Considering Cultural Competence: An Annotated Resource list

It is widely understood that effective children's and youth librarians must be innovative, aware of current/popular trends, and able to build rapport with young patrons. However, more emphasis must be placed on the fact that it is essential for these librarians to be prepared to identify and meet the needs of a patron population that is becoming increasingly diverse. The annotated resource list provided here shares resources that support children's/youth services librarians in developing and strengthening skills of cultural competence defined as "a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professions to work effectively in cross-cultural situations" (Cross et al. 1989, 7). Further, the annotated listing of materials serves to increase practitioners' acquisition of equity literacy defined as "the knowledge and skills that enable us to recognize, respond to, and redress conditions that deny some students access to educational and other opportunities enjoyed by their peers" (Gorski 2014).