Foreword Katy Manck What is social justice? How do we foster cultural competence in our personal lives and professional practice? How can we help our students and teachers become better global and local citizens? Social justice can be defined as “the view that everyone deserves to enjoy the same economic, political and social rights, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, gender or other characteristics,” according to the Education World website. The global importance of social justice for all is displayed in the 17 Sustainable Develop- ment Goals (SDGs) centering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all UN states. Of particular interest to libraries are the SDGs for quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, and peace, justice, and strong institutions. The concept of cultural competence originated in the fields of social work and health services, referring to individuals and organizations that are respectful and responsive to beliefs, practices, cultural, and linguistic needs of diverse population groups (www.samhsa.gov). Social justice and cultural competence both indicate an ongoing process of growth and progress, making them highly useful lenses for teacher librarians and library/information science educators of preservice librarians to use as they purposefully examine policies and procedures at their institutions, assess resource collections and representation of local voices, and consider their individual interactions with persons of other cultural groups. Lessons bridging the academic subject curriculum are among the most valuable that school librarians can provide to our students and their teachers—empathy, see- ing the world beyond their own community, cooperation, tolerance, and more. As Kofi Annan, seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, said in his 2001 Nobel Peace Prize lecture: People of different religions and cultures live side-by-side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us in very different groups. We can love what
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