Academic Libraries in America's Multicultural 21st Century
Dr. Carlos Cortés
Professor Emeritus of History
University of California, Riverside
Dr. Cortés opened his remarks by asking the audience
to consider the challenges and opportunities that academic institutions
and research libraries face in helping faculty, students, and staff better
understand the major themes and issues of multicultural diversity in the
21st century. For example, he stated that libraries should consider diversity
in obtaining books and other materials to be used by their clientele.
Using examples primarily from the United States, but also exploring the
context of global multiculturalism, Dr. Cortés briefly explored six
major diversity issues that have been and will continue to be factors in
shaping the future of societies around the world. The underlying challenge
for libraries is to position themselves to be better resources in helping
to address these issues.
(1) Equity. If it were not for the inequities of the past, the issue of
diversity would not be so important today. Since its inception, the United
States has been a multicultural society, but not always an equitable one.
The nation began as a society of vertical multiculturalism, in which people
of certain groups--for example, men and white people in general--had built-in
legal and other structural advantages over others. Since that time, one
of the major themes in American life has been the quest--often the struggle--to
move toward becoming a society of horizontal multiculturalism, in which
members of diverse groups share equal rights and opportunities
For example, the abolition of slavery and passage of the 19th amendment
giving women the right to vote were steps from vertical toward horizontal
multiculturalism. However, these actions did not mean the achievement of
full horizontality, because many other equity issues remained, such as racial
segregation and denial of full access for women. Good libraries should provide
ample opportunities to explore the many struggles for equality in such areas
as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, language, and sexual orientation.
(2) Balance. Multicultural societies like ours are involved in a continuous
balancing act. On the one hand, we need to strengthen, even while modifying,
our common culture in order to provide society glue. At the same time we
need to recognize the imperatives growing from diversity, particularly the
presence of multiple cultures within our boundaries.
Good libraries should not only contain materials on the American balancing
act of common and multiple cultures. They should also provide opportunities
for comparatively exploring how this balancing act operates in other societies.
Take, for example, the ways that other nations have dealt with the issues
of multiple languages, divergent policies on the officializing of languages,
and the relationship between religion and government.
(3) Limits. How far should we go in tilting toward unity or diversity? Put
another way, at what points should we put limits on the conformist extremes
of unity at all costs and the anarchic extremes of diversity at all costs?
Take religion: as a nation we support diversity by drawing limits on religious
conformity by guaranteeing freedom of religion. Yet at the same time we
draw limits on religious diversity. For example, you can't establish a religion
based on the taking of human life.
But what about animal sacrifice? That unity-diversity limits issue is still
up for grabs. In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck
down an ordinance by the city of Hialeah, Florida, which prohibited the
killing of animals in public ceremonies, saying this was a veiled attack
on religion. The law's target was clearly the growing practice of SanterÌa,
which began as an Afro-Caribbean religion, came to the United States through
immigration, and in which animals are sometimes killed as part of ceremonies.
Yet the court did not indicate how it would rule if Hialeah or some other
community banned all killing of animals, not just in public ceremonies,
and this ban incidentally restricted the practice of religion.
Questions of limits--to both unity and diversity--arise continuously regarding
such issues as racial profiling by law enforcement, establishment of English-only
regulations by government and private enterprise, the Equal Rights Amendment,
gay marriage, the nature of citizenship, and domestic partnership benefits.
Libraries should support the examination of these complex and often controversial
limits questions.
(4) Perception. People learn about difference. This may or may not be part
of a school curriculum. Regardless, it inevitably occurs in society through
such avenues as the mass media, as Dr. CortÈs demonstrates in his forthcoming
book, The Children Are Watching: How the Media Teach about Diversity (Teachers
College Press, 2000).
In this way, people develop deep preconceptions about groups with whom they
have never had significant personal contact. Libraries should provide resources
for exploring how group images come into existence, are disseminated, become
reinforced, and sometimes change, as well as the ramifications of those
images for life in a multicultural society and shrinking globe.
(5) Interaction. Intergroup perceptions may develop at a distance. Yet most
people, sooner or later, will come into direct personal contact with diversity.
Yet with whom do people truly interact?
According to philosopher Richard Bernstein, when people avoid contact with
those who are different and mainly interact with people like themselves,
they contribute to what he calls "fragmented pluralism." Worse yet, he argues,
they ultimately lose or fail to develop the ability to communicate with
and understand others, therefore creating a situation of "polemical pluralism."
The United States is a multicultural nation, as are many others. Yet we
face the deep societal issue of moving beyond merely being multicultural
to becoming truly intercultural, where we develop the capacity for intergroup
understanding, communication, and cooperation. Libraries should provide
resources that address this issue, both in the United States and worldwide.
(6) Change. Not only is change inevitable, it will also inevitably occur
more rapidly in the future. As England's Queen Victoria once said, "Change
must be accepted, when it can no longer be resisted."
Obviously the United States is undergoing a dramatic demographic revolution.
By the middle of the 21st century, people of color will comprise half of
the nation. This is projected to occur in California during the year 2000,
while it has already taken place in California schools. Libraries need to
be centers in which people can investigate the process of change and its
implications for diversity.
Dr. Cortés concluded by reminding us that increasing multiculturalism
in our society is inevitable as we enter the new millennium. Academic institutions
and libraries can contribute to the process by which we individually and
collectively prepare for a rapidly changing world of increasing diversity,
by helping us address the six issues that he discussed. This is more than
an intellectual challenge--it is also a societal imperative of paramount
importance. 
Jeanne Fong
University of California, Berkeley
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