Research Guides: CUWL CDC Diversity Audit Guidelines: Diversity Audit Guidelines

Diversity Audit Guidelines

Diversity Considerations in YA: Doing a Diversity Audit by Karen Jensen

It would be good to acknowledge upfront that an able bodied, white cishet neutral is assumed in society and in publishing, and, for that reason, "diversity" is the imperfect umbrella term used to bring perspectives other than that assumed neutral into focus. Our goal is to make our collections as inclusive as possible.

Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. – Verna Myers, ILA 2017

Important Terms

Diversity: Having a wide variety of representations, a variety of experiences and points of view; a book written that includes a diverse characters or points of view by any author. For example: The Chains series by Laurie Halse Anderson

Own Voices: An author from a marginalized or under-represented group writing about their own experiences. For example, Matt de la Pena, Brandy Colbert

Background Information

Statistics | Diversity in YA
The Diversity Baseline Survey | Lee & Low Books
Infographic Series: The Diversity Gap | Lee & Low Books
SLJ Resources for Diversity in Kid and YA Lit | School Library Journal
We Need Diverse Books

What is a Diversity Audit?

Audit Audit: an official inspection of an individual's or organization's accounts, typically by an independent body.

A diversity audit is basically doing an inventory of a collection to determine the amount of diversity within the collection. It’s a way of analyzing collection data to make sure that we include a wide variety of points of view, experiences and representations within a collection. Our goal is to provide a well balanced collection that can be both a mirror (reflect a reader’s experience) and a window (so readers can experience different experiences). See: Windows and Mirrors: Why We Need Diverse Books

Diversity Targets

Before doing an audit, it’s helpful to determine target goals. This was harder than I thought, so I used some of the above information (Background Information) to help me set realistic target goals. I also used U.S. and World Census data.

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts selected: UNITED STATES
LGBT America: By the Numbers | Washington Week - PBS

According to the U.S Census Info for 2016, the U.S. population can be broken down into the following percentages:

White Americans	76.9%
Black/African Americans	13.3%
Native Americans/Alaska Natives	1.3%
Asian Americans	5.7%
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.2%
Hispanic/Latinos	17.8%
Americans with Disabilities (under 65)	8.6%
Americans Identifying as LGBTQ	3.5% (0.3% identify as transgender)

Things to keep in mind: These are population estimates based on how various respondents self-report in limited categories given to them; there are estimations involved; personal identity and labels aren’t as easy as simple statistics and data lead one to believe. In addition, not all people within a group of the same experiences or stories so we need to have a wide variety of stories. And finally, diversity is intersectional, people identify in more than one way – for example a woman of color may also identify as LGBTQ – which makes diversity more complex than a simple audit would lead one to believe.

Types of Diversity to Consider in Collection Development

● Diverse Representation:

o Indigenous representation
o Asian representation (broken down by geographic location) o People of Color (black/African American)
o LatinX representation (broken down by geographic location)

● Refugees and new immigrants
● Gender roles/Gender bias
● GLBTQAI+

o Gay
o Lesbian
o Bisexual
o Transgender o Asexuality
o Intersex
o Pansexuality

● Family structures

o Same sex parents

o Interracial families

o Blended families

● Adoption and foster care

● Homeless or without stable accommodation

● Socio economic diversity

● Disability

o Disfigurement
o Impaired hearing
o Impaired sight or sight loss o Limb loss
o Use of aids

● Neurological challenges o Autism

o ADHD

● Mental health/Illness

● Children with allergies and food intolerances

● Children with complex health concerns such as cancer, terminal illnesses and those undergoing treatment.

● Culture and Religion

o Atheist
o Christian o Hindu
o Jewish
o Muslim o Wiccan

● Intersectionality

Doing a Diversity Audit

Two Types of Audits to Perform:

An overall collection audit, which should be done on a yearly basis (or every few years if you develop the practice of doing book order audits)
A book order audit, which should be done on each book order before you submit them for purchase

How to Do a Collection Audit

Please note: This is my process. You may develop a process that works better for you. My process has changed over time and I like having a saved database as opposed to a simple tally sheet. But at its most basic, a simple tally sheet works. I have found it depends on what type of ILS your library system has.

