Decentering Whiteness in the Academic Library: Investigating the Impact of Institutional Whiteness on Organizational Culture through a Case Study of a Grassroots Anti-Racist Community of Practice in an Academic Library

Abstract

This article reports on a small-scale research project conducted in the summer of 2021. It explores the impact of a grass-roots Anti-Racist Community of Practice on organizational culture and how much it influenced the decision-making practices of the library’s Senior Management Team. Discussed are issues of structural and institutional racism, privilege, power tensions, the impact of whiteness, and the problem of a policy-led approach to increasing diversity. A case study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with eleven participants who were either part of the Anti-Racist Community of Practice, the Senior Management Team, or both. The results of the research show that the Anti-Racist Community of Practice has significantly influenced organizational culture and has shifted the decision-making processes of the Senior Management Team in the library. However, changes in decision-making have not yet manifested in anti-racist practice becoming embedded at the senior level of the library.