Available Until 10/31/2023
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Diversity & Inclusion in Libraries: Call to Action and Strategies for Success*

For more information or to schedule this course, please contact Shannon D. Jones, AHIP, FMLA at joneshan@musc.edu and Beverly Murphy, AHIP, FMLA at beverly.murphy@duke.edu . 

As information professionals, it is our collective responsibility to create opportunities where individuals are encouraged and supported to bring their most authentic selves to the library. This level of authenticity will come as a result of an intentional effort to cultivate spaces where people feel free to use whichever personal pronouns suit them, where individuals feel safe and comfortable using the restroom that matches their gender identity, where librarians of color are offered the same support and professional development as their white counterparts, where diverse individuals can speak their truths and bring lived experiences to discussions without being attacked, mocked, or abused in the workplace, and where barriers are removed that may prevent people with accessibility issues from taking full advantage of library services and spaces. Tempered with experience and wisdom, this course will tackle challenges head-on that diverse individuals face as it relates to libraries and librarianship. 

Resource URL:  https://jamboard.google.com/d/1ZoLK5X5ZhR2LQOzHIq758UJgOYagmUcS9CWX5VKw03Q/edit?usp=sharing

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Define diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
  • Explain the importance and relevance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in libraries and librarianship
  • Identify and acknowledge personal dimensions of diversity  
  • Apply best practice strategies for building and sustaining a diverse workforce
  • Reflect on first-person narratives of DEI champions in comparison to their own lived experiences

Agenda

1 week prior - Pre-work: prior to the session

  • Participants will be asked to complete a Personal and Social Identity Wheel

12:00 to 12:15pm - Welcome, Speaker Introductions, Session Objectives

  • Ice breaker
    • Rules for Engagement
    • Getting to Know You worksheet
      • Share one interesting fact you learned
      • Maintain your distance

12:15 to 1:15 pm - Why DEI in Libraries Matter

1:15-1:30 pm - Break

1:30 to 2:30 pm

  • Personal and Social Identity Wheel Discussion
    • Facilitators reintroduce themselves using their own identity wheel
    • Ask participants to share their thoughts about completing the wheel. How did it make them feel? 
    • How can they use this information in their library 
  • Watch: 4 I’s of Oppression
  • Best practice strategies for building and sustaining a diverse workforce
    • Guiding Principles
      • Having a diversity statement is not enough if not paired with action 
      • What does it mean to be performative?
      • Avoid Grateful Guest Syndrome

2:30 to 2:45 pm - Break

2:45 to 3:45 pm - Hands-on Case Studies

  1. You have to pick a search committee for a vacated position
  • What process will you take?
  • What are best practices?.
  1. You’ve been asked to come up with a plan for formulating a DEI Committee for your library

-  What process will you take?

-  What are best practices?

-  What narrative will you create to get staff buy-in?

  1. Microaggression  - possibly act out with responses from participants
  2. Your library recently hired an information professional from a historically excluded racial group or an individual who has requested a workplace accommodation. 
    1. How will you prepare for the person's first day? 
    2. What resources are available on your campus?

3:45 to 4:00 pm Wrap-up

 

MLA CE Credits: 4