Case Study Participant 6

1. What would you say are the soft skills or attributes and types of knowledge that are necessary for getting started with decolonisation in a role that is similar to yours? 

Communicating difficult ideas and histories to external and internal audiences that are sceptical of the significance of decolonisation for libraries. The ability to advocate for ideas whose importance is not immediately obvious. The confidence to do the work, to make decisions and to sell the benefits after the fact. To be able to actively listen to colleagues’ concerns and questions around the work and to understand the potential impact on workflows. To be able to adapt your course of action when the ideal scenario is not possible due to systems/resource/institutional constraints. Enough knowledge about wider decolonisation philosophy to allow you to calibrate your message, knowing it isn’t really decolonisation. To be able to process multiple sources of best practice in a constantly productive field of Inclusive Descriptive Practice, especially in North America. A good knowledge of systems and standards used by your library to be able to recommend viable mitigations.

2. Please give examples of where soft skills and personal attributes have proven useful to you during any stage of collection-based decolonisation.

Communication and advocacy crucial to working with senior leadership in 2020. I ran internal workshops, creative projects, and other cross-collections groups to explain the significance of the work, after the initial moment risked flaring up into antagonism and being negated in political expediency. That communication led to the eventual setting up of an official anti-racism project and subsequently into a race equality action plan that has been funded for three years.

3. How can someone starting out in a similar role get an introduction to collection-based decolonisation and develop a basic skill-set/ knowledge/ awareness? What can this process entail? Please suggest any resources and approaches. 

So many resources out there now, especially from the US. Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches by Billey et al (2024) being the most recent I can think of in my area. Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries (2022) also very useful. There are so many texts out there to start you off in this work and many bibliographies and presentations, and it is important to start with a solid base of reading and understanding.

4. How does an advanced collection-based decolonisation skillset/ expert knowledge look like from your perspective (including soft and specialised skills)? 

Combination of grounded archival theory, institutional context and systems, as well as the ability to navigate institutional machinations, write policy, options papers, reports, all in the effort to advocate for your work. Network-building qualities also. Showing how your institution fits into a movement and keeping connections externally and internally. Possibly being able to run a community of practice internally and to manoeuvre onto the right working groups.

5. How can someone in a similar role further develop their skills/ knowledge/ awareness in collection-based decolonisation and build an expert skill-set? What can this process entail? Please suggest any resources and approaches.

Mentoring from leaders. You are the leader in a field, an important and burgeoning one within the sector and soon you will be asked to represent the institution in that work. You could do with a basis in leadership at least. You need to be constantly abreast of developments in the sector, changes to standards and vocabularies etc. You need to be a big-picture thinker but also able to get into the weeds of particular issues.

6. Please add any other thoughts or advice you may have for those who want to develop their skills and knowledge in collection-based decolonisation. 

None