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
