Riot Rule #2: “Be inclusive.”

“Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten.” — Lilo, from Lilo and Stitch

One of the things that I truly love about my job is the spectrum of people that I get to work with. Public libraries, almost more than any other institution, are uniquely positioned to help people from all walks of life. In a single day, I can help a businessman, a mother-to-be, a couple budding rap stars, a handful of Mormon temple students, a homeschooling parent and child, someone whose spouse was recently diagnosed with cancer, and an avid teen reader — and I love every minute of it. Admittedly, some customers are more challenging than others, and some are downright difficult. But libraries, by design, should cater to the wants and needs of the many — not the few or even the most. This is most likely preaching to the choir, but our institutions foster and protect open access, the freedom to read, and freedom of information, and putting those values into practice entails reaching out to meet the needs of our entire communities.

If nothing else, an inclusive approach is simply one aspect of good marketing. Library staff should use whatever resources are available to gather evidence (both qualitative and quantitative) about the communities they serve. Learn about their demographics, economic status, educational backgrounds, linguistic proficiencies, along with whatever other social and economic qualities might be relevant, and then try to understand the niches your library can fill and the spaces and places where your community needs you (even if they don’t realize it yet). And when you think about it, this research-based marketing approach can be used in almost any library context, whether you work for a public library serving a community at large or for an academic library that serves faculty and students.

And being inclusive isn’t limited to our customer bases and the publics that we serve. We should also keep the inclusion principle in mind when it comes to formulating and making decisions about library policy. The people who make administrative decisions (the ones that impact an entire organization) are often far-removed from the frontlines and far-removed from the people who live with these decisions every day. Including staff from all levels across an organization can provide a basis for better decision-making, can improve staff buy-in, and can make staff members feel more invested and appreciated by the organizations they work for.

Case in point: I spent three hours today with our technology plan task force this afternoon interviewing four people about the ways in which they use technology at work, including the challenges they face, the problems they observe, and the ways in which our technology could be improved. The people we interviewed represented a range of staff positions (a branch manager, an assistant branch manager, a branch librarian, and the manager of our call center), and while there were some common themes in people’s comments, there was also some remarkable diversity in the feedback we received. (Edit: We’ll also be interviewing two other branch managers, another assistant branch manager, a library assistant, and the manager of our outreach department, so there is indeed some effort to include staff beyond management positions.) Without their input, our technology plan would rely almost exclusively on two staff members assigned to our headquarters and two frontline staff from branches on opposite ends of the county. While these individuals by themselves could probably produce an adequate technology plan (one that was simply “good enough”), it certainly wouldn’t be as rich, dynamic, or informed as one in which input from a variety of individuals is sought out and taken seriously.

If the social responsibility of libraries can be summed up in one word, it is the simple principle of ohana. We may not be family with everyone, but no one should get left behind, nor should anyone (whether they are members of our communities or the coworkers that we see everyday) be forgotten.