Doing the Initial Audit: Collecting the Data

The first step is to go through and do a manual count of each title in our collection, indicating what, if any, types of diversity are represented are in the title. This is the most time-consuming part of the process and involves a lot of research. You want to be as thorough as possible.

Run a shelf list for the collection or part of the collection you wish to audit. a. For my purposes, I am doing my YA collection.
If your ILS is compatible, import your shelf list into an Excel spreadsheet.
Add tally column headers (either by hand or in Excel) for each element you are looking for. For example, Black/African American, Asian American, LatinX, Native American, LGBTQ, Disability, etc. You can have as many categories as you would like.
I recommend adding an additional category for Own Voices because not all diversity is Own Voices and that distinction can be important.
For reference, print off a variety of book lists that represent your categories. I created a book list folder of these lists to help in RA as well as collection audits.
Go through and mark each category for each title, making a tally mark next to each title. This is where having it in excel is helpful because you can save your ongoing list.

At one point I went through each title with co-workers as we discussed if the title had diversity and what that diversity looked like. You will get to know your collection better during this process.

Analyzing the Data
Now comes the math part. If you are using Excel, it will do the counts for you. If not, you must count by hand. Either way works.

Numbers you need:
- Total number of titles in your collection
- Total number of titles in each of your categories
Then you calculate the percentage. In the end, you will have an idea of what percentage of your collection is represented in each category.
You can then compare these to your target numbers to decide if you are comfortable with where you are at or if you need to go in and order specifically to meet your goals.

Formula: Number of Titles in Category X Divided by Total Number of Titles in Collection = Percentage of Collection Represented by Category X

For example:
Total number of titles in collection: 1394

Total number of titles that have POC characters in the collection: 289 Percentage of the collection that has POC representation: 20.7%
289 divided by 1394 is 20.7%

How I Use this Information

I use this information to make sure that my YA collection isn’t overwhelmingly white cishet male/female with no characters with disabilities. When I find gaps, I go through and do targeted orders. For example, this summer I worked really hard to increase the number of LGBTQAI+ in my collection. I went through each letter and found lists of reputable titles and checked them against my collection. My LGBTQAI+ numbers went up from 2.3% to 5.7%.

As an added benefit, when a teen comes in asking for a specific type of book, I have a better ready list in my brain that I can quickly recommend.

Doing a Book Order Audit
I do the same process in an informal way for each book order before submitting it. I print it off, make notes in the margins, and make sure that my book order isn’t overwhelmingly white cishet.

Schedule

● Complete Collection Audit: Yearly

● Book Order Audit: Whenever you order

● Sectional Audit: Develop a schedule that works for you. For example, because June is Pride Month, I go through and do a LGBTQAI+ collection audit in April to make sure I have a good number of titles for the month.

Things to Consider

What types of representation will you consider? For example, must it be the main character or is a secondary supporting character going to count in your tallies. You can have extended categories for this if you would like.

Not all representation is necessarily good representation. This is an important point to consider when doing your collection audit. This is also why keeping a separate category for Own Voices is important. Some tropes to be aware of and look for include:

● The Noble Savage

● The White Savior

● The Magical Negro

● The Mystic Shaman

● Killing the Gays

The word trope has also come to be used for describing commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works.

Some stereotypes you’ll want to look for include:

● The angry black woman

● Youth of color always being depicted as gang members

● Jewish books always being about the Holocaust

● POC books always being about slavery or the Civil Rights movement

● LGBTQ books always being about coming out

● Refrigerating females

● Unlikeable girls

● “Not Like Other Girls”

Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

Resources: 5 YA Tropes To Avoid; TV Tropes; Not Like Other Girls: Toxic Archetypes of Young Adult Literature; Really Useful Links for Writers: Tropes and Clichés

Remember to examine your own internalized biases and privilege.

This is where being involved in the YA community can be of great assistance. There are a lot of great people sharing titles on Twitter and other social media that has raised my awareness of Own Voices authors.

Kirkus is now including ethnicity/race of characters in every YA review and that Novelist is a good resource for finding author ethnicity.

Your audit is only as good as your research. If you don’t put in the effort to really examine each title, you won’t necessarily have good numbers.