[Libs-Or] About the Petition to the State Library of Oregon

[Penelope Hummel]

Marci, you have made substantial contributions to the Oregon library community and have rightfully earned the respect that has resulted from that effort.  My response to your e-mail here is to provide a perspective that might be helpful in understanding why some people (including myself) have concerns about the petition. As a library professional and a past president of the Oregon Library Association, the following issues came up for me when I read it:  

The appropriateness of a petition that requests the State Library of Oregon create a new staff position while also making the case for who the perfect candidate for that position would be.  This issue is heightened when the person named (as you have shared) is also the author of the petition. 
The optics of the OLA Executive Board endorsing such a petition when the president of OLA is an employee of the State Library of Oregon and when the president-elect of OLA is the person named in the petition as the perfect candidate for the position. Both of these situations constitute a conflict of interest.  Collectively, they give the impression (whether true or not) of cronyism. Since I believe that this aspect of the petition’s content is harmful to OLA’s reputation, I am disappointed that this petition was endorsed by the OLA Executive Committee.  The rightfulness of the larger cause the petition is advocating for does not cancel out this harm.  OLA’s future success in its statewide advocacy work for Oregon libraries is contingent upon its reputation as a fair and ethical organization.  


Below, you have stated “So called "allies" must refrain from professing allyship to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Antiracism, especially if they are not interested in public solidarity and only in performative or optical allyship.”This implies that the only action that can be considered true allyship is expressing public solidarity and agreement with everything you have put forth.  To me, that’s a rather high and unfortunate bar. I have to wonder whether some of those within OLA who endorsed this petition had mixed feelings about the part that recommends a particular person for the SOL position, but did not feel they could speak up because they feared being condemned as non-allies. If I’m right about that, what might have resulted had they felt comfortable sharing this input could have been a stronger document—a petition clearly focused on advocating for increased EDIA support for Oregon libraries, vs. one that has unfortunately gotten sidetracked by another issue. 


Our collective work as library professionals is strengthened by the open exchange of ideas, the ability to disagree and still respect each other, and the willingness to learn from each other.  It is in this spirit that I share my thoughts today. 

Thank you and best wishes,  

 

Penny Hummel 

PENNY HUMMEL CONSULTING  

penny at pennyhummel.com | 503.890.0494 | www.pennyhummel.com 

 

Ensuring that libraries survive and thrive in challenging times

 

 

From: Libs-Or <libs-or-bounces at omls.oregon.gov> on behalf of Marci Ramiro-Jenkins via Libs-Or <libs-or at omls.oregon.gov>
Reply-To: Marci Ramiro-Jenkins <marci.r.jenkins at outlook.com>
Date: Monday, February 14, 2022 at 1:33 PM
To: "libs-or at omls.oregon.gov" <libs-or at omls.oregon.gov>, "reforma_or at omls.oregon.gov" <reforma_or at omls.oregon.gov>
Subject: [Libs-Or] About the Petition to the State Library of Oregon

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

About a week ago the Oregon Library Association (OLA) distributed the petition below to its membership as part of an advocacy effort for Equity, Diversity Inclusion and Antiracism (EDIA) in libraries. This petition was written by me, edited, and proofread by a group of EDIA supports and BIPOC library workers. 

 

This petition is endorsed by the Oregon Library Association Executive Board and by the OLA Equity Diversity Inclusion and Antiracism Committee. Meetings were conducted to discuss the idea of this petition and a review period to receive feedback from both groups was open for several weeks until the petition passed by vote on February 4th, 2022. This petition was also discussed with a representative from the State Library of Oregon in December 2021. Again, this is an advocacy effort, there are no promises, deals, offers, and/or set outcomes to favor me or anyone else involved with this petition. This is not a petition to "demand" anything, this is a petition to gauge the library community interest and an attempt to bring awareness to the invisible labor imposed on BIPOC. 

 

 There is nothing new or wrong about leaders advocating for themselves and seeking the support of people who are familiar with a cause and with the hard work involved in it, especially when it is done in a non-partisan, spontaneous, unpretentious and respectful way.  

 

So called "allies" must refrain from professing allyship to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Antiracism, especially if they are not interested in public solidarity and only in performative or optical allyship. Solidarity cannot be reduced to thoughts and good wishes. Real solidarity in EDIA means power given by you to those who have been underserved, underrepresented, misled, mistreated, unseen and unheard. 

 

You can access the petition here -> https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/break-the-library-institutional-reliance-on-unpaid .  

 

*Please note, petition websites often ask for donations to maintain their platform live, no donations are being asked from my part of from the part of the groups involved with this petition. 

 

 

Thank you so much, 

Marci Ramiro-Jenkins

 

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