Literacy Library for Equity, Social Justice, and Peace

For whom was this library created to serve?

The literacy library was created for children, teens, and adults, for parents, families, teachers, and schools, and, for community and faith-based organizations to help them promote a culture of understanding, equity, social justice, peace, and kindness. Books help develop empathy and build shared background knowledge that highlights the simple power of kind deeds and advocacy that help others thrive (Adolf, A. 2010; Grauel, E. 2023). It is also an effective violence prevention strategy – a proactive effort designed to stop violence and abuse from happening in the first place by interrupting the cultural constructs that support it.

How can teachers, schools, adults, parents, and community organizations promote equity, social justice, and peace in the classroom at home and around the world?

A key action in promoting equity, social justice and peace is education. All adults, parents, and teachers whether in the classroom, at home or in the community can create a community of conscience by creating strategies that teach fairness. This environment ensures that everyone’s voices, opinions, and ideas are valued and respected. It is imperative that teachers and others be advocates for equity, social justice, and peace both in their local communities and globally.

What is the Purpose of an Equity, Social Justice, and Peace Literacy Library?

This literacy library is one tool that can be used to develop knowledge, values, and skills that are needed to understand, build, and sustain peace within us, in our communities, and the world. This library will attempt to do this by:

  • empowering learners though social emotional learning (Bauld, A. 2024) to understand the underlying principles of creating a non-violent world anchored in dignity, purpose, and meaning,
  •  supporting people in creating a skill set to find purpose, meaning, and self-worth through developing communication, conflict resolution, understanding, and empathy in sustaining peace, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging while respecting and accepting the rights of others,
  •  creating systemic change that integrates compassion and humanity through leadership, education, and empowerment through peace literacy, and compassionate action,
  •  providing an educational literacy library for young children to facilitate ideas on peace, volunteering, and supervised community outreach about these topics, and for older children participation in higher-level learning by researching, writing, and developing community-based projects focused on equity, social justice, and peace.

Adolf, A. (2010). What Does Peace Literature Do? An Introduction to the Genre and its Criticism. Peace Research, 42(1/2), 9–21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23607874

Bauld, Andrew. "Community Champion: Amanda Chacon's library welcomes students and families." School Library Journal, vol. 70, no. 4, Apr. 2024, pp. 22+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A790645054/ITOF?u=nysl_we_becpl&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fed8c7a2. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

Grauel, Elizabeth. "Give Peace a Chance: Introducing 'Peace Lit' as Genre in Public Libraries." Public Libraries, vol. 62, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2023, pp. 10+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A745677245/ITOF?u=nysl_we_becpl&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=258725cb. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.