It’s October, and Black History Month and our libraries will be taking part again this year promoting books, journals, films and online resources.
The decision to do this isn’t straightforward though, we are conscious of the counter-view that these “months” (Black History Month, LGBT History Month) are not helpful as they isolate the issue of inclusiveness into a single month rather than reflecting a completely inclusive approach by our library and archive collections.
However – it isn’t a choice between one way or another – our intention and aspiration is that we do both.
Black History Month has been criticised in particular for taking a “history and heroes” approach, celebrating exceptional lives at the expense of the everyday experience; our approach is to surface more widely critical race theory and cultural theory as well as the work of black artists, designers, writers and filmmakers and connect people to resources in and out of the university
We would like to hear your views on libraries and Black History Month, or if you would like to collaborate – please get in touch. .
Jess Crilly
Associate Director, Content & Discovery, Library Services