Part 1: Tuesday, February 26, 2021, 2-4 pm ET Session 1 | 2:00-2:15 pm ET What Does It Mean To Be Antiracist?
A brief introduction to the course, which will highlight key concepts, including #ownvoices, privilege, and intersectionality, and explaining how the discussion groups and assignments will work.
Speaker:
To be announced soon
Session 2 | 2:15-3:00 pm ET Making Implicit Biases Explicit
Serving diverse and marginalized populations is rewarding but complicated work. Among the barriers to inclusive service is implicit bias. It is important for information professionals to examine and acknowledge their own privileges and biases and recognize their role in creating and sustaining a welcoming environment in the library for every person who seeks access to the library’s materials, services, programs, and spaces. In this session, you'll unpack the concept of implicit bias, as well as the closely related concepts of stereotypes, microaggressions, and cultural competence, and walk away with ideas for how to use this deeper understanding to enhance your critical information practice.
Speaker:
Nicole A. Cooke, PhD, MEd, MLS, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Science, College of Information and Communications, University of South Carolina
Intermission | 3:00-3:15 pm ET
Session 3 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET Dismantling White Supremacy in the Library
In this session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of white supremacy and how it operates on institutional and individual levels. You will learn how to recognize and address explicit and implicit racist manifestations. Real-world examples will help contextualize the phenomena of white supremacy within public, school, and academic libraries. Most importantly, the session will move beyond understanding white supremacy, focusing on tangible steps toward dismantling racist systems of oppression.
Speaker:
Cassie Sheets, Adjunct Instructor, College of Humanities and Sciences, University of Montana (MT)
Part 2: Tuesday, March 2, 2021, 2-4 pm ET Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 Cultivating Antiracist/Antibiased Workplaces and Hiring Practices
Creating an antiracist culture at your library must involve consideration of staff culture and hiring practices. In this session, you’ll learn how to develop and implement antiracist/antibiased recruitment and hiring practices (including antiracist interviewing and candidate selection), steps to take toward fostering inclusive workplaces, and how to conduct an organizational talent equity audit at your own library.
Speaker:
Kawanna Bright PHD, Assistant Professor, East Carolina University College of Education (NC)
Intermission | 2:45-3:00 pm ET
Session 2 | 3:00-4:00 pm ET Equity Work Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
In this closing conversation, you’ll hear from two expert librarians how you can sustain equity, diversity, and inclusion work at your library and within your collections for the long haul. You’ll learn how to spot the problems and thoughtfully mobilize to enact solutions that prioritize libreratory, antiracist goals. You’ll come away with an understanding of how collection assessment and development fit into the larger picture of the library as an institution, and how you and your colleagues can ensure equity reaches both.
Speakers:
Ozy Aloziem, MSW, Community Connections Program Coordinator, Denver Central Library (CO)
Becker Parkhurst-Strout, Adult Collection Development Librarian, Denver Public Library (CO)
Part 3 - Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 2-4 pm ET Session 1 | 2:00-2:30 pm ET Using Local History to Combat Racism
Learn how connecting to your community’s past can open up rich conversations about the future in this inspiring session. This session provides a deep dive into how librarians can use their institutions’ historical collections and resources to help patrons, students, and community members explore, critically analyze, and combat systemic racism.
Speaker:
Angel Jewel Tucker, Youth Services Manager, Johnson County Library, Overland Park, KS
Session 2 | 2:30-3:15 pm ET Reassessing Our Core Values
What does true antiracist work look like within an organization and who measures its success? In this session, you’ll learn how to look more deeply into what your library is doing—and isn’t doing—with regards to equity work and reassess your priorities and areas of focus. You’ll learn to ask questions that go beneath the surface to the core values of your institution to reconsider your mission statement and your services, and begin to consider how you might create a revolutionary space of justice and healing through authentic human connection.
Speaker:
To be announced soon
Intermission | 3:15-3:30 pm ET
Session 2 | 3:30-4:15 pm ET Anti-Oppression, Allyship, and Emotional Labor
Librarians committed to building strong and diverse collections and programs may wonder what else they can do to be positive agents of change in their communities. While there is far more than can be and is being done than we can cover in a single session, we’ll look at what it means to be an “ally,” how librarians can strive for social justice in their spheres of influence, and make space for marginalized voices and viewpoints. Anastasia Collins, librarian at Simmons College, will explore the experience of emotional labor and offer ways that diverse coalitions of professionals and advocates can support each other's efforts in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Speaker:
Anastasia Collins, Research & Instruction Librarian at Simmons University Library | 