Tulsa City-County Library Has Hired Its First Diversity Officer

The Tulsa City-County Library is making changes it says will make it more inclusive.

Carrie McClain, Tulsa City-County Library's first Equity Diversity and Inclusion officer, said it's important for the library to know how to serve anyone who walks through the doors.

"No matter what experience you're walking in our doors from, we have something here for you," said McClain.

Since the early 1900s, the Tulsa City-County library's mission has been to promote lifelong learning.

The library said books can be powerful tools to do just that.

This new chapter is about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

"It does allow for people to come together, hear each other, learn from each other, and create this atmosphere of growth and inclusion," said McClain.

The new role comes after the library's focus on building platforms to create an inclusive space it said promotes healing, transformation, and change.

Carrie McClain said she plans to build on that foundation and bring a wide range of tools to help educate Tulsans.

"Whether that is a book, whether that is a resource, whether that's to help answer a question that you may have, to give community resource information for you," said McClain.

She said one of her most important goals is to help people understand that everyone plays a role in creating an inclusive space.

"Equity, diversity and inclusion tends to sometimes, in a lot of spaces, feels like it's the job of one person's or a dedicated department, or a dedicated group of people, and I really want to change that lens, that focus, that idea," said McClain.

To learn more about Tulsa City-County library, click here.