CURRENT POSITION Education and Human Service Professions Librarian, Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota–Duluth DEGREE MLIS, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2016 FAST FACT Jones won a competition to develop a UMD ice cream flavor with her concoction of malted chocolate ice cream, chocolate-covered pretzels, and peanut butter swirl. Photo by Chelsey Miller

"An Inner Value System"

While working with the children’s literature collection at the University of Minnesota–Duluth (UMD)—used by education students in their training—Kayleen Jones decided it needed to better represent the Duluth community and broader society. As she reviewed the collection to identify gaps, she was approached by education faculty interested in collaborating to provide hands-on experience for education students to learn about anti-racist practices. 

Together, Jones, her library colleagues, and the education faculty created the Anti-Racist Literary Advisory Board to offer students a venue for sustained practice in identifying needs and working to fill them. The students on the board review the children’s collection and make recommendations for new works to acquire, as well as identifying problematic books that perpetuate stereotypes or are inaccurate by today’s standards. 

Jones was thrilled with the results. “This was an extra thing students did outside of class,” she says. “Some developed their own events and programs beyond the advisory board.” One event held at a student teaching site gave children a “book tasting,” encouraging them to explore the library’s books and ask for others they’d like to see in their library. 

A number of those education students have graduated and are now working in classrooms, a point of pride for Jones. “When I get updates from them about what they’re doing, this work has gone beyond UMD,” she says. “It’s like the experience touched an inner value system. It wasn’t just something they did in school, but something they thought had value and wanted to take with them as they go.”