ILA Committee for Diversity & Inclusion seeking new members

 Happy Friday everyone!

As you’re renewing (or joining) ILA for next year, please consider increasing your involvement by serving on a committee and/or subdivision. Several are seeking new members for the coming year, and I’d like to plug the diversity and inclusion committee 

A little bit about CD&I: The purpose of the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion is to advance awareness and improve service to a wide range of often underserved populations in Iowa. The Committee will promote awareness of issues related to traditionally underrepresented groups. Our regular activities include a monthly meeting (about an hour once a month, meeting virtually), bi-monthly social justice discussion groups (facilitated by a couple of committee members each time), and collecting/distributing a monthly resource round-up of links related to topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.

If you or someone you know would be a great fit for the committee, please fill out the ILA Volunteer Form 1 and let us know! If you have any questions about the committee please feel free to reach out to me as the committee chair.

Thanks!

Amanda Bellis
abellis@ankenyiowa.gov

November 2021

This message is from the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Iowa Library Association as a whole.

Happy Election Day from ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee!

Scholarship Opportunity:

The Iowa Library Association (ILA)’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion (CD&I), together with ILA’s Library Leadership and Management Association (ILA LLAMA) Subdivision, are pleased to announce that we will be accepting applications for the ILA for All Membership Award. This scholarship program offers candidates from underrepresented groups an opportunity to receive a one-year membership in ILA, which also includes ILA LLAMA membership.

ILA is committed to increasing knowledge about diversity within our organization and awareness of issues related to traditionally underrepresented groups, as well as increasing the inclusion and representation of underrepresented groups in the ILA membership. The current goal of the scholarship program is to encourage and empower Iowa library staff to participate in the career development and enrichment opportunities offered by ILA and increase the number of underrepresented members in the organization.

Please share this information and application form with anyone who might be interested in this scholarship. We are eager to get the word out as far and wide as possible.

The application form can be found here 1, and the application deadline is November 15, 2021.

Please direct any questions or concerns to CD&I or LLAMA:

CD&I Chair: Jillian Rutledge jrutledge@waterloopubliclibrary.org

CD&I Vice-Chair: Amanda Bellis abellis@ankenyiowa.gov

LLAMA Chair: Kim Kietzman KKietzman@altoona-iowa.com

LLAMA Vice-Chair: Julie Finch jfinch@urbandale.org

Social Justice Discussion Group

Throughout the month of November we will be reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Restorative Justice. Discussions are scheduled for December 1st at 10:00 am (passcode 094427) and December 10th at 2:00 pm (passcode 175139).

We would love it if you joined us. The level of participation is up to each attendee; you may actively contribute to the discussion or just listen & learn. Here are some resources for the discussion groups:

• Iowa Access to Justice Summit Tickets (Free Event), Thu, Nov 4, 2021 at 8:30 AM | Eventbrite
• Prison Abolition and Restorative Justice
• Effectiveness of Restorative Justice
• How Restorative Justice Could End Mass Incarceration (Video)
• How is Transformative Justice Different from Restorative Justice?
• Restorative Justice Practices of Native American, First Nation and Other Indigenous People of North America: Part One
• Restorative Justice Practices of Native American, First Nation and Other Indigenous People of North America: Part Two
• Restorative Justice is Racial Justice
• Sorry I Shot You (Restorative Justice Documentary)
• Restorative Circles: Creating a Safe Environment for Students to Reflect

Other resources of interest:

• Inclusive Entrepreneurship Tickets, Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite
• Why sharing gender pronouns in the workplace matters 1 (article)
• Staff Equity and Inclusion Training (Library Leadership podcast)

Previously shared social justice discussion group resources:

Race:

• Nikole Hannah-Jones on Race, Education, and Growing up in Waterloo (Talk of Iowa)

• 26 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students (Published 2017)

• Teaching While White

• 10 Books About Race To Read Instead Of Asking A Person Of Color To Explain Things To You 1

• 17 Books On Race Every White Person Needs To Read

• Twitter thread on Structural Racism in Libraries

• Advancing Racial Equity in Public Libraries

• Race, Ethnicity, Nationality and Jellybeans

• Understanding the difference between race and ethnicity

• Why We Confuse Race and Ethnicity A Lexicographer’s Perspective

• Why diversity matters: A roundtable discussion on racial and ethnic diversity in librarianship

