Multicultural reading advocates believe in the power of literature to transform and to change people's lives. They take seriously the arguments that racism and prejudice can be lessened through multicultural reading, and also that children from undervalued societal groups who read books that depict people like themselves in a positive light will be more likely to develop a positive self-image. As the world in which we live increasingly requires cross-cultural interactions, it is also important that they be exposed to multiple perspectives on many subjects, that we "develop more democratic racial and ethnic attitudes and understand the cultural assumptions that underlie knowledge claims". Library media specialists have long been involved in the selection of multicultural materials for their collections. Selection policies often mention exactly how and why such materials are collected. And there is good reason for their inclusion. Multicultural materials often balance the scale between the blandness of textbooks adopted for the masses, and the needs of a particular school for something more complex. Thoughtful multicultural reading can help the library media specialist, faculty members, and students explained their views. But if library media specialists are going to be the change agents that they could be in this arena, it is important that they begin to have as a goal the formation of themselves as multicultural educators.