John and colleagues

I would like to support Laura at Kingston College.

We are a multi-cultural sixth form college and I think this may be a
difference in emphasis between a LRC in FE and HE.  We do consider such
issues in our collection policy and also have as our mission (or purpose
statement as it is known here):
"The purpose of the Learning Resources Centre and Bases is to provide
excellent learning resources to support students' academic and general
vocational learning and achievement, including their personal and social
development."

Our Collection Policy statement explicitly includes diversity issues:
"..... to ensure that resources fall within the college values
particularly those concerning the diversity of the college community."
We recognise that the needs of the curriculum come first, but we would
look at diversity issues when choosing stock from different publishers
who are writing for the same course etc - as well as all the other
criteria of course.  We don't currently have specific collections, eg we
could have a gay and lesbian collection of fiction and non fiction, but
currently these are shelved according to the relevant authors/Dewey
classes with the rest of the stock.  We would buy good quality history
books to reflect our communities - often these are then used by students
doing their individual projects, but where funds allow we would add them
to give our collection depth and breadth.

We are fortunate and (assertive enough) to not have our funding pared to
the bone - maybe we would restrict our additional materials if that were
the case, but we would still have diversity issues on the criteria list
for selection.

I am also confused to begin with you seem to be suggesting LRC have a
restricted role and we should leave diversity to the public libraries
(who locally do a great job in this area) but then you say "I'd have
thought the rationale for an LRC should not be so very different from
that for a library" - I'm not sure how what you were saying in the last
paragraph sits with your earlier points.

Regards

Lindsay Wallace
Learning Resources Manager
Luton Sixth Form College


-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J.M. Linnell
Sent: 30 March 2005 10:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Diversity issues in libraries


Laura,

> Dear LIS-LINK,
>
> I work in the LRC of a large multicultural FE College and I have been 
> looking into ways of ensuring that our stock reflects the diversity of

> our student population. So far my work has included the creation of a 
> Black and Asian Culture Collection and a 'Lifestyle' section covering 
> issues of interest to young people.
>
> I would be interested to hear from any other libraries who have been 
> involved in similar projects or who have been considering diversity 
> issues. Do you have a library diversity statement? Do you refer to 
> diversity in your collection development policy? If so, do you feel 
> that these measures have any impact on users?
>
> Any feedback gratefully received.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Laura Davison
> Kingston College

Sorry, but I very much doubt the wisdom of this kind of approach. I'm
sure that you are very familiar with tight limits on funding. That makes
it all the more critical, in my view, that every penny you have should
be directed to trying to support the pedagogic and/or research function
of your college. If Kingston includes courses on, say, Asian Studies or
Youth Studies, then library or LRC provision should reflect that; but,
if not, it should not. It is not the function of an FE (or HE) library
or LRC collection, I think, to reflect anything - "the diversity of our
student population" or anything else - unless it coincides with the
academic function of the community it serves. Large public libraries, on
the other hand, can make quite a good job of this sort of thing if so
minded (and they really ought to be): I'd be inclined to leave it to
them. You ask about the impact on (other) users: the most obvious impact
is a dilution of the resource available for supporting the functions of
a college that are paid for by its users and the tax payer.

Most Lis-link members work in libraries rather than LRCs, I'd imagine.
LRCs might have differing connotations in various institutions, but I'd
have thought the rationale for an LRC should not be so very different
from that for a library. Maybe the core question for you to consider is
quite what function an LRC should have that a Library might not?

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Jim Linnell, Humanities and Education Link Librarian, Keele University,
Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, United Kingdom. Tel.: (+44) 01782 584160
Fax: (+44) 01782 711553                       e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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