• Racial Microaggressions: Comments That Sting | The New York Times

• Reading and Talking about Race: An Intro to ALA’s Great Stories Club (Part 1: Deeper Than Our Skins)

• Discussing Race with Young Kids | First Steps

• 31 Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

• Exploring the Race and Ethnicity Question

• Understanding the difference between race and ethnicity

• Stop white centering — Anti-Racism Daily

• ‘Me And White Supremacy’ — A Personal Anti-Racism Tool : Life Kit

• Confronting racism is not about the needs and feelings of white people | Ijeoma Oluo

• What Is White Centering and Are You Doing It? Plus, 7 Ways To Stop

• Proposed Iowa House bill would bar funding from schools teaching the 1619 Project

Unconscious/Implicit Bias:

• Strategies to Address Unconscious Bias
• How Racial Bias Works - and How to Disrupt It
• To Reduce Gender Bias, Anonymize Job Applications
• Project Implicit - Implicit Association Test
• End Racial Bias in School Discipline
• reWork: Raise Awareness about Unconscious Bias
• Implicit Bias in the Library Workplace

Housing:

• State of Homelessness

• What Would ‘Housing as a Human Right’ Look Like in California?

• Ryan Dowd’s Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness

• Social Welfare History Project: Contemporary Housing Issues

• Cities Are Tackling the Housing Crunch—by Building Above the Library

• Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force blog

• Libraries Respond: Services to Poor and Homeless People

• Give Them Shelter? Libraries face tough choices when homeless patrons set up permanent residence

• Strengthening Communities: The Role of the Public Library as a Site of Connection

• We the Unhoused podcast

• WebJunction Courses on Homelessness

Education:

• Science of Equality
• Toward a Humanizing Framework for Student Success
• The Difference Between Educational Equality, Equity, and Justice… and Why It Matters by Joseph Levitan
• Beware of Equity Traps and Tropes
• 4 Steps You Can Take to Begin Addressing Equity in Education
• The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained with a cartoon 1
• Diversity & Inclusion Reading List: Equity/Inclusion in Higher Ed Books
• Right to Regalia: Let Those Feathers Fly at Graduation

O​n behalf of ILA CD&I,

Jillian Rutledge, Chair

October 2020

 October 1, 2020

 

Throughout the month of September we will be reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Ability. Discussions are scheduled for October 7  at 9:00 am and October 12th at 2:00 pm. We would love it if you joined us for either or both calls. The level of participation is up to each attendee; you may actively contribute to the discussion or just listen & learn. Here are some resources for next month’s discussion groups:

 

• Iowa State University: Ableism & Disability Studies libguide

• Disability advocate says #JustAskDontGrab highlights how often strangers 'help' without consent

• Librarians with disabilities face barriers to accessibility and inclusion

• Services to People with Disabilities: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights 

• Accessibility: Image Alt Text best practices

• Disability at work: Libraries, built to exclude

• Ableism and Access in the Academic Library

• Words Matter, Association for Library Service to Children blog

• Disability, Identity, and Language (Person First or Identity First language) video

• Perspectives & Advice on Universal Accessibility Design video

• Oregon City Public Library: The Disability Community in the Library 

• Providing Access to the Good Life for the Disabled webinar

• Prioritizing Accessibility and Disability Inclusion at Your Library

• Accessibility for Justice

• Describing Visual Resources Toolkit

• Universal Design for Learning: A Quick Overview - Iowa Library for the Blind and Print Disabled

• Center for Applied Special Technology:  About Universal Design for Learning

• Accessibility and Open Educational Resources

• Iowa Library for the Blind and Print Disabled - Resources

• Accessible Educational Materials - Instructional Materials Center, Iowa Library for The Blind and Print Disabled

 

Other resources

Trans+Script: Trans and Nonbinary Library People Are Everywhere

September 2021

 This message is from the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Iowa Library Association as a whole.

Greetings from ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee!

First up, don’t forget to mark your calendar for Wednesday, September 1st at 10:00 am, for our next deep dive into January’s Racial Equity workshop. We will be examining Library Personnel Handbooks/Guidelines/Policies. Please come prepared with any questions or concerns you have about your own policies, as well as any examples of improvements you’ve made at your organization.

Zoom link, Meeting ID: 976 6000 8323, Passcode: 233917.

ILA Conference Registration is open! Don’t miss the pre-conference session at the State Library for the Blind on Wednesday, October 6th. This session will provide training and examples on how to use alternative formats to ensure accessibility for all library patrons. If you can’t make it to the pre-conference but would still like to tour the library, feel free! It’s within walking distance of the convention center.

