Month and then tick it off as having that done. The library has to be a safe space for everyone to explore the world. For me it was a refuge and a safe space, and also a way for me to spread by wings.” One book that stood out for Stella from this year’s Carnegie short list was Dean Atta’s The Black Flamingo. “Sixteen-year- old me wants to be Michael’s friend, 40-year-old me wants to be his mum, 60-year-old me wants to be his gran. It had me gripped from start to finish. It’s so appealing and it’s British!”
Libraries as portals
Brinsbury College offers courses in horticulture and equine studies. Except for international students, the intake is not especially diverse. When asked what her response is to those who argue Black Lives Matter isn’t applicable in their areas, Stella is clear. Books need to reflect and provide windows onto diverse lives, no matter the background of the reader. “Your library is a portal into our society and world. If you are not preparing your users for that world which might just be 10 miles up the road, then you’re not doing your duty. I trained in Newhaven, an area of poverty on the coast. Going to Brighton was the furthest that some students had been, yet 40 miles up the road is London. We are doing those children a massive disservice if we are not equipping them for the wider world.” Bookshops also have that ability to be a portal into the wider world, and so they too have a part to play in opening up windows on other cultures. Libraries and bookshops are in a position where they can lead change through positive choices.
Stella refers back to her time as a teacher and working with students with English as an Additional Language, students with Special Education Needs
Stella Hine.
and those on Pupil Premium. “When you think about and include specific groups of children to engage them with their learning, it actually brings all students up! Inclusive learning benefits everyone and improves standards.”
Leadership
In an early role Stella was asked to produce a display for Black History Month. “A colleague came up to me and asked ‘why isn’t there a white history month?’. I was dumbfounded. My manager went ballistic, he wanted to know who it was, I didn’t feel it was right to say, he called a meeting with all staff and by confronting it head on with everyone he did start to change the culture. “Change has to be from the top down, with leadership setting the culture and expectation. If they don’t we will lose momentum. I am unashamedly going to use any positions of clout I have, but if it doesn’t happen from the top it cannot be
Spring-Summer 2020
translated into sustainable actions.” However, Stella admits that “Black History Month has always been a slightly cringeworthy affair for me because it has been so heavily resourced and focused on the American experience. I tried to focus last year on black British movers and changers. We have to claim it as our own.”
Allies and advocates
“As a black person you feel the onus of the whole population is on you. If you fail, the whole of black librarianship is on you. Networking has got to be a way forward.” Having allies and advocates and owning your right to be was part of why Stella joined CILIP’s BAME network. “It takes a huge amount of resilience and a support network is critical. Believing that who you are and what you’ve experienced is valid. I often think ‘nobody’s interested in what I think’ and I’m astonished when they actually are. People have got to listen and speak up and speak out.” PEN&INC.
PEN&INC. 29
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