After 30 years within the local school district, the Multicultural Collection found a new home at Oak Park Public Library. This nontraditional collection of multicultural artifacts and print materials had been used to promote multicultural classroom instruction, but due to restraints within the district, needed a new home. At the library, the collection is accessible not only to the school community, but also to the broader community, bringing new opportunities for intercultural learning.

This collection provides new opportunities; using artifacts alongside print transmits information beyond language, offering voice to communities that don’t find voices in traditional collections. Artifacts also offer room for multiple perspectives, putting the power of interpretation in the hands of the community. In addition to classroom programming, the multicultural learning librarian provides curriculum support for teachers to leverage object-based learning in their classrooms and creates tools for families and individuals to interpret using object cards.

Our goal is to build intercultural understanding and empathy by exploring cultures around the world and understanding individual perspectives and identities within communities. As a community collection, the collection provides both mirrors that reflect our own diversity and also windows to learn about cultures outside our own. We are working towards community interpretation and curation of artifacts, through artifact donation and projects to have community members provide narration and context for artifact object cards.