Book Review: Jones & Murphy on Cultural Humility in Libraries

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Cultural Humility in Libraries: A Call to Action and Strategies for Success. Edited by Shannon D. Jones & Beverly Murphy. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2024. xv, 179 p. Includes bibliographic references, figures, and index. Medical Library Association Books Series. ISBN 9781538162149 (hardcover) $138.95; ISBN 9781538162156 (softcover) $56.95.

Reviewed by Sarah E. Adams
Open Education Librarian
Libraries and Cultural Resources
University of Calgary

Every day, library staff engage with patrons, and patrons engage with us. These interactions can create a lasting impression influenced by the lived experiences and identities of all individuals involved. This premise is central to the work Cultural Humility in Libraries: A Call to Action and Strategies for Success, edited by Shannon D. Jones and Beverly Murphy, featuring 33 contributing authors across 18 chapters. Cultural humility empowers librarians and other library staff to reflect on ourselves, our interactions with others, and the impact those interactions have as we build relationships in our communities.

Part of the Medical Library Association Books Series, Cultural Humility in Libraries is an academic text supporting professional development in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). This book provides a strong foundational understanding of the history of cultural competence and cultural humility, while emphasizing the interplay and differences between the two frameworks. It also highlights the ways in which cultural humility and cultural competence interact in spaces within health services, health education, and public and academic libraries. The book asks us as library professionals to move beyond cultural competence toward a lifelong journey of reflection, discovery, learning, and unlearning through cultural humility. Librarians can use this book and its inspirational case studies to reflect upon their professional practice and to enhance their outreach and service strategies.

Part I provides a foundational understanding of what cultural humility is, highlights key scholars, and demonstrates how this framework developed to improve relationship-building between medical practitioners and their patients. The work then moves into Part II: Applications in Libraries, which details strategies taken within library and educational settings to incorporate cultural humility to enhance connection, communication, and professional practice. Closing with Part III: Voices from the Field, we hear from individuals actively incorporating cultural humility in their work as they support their patrons and colleagues.

There is a good balance between libraries and health disciplines in centring discussions around cultural humility. Within chapters where health education is the focus, the information is presented in a way that allows the reader to consider applications in their own library services and personal interactions. The book is well organized, and concepts build upon each other, which helps readers understand the complexity and nuances in embedding cultural humility in service-oriented roles and workplaces. With contributors from different backgrounds and settings, there are slight shifts in authorial tone and repetition of content throughout the book; however, readers benefit from seeing commonalities among definitions, terminology, key concepts, and further resources offered by multiple contributors.

The book benefits from each authors’ openness to being vulnerable and frank about their lived experiences as well as the barriers encountered in their advocacy and cultural humility work. Within the case study chapters, the authors share their strategies and initiatives to support learning and community connection, while detailing their different approaches, perspectives, and professional settings. In recounting their own stories when undertaking this kind of work, I appreciated that the authors were acknowledging that they are limited by their own personal experiences, identities, privileges, roles, and settings.

Cultural Humility in Libraries contributes well to the current literature and is written in an approachable and practical way. While it is American-focused, the content is still applicable to Canadian librarians and their communities. This is an important read for not only librarians and library staff who engage with patrons, but for those in leadership positions as well. I would particularly recommend this book to public and academic librarians directly supporting law libraries, medical disciplines, health literacy, and EDI. In reviewing this thought-provoking book, I questioned my own privilege and identity. Cultural Humility in Libraries will help readers apply the learnings and strategies as individuals and as a collective, both within our workplaces and librarianship itself.