Library News

🌈 What is the Diversity Audit and Why Are We Doing It? 🌈

Charlie Parkinson, English Lecturer and Library Learning Facilitator at Bradford College

Three years ago, when I first read the prologue of Katherine May’s memoir The Electricity of Every Living Thing, I failed to suppress a series of small squeaks, then spat out a mouthful of tea.[1]

“Read this! You have to read this!” I said to my husband, thrusting the book under his nose.

Over the next few months, I recommended the book to five or six close friends and family members.
Why? This was not the first time I’d read a book about autism. As my son had been recently diagnosed, I’d already voraciously – dutifully – digested a handful of medical textbooks on the subject.

No, this was the very first time I’d read a book about autism written by a story-obsessed, White-British, middle-aged, late-diagnosed autistic mother – like me. It was the first time I’d seen an authentic version of somebody like me on the published page – penned by her own autistic hand. The usual young, male, train-obsessed stereotypes were refreshingly absent.

This is how I know, first-hand, that representation matters. Representation, when it’s done properly, is life-affirming, life-changing – even life-saving.

This term, as part of Bradford College’s drive to decolonise and diversify the curriculum, I’m working on a new project in the library; we’re calling it The Diversity Audit. What’s it all about? Well, in a nutshell, I am auditing our Reading Collection of General Fiction to ascertain the diversity of the content of the books and the authors who wrote them.

As I embark on the diversity audit, I’ll be documenting the process – the rationale behind the project, its progress, and its outcomes – in a series of blogs. The first blog – this one – focuses on our reasons for undertaking the task. The second will explore the process and practical considerations of the job. Subsequent blogs will examine the complexities of categorisation, as well as issues with terminology and identities. Finally, I will evaluate the success of the project, and investigate next steps for the diversification of our collection.

At Bradford College Library, we think it is very important that our collections reflect and represent the diverse make-up of our users. Our college strives to ‘provide a working and learning environment that acknowledges the richness of diversity and recognises the positive contributions of people of different social backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, religions, abilities, ages and sexual orientation’.[2] By carrying out a diversity audit of our existing collection, we hope to identify any deficits. In the long-term, we aim to fill the gaps to ensure that students and staff have access to fiction books written by, and about, a diverse range of people – tackling issues that are relevant, varied and challenging.

Why is it necessary for a library’s collection to mirror the demographic of its users? I regularly enjoy reading books by Asian men, Black Americans, and LGBTQ+ folk of various nationalities and ethnicities, yet I am not Asian, Black, American, male or queer. I don’t want all the books I read to only be about, or written by, White-British women. Reading only books that echo your own perspective would be a stagnant, dull experience – though some might find it comforting.

However, we can’t ignore the fact that representation in Literature IS skewed towards dead, White, European, economically privileged males (we could add several more adjectives to the list, including ‘able-bodied’, ‘cis-gendered’, ‘heterosexual’ and ‘neurotypical’ if we wanted to narrow it down further). This type of human tends to be afforded more representation than any other type largely because they have enjoyed global dominance for centuries, despite not making up the largest percentage of the global population.

If the library’s collection is biased in favour of privileged, White, European, male experiences and perspectives, this tacitly invalidates the experiences and perspectives of all who do not fall under those categories. Unfortunately, even if a text portrays a minority group, if it is written from the perspective of the hegemonic party, it is still participating in a process of othering.

For example, in November 2020, the exam board Eduqas used a text in a GCSE English Language paper written by Deborah Moggach, a White, English author. The extract details the dysfunctional relationship of a married couple – the unnamed narrator and her husband Ranjit. It is implied that the couple are British Indian. On the surface, especially to White, English readers, this text might tick an inclusivity box for representation of an ethnic minority group. However, there is something about the representation of this couple that strikes some readers as…odd.

The narrator describes feeding chapatis to a horse and later exclaims, “I didn’t go round in a sari or anything”.[3] The effect is a sort of cross-cultural uncanny valley phenomenon: the couple are described as though they are British Indian, but the narrative voice isn’t convincing – it isn’t authentic. Is this because the writer is a White, English woman, or is it simply because her characters are badly observed – and therefore become no more than gaudily painted ventriloquist dummies? Because the writer is writing about a culture that is not her own, she relies on stereotypes, sadly reinforces them, and therefore risks alienating a portion of her readership.

When writers give voice to those who inhabit a different intersection on the web of humanity to themselves, they run the risk, not only of alienating readers, but of causing offence. Words can be lethal weapons – just ask Salman Rushdie.

Monica Ali’s debut novel, Brick Lane, traces the lives of a couple in the London Bangladeshi community. Brick Lane provoked outrage amongst some British Bangladeshis because they said that the book portrayed people from the Sylhet Division in a negative way. One Bangladeshi politician stated furiously, ‘She calls all Sylhetis rickshaw drivers! What does she know?’[4] Whilst the spokesman for The Greater Sylhet Welfare and Development Council complained: ‘It is a completely stereotypical view of Bangladeshis living in Brick Lane and one we simply do not recognise’.[5] Even Germaine Greer waded in to slate Ali's ‘lack of authenticity’ because – despite being a British writer of Bangladeshi and English heritage – Ali never lived in the Brick Lane area.[6]

Clearly representation is a minefield, but does this mean that writers should only be allowed to write from their own perspectives? Not necessarily. Authors tend to employ extensive research methods to write about many aspects of life of which they have no direct experience. Imagine if we enforced a law banning authors from writing about anything other than their own lives. It would herald the death of Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy…Perhaps it would become necessary for all aspiring writers to lead the most ludicrously epic lives possible for Art’s sake, or maybe Literature would just gradually decompose into a putrefying puddle of Kitchen Sink Realism.

If we want to avoid these and other such silly scenarios, then writers must be allowed to write outside of their own experiences – to be given artistic freedom – but they need to tread cautiously; colonialism and trauma should not be disregarded. For the sake of decency and authenticity, some stories are best told by people who have lived experience of, or cultural connection with, their subject matter.[7]

For Bradford College Library to be truly inclusive, we must seek to eradicate systemic bias in the collection. We must seek to redress the balance. Accessing a range of books that portray a variety of people with different life experiences and perspectives, can help readers to overcome stereotypes, eliminate misconceptions and develop empathy.

Bearing in mind that 52% of our college community identify as female, 59% come from ethnic minority groups, and almost one sixth are recognised as learning disabled or otherwise disabled – with the majority hailing from disadvantaged backgrounds – it is essential that we ensure that these groups are represented fairly in the collection – not overshadowed by White, European, able-bodied, socially-privileged (etc. etc.) men.[8]

To summarise, The Diversity Audit is a comprehensive review of Bradford College Library’s General Fiction collection. We are undertaking this task to determine whether the current stock is appropriate for our users in terms of its diversity of representation. This is a vital step for us because we want to build a collection that not only reflects and represents our users, but that also provides opportunities for every reader to explore a variety of alternative perspectives – outside of their own lived experience, and that of the historically dominant social group.

If we want to be truly inclusive – now and in the future; if we want to meaningfully transform the lives of our users – then we must view The Diversity Audit as an infinite process. It is not a discrete job to be ticked off and completed; it is the beginning of the decolonisation of information – a paradigm shift – the making of space for historically marginalised philosophies and knowledge systems.

If done properly, it might make you spit out your tea.