Assistant Professor Nicole A. Cooke is a founding member of the advisory board for Our Voices, a new American Library Association (ALA) initiative that seeks to increase diversity in the production and distribution of children’s books. Sponsored by ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom and Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services, Our Voices offers interested libraries a template to promote the growth of diverse, quality content in library collections. The initiative is being launched during Banned Books Week, September 25-October 1.
"Working with the Our Voices is an absolute pleasure and is among the most important work I’ve done with the American Library Association," said Cooke. "It's such a great group—librarians, booksellers, and publishers—all of whom are passionate about seeing more diverse faces and stories in library collections."
Some of the steps Our Voices plans to use in achieving its goal are to identify small, independent content creators; connect with independent booksellers and readers for conversations about diversity of stories, quality of collections, and the value of libraries; and encourage the exchange of diverse collections among libraries. Cooke looks forward to working with iSchool students to increase diversity in the creation, publication, review, and acquisition of library materials. "Our diverse patron populations demand and deserve collections that reflect them and their experiences," she said.
Cooke was named a "Mover & Shaker" by Library Journal in 2007 and was the 2016 recipient of the ALA's Equality Award. Her research and teaching interests include human information behavior (particularly in the online context), critical cultural information studies, and diversity and social justice in librarianship with an emphasis on infusing them into LIS education and pedagogy. She holds an MEd in adult education from Penn State, and a Master of Library Science degree and a PhD in communication, information and library studies from Rutgers University, where she was an American Library Association (ALA) Spectrum Doctoral Fellow.