days Later initiative, “a month-long showcase of the best in Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult novels written and illustrated by Black creators.”
Cotton Quilts
Created by Edith Campbell, an Indiana State University professor who is a former social studies teacher, this blog features not just blog posts but annual book lists with summaries of the books, movie lists, and other resources.
Cultural Literacy LibGuide
This LibGuide includes book lists and resourcs to help you as you seek to provice your students with the "windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors" that will prepare them for the future. Use these tools to help you and your colleagues increase awareness, drive collection development, and get future ready.
Diverse Book Finder: Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books
This is a “go-to resource for librarians, educators, publishers, creators, and parents who seek to create collections in which all children can see themselves--and each other--reflected in the picture books they read.” It originated at Bates College in Maine.
Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table
This is a useful list of links related to diversity in libraries, including bibliographies and resources for multicultural literature, blogs/social media pages, book awards and collections, and related topics.
Inclusive Youth Literature LibGuide by Edith Campbell
This is an excellent resource guide with educator resources and separate pages for literature relating to disabilities, indigenous people and people of color, and LGBTQIA, created by the author of the CrazyQuiltEdi blog.
Latinxs in Kid Lit: Exploring the world of Latinx YA, MD and children’s literature
This site features primarily book reviews written by a variety of regular contributors, plus some author interviews.
LGBTQ Reads
This “is a site dedicated to promoting curated LGBTQIAP+ literature for all ages, run by author and blogger Dahlia Adler.”
List of Lists: An Index of Diversity Book Lists for Adults
This site collects and indexes “diversity reading lists for adults made by libraries and mainstream media sources.” It includes age, disability, gender identities, LGBTQIA+identities, Native identities, racial and cultural identities, social and political, and spiritual identities.
The Open Book Blog: A blog on race, diversity, education, and children’s books
This wide-ranging blog from Lee and Low Publishers often has stimulating and useful posts on diversity and children’s literature.
Rich in Color
This site is “dedicated to reading, reviewing, talking about, and otherwise promoting young adult books (fiction and non-fiction) starring or written by people of color or people from First/Native Nations.”
Social Justice Books: A Teaching for Change Project
This features a guide to selecting anti-bias children’s books, a database of children’s book reviews from the See What We See Coalition, and more than 50 curated lists of multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators.
We Need Diverse Books
This is a non-profit organization that promotes diversity in children’s literature. Site includes an excellent resources page with links to sites that recommend diverse titles, including numerous prize-winning diverse titles. Primarily aimed at public and school libraries.

How-tos

Doing a YA Collection Diversity Audit (4-part blog series) from Teen Librarian Toolbox
- Part 1 - Understanding your Local Community
- Part 2 - The How-to
- Part 3 - Resources and Sources

Book: Kerby, Mona. An Introduction to Collection Development for School Librarians. 2nd ed. (AASL, 2019)
- While this does not focus exclusively on diversity, building diverse school library collections is a significant topic. There is a link to printable worksheets on selection, weeding, handling complaints, etc. here: https://alastore.ala.org/content/introduction-collection-development-school-librarians-second-edition

Evaluating Children's Books about Police

Sample Collection Development Diversity Policies

University of Maryland, College Park

Courses/Webinars

San Jose State University School of Information Open Online Classes

Most electives in the Master of Library and Information Science program and the Master of Archives and Records Administration program are available on a space-available basis during fall, spring, and summer sessions. The offerings vary by semester but include several special topic courses that sometimes focus on diversity-related topics, including:

INFO 267 Controversial Literature
INFO 267 Indigenous Literature for Children and Youth
INFO 281 Diversity Issues in Information Environments

Articles

Weeding Out Racism’s Invisible Roots: Rethinking Children’s Classics | Opinion

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Resources for Maryland Libraries: Collection Development Resources

Standards and Statements from Professional Organizations

Where to find Diverse Books

How-tos

Sample Collection Development Diversity Policies

Courses/Webinars

Articles