Creating Welcoming and Inclusive Reading Room Guidelines

Abstract

As Head of Reading and Viewer Services at the Harry Ransom Center, I recently led our public service team in an initiative to rewrite our quite rigid and negative reading room regulations into guidelines with language that is welcoming and inclusive. I am involved in a professional organization called Breaking Library Silos for Social Justice - a Central Texas collective that "provides an opportunity for workers in libraries, archives, museums, and other information spaces to challenge their personal and professional biases via resources, dialogue, and events that de-center whiteness and emphasize voices of color and queer and trans perspectives in pursuit of racial and social justice." After attend a Breaking Library Silos meeting and brainstorming session last summer entitled Transformative Reading Rooms, I was inspired that was time to change our own reading room rules for the better. I wish to present a poster that takes RBMS librarians through the process of revising regulations in order to dismantle practices that support white supremacy or otherwise alienate potential users. Inclusive reading room use guidelines must advance equitable access to our collections by all groups who visit.