Normalizing Discussions of Race with Children
Discussing race can be an emotionally-charged topic due to personal background and experiences. By looking at current professional guidelines, child development, and updated ideas for storytime, programming and collection development, we will become more confident discussing racial identity and racial injustices with children and caregivers in the library and incorporating anti-racist practices in our library services.
By the end of the course learners will:
- Understand the relevance and professional necessity of discussing race with children and caregivers.
- Demonstrate knowledge of cultural development stages.
- Improve communication in storytime and in library worker-child-caregiver conversations.
- Apply new knowledge to other services for children and caregivers in the library.
Becki Loughlin, Youth Services Librarian at Lyons Regional Library (CO), is the instructor for this course, which was created in 2023.
How This On-Demand Course Works
This Infopeople on Demand course is asynchronous, meaning that learners can take it any time. While the instructor is not available for discussion or feedback, this course is designed so that learners have unlimited access to materials and can participate at their own pace.
The course fee is $100. To pay by credit card, click on the "Enroll Now" button above.
Questions? Please contact [email protected].
Course Curriculum
- Welcome to Unit 1!
- Unit 1 Video Lesson: Why do we need to talk about race? (14:46)
- Watch: EDI in Libraries
- Read: Resources to Expand Your Knowledge
- Watch: “Defending & Celebrating Early Racial Learning”
- Recommended Book (optional): How to Raise an Antiracist
- Application Activity: Why does this work matter to you?
- Application Activity: What does doing this work look like where you are?
- Application Activity: When have you observed developmental cultural stages?
- Welcome to Unit 3!
- Unit 3 Video Lesson: Putting it all together (13:00)
- Read: Resources to Expand Your Knowledge
- Optional Watch: Conversations: How to Talk to Kids About Race
- Application Activity: Create a book list
- Application Activity: Design an event
- Course Feedback
- Congratulations on Completing the Course!
Infopeople: The Source of Online Learning
for Library People
Infopeople is part of the Califa Group, a nonprofit consortium of libraries committed to unleashing the impact of libraries. Infopeople provides library staff quality continuing education opportunities that are tailored to library needs and developed by experienced library professionals. Training formats include 2-6 week online courses that include both synchronous and asynchronous components; on demand, self-paced courses; and free one-hour webinars.