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

January 2021

 January 7, 2021

Equity-Based Library Policies Workshop 

 

Next Wednesday, January 13th, 10 am - noon

 

The Committee for Diversity and Inclusion is excited to announce a powerful and crucial workshop for Iowa libraries. Researcher and educator Dr. Adrienne Coleman of Candid Conversations Matter will lead a two hour workshop focused on developing equity based policies in our libraries. Rooted in Inclusive Excellence, Racial Justice and approached through an Equity-Minded Lens this workshop will instruct learners on how to examine patterns of inequity within their libraries and take a strategic approach to eliminating those inequities. All attendees will also receive a DEI toolkit designed to continue building capacity to become equity-minded and institute anti-racist policies, practices, programs, and services. Additional topics that will be addressed include LGBTQIA+ Allyship, cultural competence, and crucial conversations. This session will be recorded and available for a limited time after the live presentation. 

 

Thanks to generous donations from ACRL, ISLA, LLAMA, PLF & Information Technology ILA subdivisions, this workshop will be free regardless of a registrant's ILA membership status. Non-members are encouraged to show support for this and future continuing education opportunities by joining ILA.

 

Registration can be found here.

 

Throughout the month of January we will be reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Race. Discussions are scheduled for February 3rd  at 9:00 am and February 8th at 2:00 pm (Please contact Jillian Rutledge for Zoom passcodes). 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

We encourage all libraries to sign the Urban Libraries Council’s Statement on Race and Social Equity. 

 

Examples of public library statements on racial equity:

• Free Library of Philadelphia statement

• Arapahoe Libraries statement

• Indianapolis Public Library statement

Additional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion resources:

• Safe Space Training

• Dates, Practices & Accommodations: Being mindful of non-Christian religious holidays when planning programs

December 2020

 December 1, 2020

 

Equity-Based Library Policies Workshop 

 

Wednesday, January 13th, 10 am - noon

 

The Committee for Diversity and Inclusion is excited to announce a powerful and crucial workshop for Iowa libraries. Researcher and educator Dr. Adrienne Coleman of Candid Conversations Matter will lead a two hour workshop focused on developing equity based policies in our libraries. Rooted in Inclusive Excellence, Racial Justice and approached through an Equity-Minded Lens this workshop will instruct learners on how to examine patterns of inequity within their libraries and take a strategic approach to eliminating those inequities. All attendees will also receive a DEI toolkit designed to continue building capacity to become equity-minded and institute anti-racist policies, practices, programs, and services. Additional topics that will be addressed include LGBTQIA+ Allyship, cultural competence, and crucial conversations. This session will be recorded and available for a limited time after the live presentation. 

 

Thanks to generous donations from ACRL, ISLA, LLAMA, PLF & Information Technology ILA subdivisions, this workshop will be free regardless of a registrant's ILA membership status. Non-members are encouraged to show support for this and future continuing education opportunities by joining ILA.

 

Registration can be found here.

 

 

Throughout the month of November we have been reading, watching, and listening to resources about the topic of Gender & Gender Expression. Discussions are scheduled for December 2nd at 9:00 am and December 14th 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 the discussion groups:

 

• Gender Glossary

• Gender Spectrum: Understanding Gender

• What is Gender Expression? (4 min video)

• Integrated Library Cis-Stems: Breaking the Binary at Your Library (30 minute video)

• Transgender Inclusion Institutional Worksheet

• Gender Identity & Expression

• Genderbread Person: A teaching tool for breaking the big concept of gender down into bite-sized, digestible pieces.

• Gender isn't Binary, and Neither is Anatomy comic

• Trans Students Often Struggle With Mental Health

• There's Heart Here (YouTube video of Indigenous members of Two Spirit and LGBTQ communites)

• A Guide to Being a Trans Ally

• Hundreds protest Toronto library event featuring controversial speaker

• Glad Day's statement on the @torontolibrary's failure of leadership in hosting transphobia and its betrayal of Toronto's LGBT community

• Three Trans & Nonbinary creatives to follow instead of J.K. Rowling

• J.K. Rowling: What is a TERF, or Trans-exclusionary radical feminist?

• 'Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view

• Trans+Script: Trans and Nonbinary Library People Are Everywhere