Here are some resources the Committee has compiled related to DEI work in libraries:

• Banned Books Week is coming up September 26 - October 2. Check out ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom resources here.
• Aiko Bethea & Brene Brown on Inclusivity at Work: The Heart of Hard Conversations and Part Two: Creating Transformative Cultures [Spotify podcast episodes]
• An Open Letter to Corporate America, Philanthropy, Academia, etc.: What Now?
• Melissa’s Story and Sharpie Activism 3 [author Alex Gino changes the name of award winning middle grade novel ‘George’ to ‘Melissa’s Story’ and encourages others to do the same to the book jacket using a Sharpie]
• Eliminating Library Fines: Improving Community Access, Equity, and Usage [Web Junction webinar]
• Explained: Racial Wealth Gap [video]
• NPR Code Switch: The Racial Reckoning that Wasn’t [podcast]
• Libraries as Community Anchors [Free Mini-Conference]
• ALA Black Caucus & Graphic Novel Roundtable #BLM Comics Reading List 1 [book list]
• ALA Black Caucus Best of 2020 Reading List 1 [book list]
• What’s in a naming term? Subject headings and inclusion for LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities [American Libraries article]
• 2021 Stonewall Book Awards [video]
• We Need Diverse Books Resources for Race, Equity, Anti-Racism, and Inclusion [resource list]
• 9 Children’s and YA Books by Jewish Authors [book list]
• It’s time to pronounce Asian names correctly 1 [article]

​

On behalf of ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee,

Jillian Rutledge, Chair​
jrutledge@waterloopubliclibrary.org

July 2021

 This message is from the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Iowa Library Association as a whole.

Greetings from ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee!

First up please mark your calendar for Wednesday, July 7th at 10:00 am, for our next deep dive into January’s Racial Equity workshop. We will be examining Library Behavior Policies. Zoom link 1, Meeting ID: 976 6000 8323, Passcode: 233917.

Throughout the month of July we will be reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Education. Discussions are scheduled for August 4th at 10:00 am (passcode 094427) and August 9th at 2:00 pm (passcode 175139).

We would love it if you joined us for any or all of the three calls. The level of participation is up to each attendee; you may actively contribute to the discussion or just listen & learn. Here are some resources for the discussion groups:

• Science of Equality
• Toward a Humanizing Framework for Student Success
• The Difference Between Educational Equality, Equity, and Justice… and Why It Matters by Joseph Levitan
• Beware of Equity Traps and Tropes 1
• 4 Steps You Can Take to Begin Addressing Equity in Education
• The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained with a cartoon 2
• Diversity & Inclusion Reading List: Equity/Inclusion in Higher Ed Books
• Right to Regalia: Let Those Feathers Fly at Graduation

Publishing opportunity!

Queer in the Corn Belt zine is looking for content from organizations, advocates, and members of the LGBTQ+ community for our second issue. We are aiming to help LGBTQ+ folks find and create community. To that end, we are focusing on sharing stories, interviews, initiatives and/or projects of those who have successfully built or are in the process of creating safe spaces and communities centering LGBTQ+ folks. This may also include expressive forms of story sharing that would work in a zine format.

If you would like to contribute to the second issue of Queer in the Corn Belt, please send in your submission to iowalibrarycdi@gmail.com with a subject line of ‘QCB entry’ by September 1, 2021. The maximum word count is 1500. The finished zine will be distributed in print and published online indefinitely. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions please feel free to respond to this email or contact Amy Golly at agolly@northlibertyiowa.org.

On behalf of ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee,

Jillian Rutledge, Chair

April 2021

 This message is from the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Iowa Library Association as a whole.

Greetings from ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee!

Throughout the month of March we have been reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Unconscious/Implicit Bias. Discussions are scheduled for April 7th at 10:00 am 1 (passcode 094427) and April 12th at 2:00 pm (passcode 175139).

