Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Fishers, Indiana Library - Culturally Diverse Books Not wanted?


Diversity is not something that all communities value.  One way to determine how much your community embraces diversity is to see how culturally diverse are the items in the public library.  In the past year I have sought books by black authors or on “black topics” at the Fishers, Indiana public library.  Somewhat surprisingly the items I was seeking were not at the Fishers library. Fishers touts itself as being an upcoming and modern city.  Unfortunately that pat on the back does not extend to it being a culturally diverse city.

I sent a request for the items I wanted to be purchased as part of the Fishers library holdings.  Each time the response was met by the library borrowing the book I wanted from another library.  I was then given 30 days to read the materials.

I commend the effort to find the book for me, but cannot commend the library for not purchasing the books for their permanent collection.  Are topics about black people or issues related to black people not worthy of being in the Fishers’ permanent library collection?  Does the library suffer from funding issues?

No one ever responded from the library as to why the books I requested could not be purchased outright.  Maybe one day the library will actually have in their collection a full range of books by black authors or books on topics of interest to more than one culture.

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