Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Braving Our Blindspots: Using A Virtual Book Discussion Group To Continue Conversations On Implicit Bias In Libraries, Shannon Jones, Kelsa Bartley

Southern Chapter/Medical Library Association Annual Conference

Diversifying librarianship has been a strategic priority for years yet statistically the profession remains largely white. A contributing factor to this homogeneity is likely implicit bias. An implicit bias occurs when an individual has attitudes toward a group of people or associate stereotypes with them without their conscious knowledge. Growing research indicates that implicit biases impact the decisions that we all make daily. In libraries, it impacts who gets hired, who gets supported, which programs get funded, and which services are offered. The authors planned and facilitated a virtual book discussion group using Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald’s book, Blindspot: …