It was incredible to see our customers’ support for Black-owned bookstores on Juneteenth 2020, but this was only meant to be the beginning.
Libro.fm is committed to doing the work: amplifying marginalized voices, diversifying our small team as we grow, evaluating our partnerships, and pushing for change within the book industry.
We are looking back with an awareness of how we’ve fallen short in the past in order to take action as we move forward.
Here’s what we mean when we talk about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
| Diversity: the inclusion of individuals from different backgrounds with a wide range of personal experiences, based on variables like gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical ability, geographic location, socioeconomic backgrounds, political leanings, religion, or other ideologies |
| Equity: the practice of treating everyone fairly by putting just and impartial processes/procedures in place, eliminating barriers that prevent people’s participation or success, and ensuring that everyone has equal access to resources |
| Inclusion: the actions taken to make sure each person’s individual perspective is respected and valued |
Actions Libro.fm is taking to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion:
- We are featuring identity-based collections on our website, including audiobooks by BIPOC authors, Latinx authors, and Indigenous authors, with more to come in the future.
- We are requesting more BIPOC author representation across ALCs.
- When audiobooks are included in one or multiple ALC programs, they gain more exposure to booksellers, bookstagrammers, and other bookish influencers.
- We are actively working to ensure that we apply equitable processes to recruiting and hiring as we continue to grow.
- We are prioritizing audiobooks by diverse authors by regularly sharing pre-orders and new releases on our channels.
- We are featuring BIPOC-operated bookstores and diverse booksellers on our social media channels and blog, and actively seeking these voices out to share with the larger community.
- We are evaluating current and future partnerships for inclusivity.
We hope that the actions we are taking show our intentions, and we also acknowledge that this work will never be “done.” This is an evolving list of actions that we’re taking as a company, and we invite dialogue, questions, comments, and suggestions from our community. Please connect with us at hello@libro.fm with your thoughts.
Looking for more?
Check out these bookstore directories & playlists!