We would love it if you joined us for either or both calls. The level of participation is up to each attendee; you may actively contribute to the discussion or just listen & learn. Here are some resources for the discussion groups:

• What is Implicit Bias?
• Strategies to Address Unconscious Bias
• How Racial Bias Works - and How to Disrupt It
• To Reduce Gender Bias, Anonymize Job Applications 1
• Project Implicit - Implicit Association Test
• End Racial Bias in School Discipline
• reWork: Raise Awareness about Unconscious Bias
• Implicit Bias in the Library Workplace [WebJunction webinar]
• Mitigating Implicit Bias 1 [American Libraries]
• Librarians Have an Implicit Bias Problem, Too 1
• The Fog of Implicit Bias 2 [Library Journal]
• Minimizing and Addressing Implicit Bias in the Workplace 2
• Grappling with Unconscious Bias in the Library Setting 1 [Webinar]
• Implicit Bias book list [Seattle Public Library]

Other resources of interest:

• “Inclusifyy” Workshops for your organization or institution
• The Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has some great webinars scheduled for this upcoming year. Please visit the State Library’s website and look under the Events column for more details.

Also, please mark your calendar for Wednesday, May 5th at 10:00 am, for our next deep dive into January’s Racial Equity workshop. We will be examining Library Card/Borrower Policies . Zoom link, Meeting ID: 976 6000 8323, Passcode: 233917.

On behalf of ILA CD&I,

Jillian Rutledge
jrutledge@waterloopubliclibrary.org

March 2021

 Greetings from ILA’s Diversity & Inclusion committee!

This message is from the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Iowa Library Association as a whole.

The Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has some great webinars scheduled for this upcoming year. Please visit the State Library’s website and look under the Events column for more details.

Throughout the month of March we will be reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Implicit Bias. Discussions are scheduled for April 7th at 10:00 am (passcode 094427) and April 12th at 2:00 pm 1 (passcode 175139).

We would love it if you joined us for either or both calls. The level of participation is up to each attendee; you may actively contribute to the discussion or just listen & learn. Here are some resources for the discussion groups:

• Strategies to Address Unconscious Bias 1
• How Racial Bias Works - and How to Disrupt It 2
• To Reduce Gender Bias, Anonymize Job Applications
• Project Implicit - Implicit Association Test
• End Racial Bias in School Discipline
• reWork: Raise Awareness about Unconscious Bias 1

Other resources of interest:

• Police in Libraries: What the Cop-Free Library Movement Wants
• When not to call the cops 1
• University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights YouTube channel 1
• The Privilege Institute virtual conference
• (Not) Another Anti-racist Reading Group webinar 2 from UNC Greensboro
• The Inner Work of Racial Justice 1
• Why Diversity Programs Fail and What Works Better - Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev 2
• Stop White Centering 2
• How to Attract Diverse Talent with Inclusive Job Postings
• 7 Examples of LGBTQ Exclusionary Language [in Job Descriptions] 1
• Creating a More Inclusive Job Posting
• Gender Encoder (Find subtle bias in job ads)
• Abolishing Inequity in the Workplace 1
• Dr. Seuss was a racist. Why are we still reading his books? 3

On behalf of ILA CD&I,
Jillian Rutledge, Chair
jrutledge@waterloopubliclibrary.org

February 2021

 February 1, 2021

The Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has some great webinars scheduled for this upcoming year. Please visit the State Library’s website and look under the Events column for more details. 

Throughout the month of January we have been reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Race. Discussions are scheduled for February 3rd  at 9:00 am (passcode 094427) and February 8th at 2:00 pm (passcode 175139). 

We would love it if you joined us for either or both calls. The level of participation is up to each attendee; you may actively contribute to the discussion or just listen & learn. Here are some resources for the discussion groups:

• Nikole Hannah-Jones on Race, Education, and Growing up in Waterloo (Talk of Iowa) 

• 26 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students (Published 2017)

• Teaching While White 

• 10 Books About Race To Read Instead Of Asking A Person Of Color To Explain Things To You 

• 17 Books On Race Every White Person Needs To Read 

• Twitter thread on Structural Racism in Libraries 

• Advancing Racial Equity in Public Libraries 

• Race, Ethnicity, Nationality and Jellybeans

• Understanding the difference between race and ethnicity

• Why We Confuse Race and Ethnicity A Lexicographer’s Perspective

• Why diversity matters: A roundtable discussion on racial and ethnic diversity in librarianship

• Racial Microaggressions: Comments That Sting | The New York Times

• Reading and Talking about Race: An Intro to ALA’s Great Stories Club (Part 1: Deeper Than Our Skins)

• Discussing Race with Young Kids | First Steps

• 31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

• Exploring the Race and Ethnicity Question

• Understanding the difference between race and ethnicity