Holes at the Bottom of the Boat: Disrupting Performative Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Efforts in Libraries in the Wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Abstract This article seeks to understand the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has tested the effectiveness of library-based equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. In the early days of the pandemic, libraries closed their doors and pivoted to digital services and programs, resources often inaccessible to BIPOC and low-income users. Since reopening, libraries have found that the lack of diversity in their ranks and information curation is compromising their ability to actualize the equity, diversity, and inclusion goals—objectives that are critical to closing the socioeconomic gaps that the pandemic has only widened.