Does Cultural Competence Matter? Book Reviewers as Mediators of Children’s Literature

Abstract

School and public librarians have a moral imperative to purchase, provide, and present authentic and accurate children’s and young adult literature. To succeed, librarians must be culturally competent.

Cultural competence involves values, behaviors, attitudes, and practices that enable librarians to work cross-culturally to serve increasingly diverse constituencies. A considerable amount of work has yet to be done for the library profession to fully embrace and understand the needs of culturally diverse populations, particularly since the cultural background of many library professionals differs from those they serve, and issues surrounding diversity (e.g., immigration, English-only legislation) have become increasingly complex.”