Pima County Public Library (PCPL) is proud to have within its organization teams that address the diversity of the staff and the communities we serve: the Nuestras Raíces, opens a new window Team, the Many Nations, opens a new window Team, the Kindred, opens a new window Team, the Welcome to America Team, opens a new window and the LGBTQ+ Services Committee, opens a new window.
We now have a new team—Biblio Lotus.
The Biblio Lotus Team fills a service gap within the library system by serving the Asian Communities in Pima County. With its Mission, Vision, Values below, this team is committed to providing services to the Pima County Asian communities, celebrating splendid Asian cultures, recognizing the contributions Asians make and educating staff and customers to dispel some of the myths surrounding Asian identities and cultures.
Mission
Supports and values the culture and voice of our Asian communities in Pima County by providing resources and programs and by establishing ongoing partnerships with Asian organizations therein.
Vision
A blooming Asian community, represented in the culture and operations of the library system.
Values
- Diversity - We honor the dynamic and rich Asian cultures.
- Inclusion - We raise our own voices and honor one another's.
- Education - We inform and connect staff to community.
- Community - We share culture and knowledge within and outside of the library system.
It’s been almost a full year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Over the course of the past year, there were many difficult, heartbreaking and even painful moments for each member of our community. Among those is an unacceptable increase in violent hate crimes and xenophobic rhetoric against Asian communities. Stop AAPI Hate, opens a new window recorded around 3800 anti-Asian incidents from March 2020 to February 2021. Sadly, this isn’t new. Asian Americans have been targeted, physically attacked or murdered since the beginning of U.S. history (e.g. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, opens a new window; Japanese Internment camps, opens a new window; violence that led to the Filipino Farm Worker Movement, opens a new window; the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, opens a new window; and the 2017 hate crime shooting of Srinivas Kuchibhotlato, opens a new window, to name a few examples).
This is a community that has experienced racism and exclusion throughout our history, yet it is often overlooked when we talk about building a more inclusive and equitable society. The model minority myth placed on Asian Americans through a racist system has silenced them even in the greatest moments of appropriation and violence.
