Decolonizing the Virtual Space Renée Shah Singh
T
here’s something about the smell of a book, the weight of it in your hands, the sound the pages make as the story unfolds. There’s something about a school library, the buzz of excitement in the air, the conversations about stories, learning, and life. Exploring different ideas, concepts, and materials to foster wonderment, community and safety, the library learning commons (LLC) is the heartbeat of the school, a learning space accessible to students, educators, staff, and the wider community. During the pandemic, when we were forced to go digital, it was about more than curating resources; it was about replicating and expanding upon the sense of community and nurturing human connections. When I stepped into the position of teacher-librarian my main goal was to decolonize the library. In the physical library, decolonizing looks like a purging of outdated knowledge, ideas, and resources. It also means dismantling a traditional system of Eurocentric values. Quite the undertaking in a year without the challenges of teaching during a global pandemic. This belief is captured beautifully by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad in Cultivating Genius when she states: “Students must see themselves in the texts, including their cultures, identities, interests, experiences, desires, and future selves.” (146) To that end, when creating the digital library, I was intentional and purposeful in curating resources that centre the voices, narratives, and histories of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) community as well as ensuring equitable access to French resources for our French Immersion program. I was critically careful of the way library funds and resources were allocated. To make my process transparent, I created and shared an infographic to outline the internal discourse and self-reflection required in order to audit and further build the LLC’s resources. The digital library space can be seen as one method — of many — to actively create equitable access to diverse texts and resources. In the past, curation of LLC resources inherently valued some knowledge over others — until recently. In his book, How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi explains: “The opposite of racist isn’t ‘not racist’. It is ‘antiracist’.” (9) When curating resources for the LLC, both in school and online, part of creating an equitable space is to
22 Ontario School Library Association
Questions to ask when sharing resources. Infographic created to help staff understand the resources chosen for the library and to help audit and pick classroom resources.
ensure inclusion of anti-racist resources, programming, and teaching. It’s hard to gauge your audience digitally. Staring into an abyss of icons as you converse with what seems to be just yourself has its moments. Taking our LLC digital meant collaborating with staff more than ever before. Read alouds for Live from the LLC were picked to reflect themes being discussed in classrooms. Weekly LLC updates enabled educators to plan their week to include the various author visits, community events, virtual field trips, and shared story times. The LLC evolved to include different virtual spaces and many physical places. Before, the school library was confined to operate within the hours of the school building, now the LLC was accessible any time and in any space. Students accessed the library from their homes, in the community, and even in other countries. Going digital expanded the audience beyond the school walls and welcomed in the larger community. Digital activity boards created for heritage and celebration months and the Forest of Reading were shared beyond our school community with other schools, and even
