A Richmond school district coordinator is receiving a prestigious award for her expertise and contribution to promoting equity and diversity as a teacher librarian.
Rebeca Rubio, SD38's coordinator for libraries and information services, is one of four recipients of this year's Angela Thacker Memorial Award from the Canadian School Libraries.
Rubio's role in the Richmond school district is extensive, including working closely with the district's teacher librarians to create diverse, equitable collections that include all learners and all identities, and managing and maintaining the District Resource Centre (DRC).
"Diversity, equity and inclusion have been a key component in my work for these past few years, and I am both honoured and humbled to be recognized for it," said Rubio.
Among her long list of contributions to the school district and the profession in general, Rubio's work in championing equity and diversity has been recognized both locally and internationally.
One of Rubio's most significant contributions is the introduction of Diversity Audits to the school district, which have now been written into the district's Strategic Plan.
Rubio has presented her work in the area to the British Columbia Teacher Librarians Association and the International Association of School Librarianship. According to RC Palmer secondary teacher librarian Tom Morley, she is also currently advising the Sooke School District about implementing Diversity Audits.
Rubio's leadership at the DRC has also led to a robust Indigenous collection, and she's currently working on righting Canada's wrongs with a focus on topics such as Japanese internment and residential schools.
"Equity work is at the heart of all library programming and is essential for building community and creating safe spaces for all students. To receive this award is affirmation that our work is important and impactful," she said.
The award was established in memory of teacher librarian Angela Thacker, and it honours teacher librarians who contribute to the profession through initiatives that "deal with topics relevant to teacher-librarianship and/ or school library learning commons."
"With a changing world and the recognition that diversity is an important component of our societal values, Rebecca has sought to educate teachers and teacher librarians in evaluating their collections and diversifying the content to recognize the diversity of our population and the students attending our schools," said Richard Beaudry, teacher librarian and program coordinator at UBC.
"I can’t think of a better recipient for this award based on all the work and advocacy she has done on our behalf since she became a teacher librarian."
