Respecting Privacy of Thought in DEI Training

Abstract

In the same way that libraries defend the privacy rights of library users so should they respect library workers’ privacy of thought. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, as it has been approached in recent years, impinges on privacy of thought and cognitive liberty. It is possible to see the profession’s shift away from a privacy-defending approach to DEI training to a privacy-threatening approach through the concept of cultural competence, which is the subject of two American Library Association guidelines a decade apart. Because workplace trainings are an expression of an organization’s philosophy of control, it is management’s responsibility to foster privacy by design in the library.