"Prejudice, and the Public Library" Nyquist

One thing that really interested me about this article was how he distinguished between desegregation and integration. I thought it was right on that integration is an educational issue. But I wonder how exactly white librarians could be able to help with integration, because they’re often just another authority figure in white skin, as the author pointed out. How can white and black people integrate fully or at least come to some kind of respectful understanding? I think that as a future white librarian it will be very important for me as well as all my other white colleagues to try to hire minority students first as pages and then mentor them along into library school. But also resisting the urge to be authoritarian when it comes to dealing with patrons is really important. I loved the line in this article when the author basically is throwing all the uptight advice and traditions of past librarians out the window when dealing with minority patrons: throw the rule book away, especially concerning the little things. But shouldn’t this be a battle cry for not just serving minority patrons, but all kids and adults in public libraries? If reading is a less and less popular thing to do and visiting a library even less common, all the rules that lead us to where we are should be thrown out for a radically new kind of librarian and library, one that is community based and extroverted, not introverted like librarians behind their desks enforcing quietness. I liked this article for not only having a kick to it and some opinions but also sounding reasonably well-informed about the problems in America with race and minority issues.