April 2022

 Hello from ILA’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion!

Each month our committee sends out a list of resources focused on topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. We hope you find these useful, and if you come across anything that falls under the diversity and inclusion umbrella that you feel might be helpful or interesting for library staff across Iowa, please feel free to send them my way and I will work with the committee to include them in our Resource Roundup or to otherwise share them out as appropriate.

Upcoming webinars and continuing education opportunities:

• Racial microaggressions: Their effects on mental and physical health
• Establish an Organizational Culture That Supports Your DEI Initiatives 1
• Celebrate AAPI Month All Year Long with Debbi Michiko Florence, Gita Varadarajan, and Wendy Wan-Long Shang
• Windows & Mirrors
• Works in Progress Webinar: Understanding and mitigating bias and racism across collections at Yale University’s museums, libraries, and archives
• Info2Go! Juntos: Lantix Family Engagement at Your Library
• Centering Community, Building Equity: A Social Justice Approach to Outreach with Families and Children in Underserved Communities

June 2022 Social Justice Discussion Group - Microaggressions

This coming month, we’ll be reading, watching, and listening to resources about Microaggressions. Please explore these resources with us and join us for a discussion or two. Discussions will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, June 1 at 10:00 am 2 and Monday, June 13 at 2:00 pm 2 (Meeting ID: 864 3832 3094, Passcode: 427944).

We would love it if you joined us for either or both discussions. The level of participation is up to you; you may actively contribute or just listen and learn.

• What exactly is a microaggression? 1
• Microaggressions are a big deal: How to talk them out and when to walk away
• Microaggressions in Librarianship
• Unmasking “racial micro aggressions”
• We Need to Retire the Term “Microaggressions”
• Tool: Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send
• Examples of Racial Microaggressions 1
• Stop Saying “That’s So Gay!”: 6 Types of Microaggressions That Harm LGBTQ People

CDI is also exploring assembling some toolboxes for libraries to use when evaluating how to be more equitable and inclusive. If you have experience in any of the following areas, we would love to hear from you! Please let us know a bit about what you did, how you did it, and advice you’d offer to others. Also, if you have other topics that you’d love to see a toolbox for, please let us know.

• Starting an EDI committee at your library/institution/city
• Evaluating your library policies through the EDI lens
• Evaluating your collections through the EDI lens

On behalf of ILA CD&I,

Amanda Bellis
Chair, ILA Committee for Diversity and Inclusion
abellis@ankenyiowa.gov

March 2022

 Greetings and happy Friday from ILA’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion!

Each month our committee sends out a list of resources focused on topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. We hope you find these useful, and if you come across anything that falls under the diversity and inclusion umbrella that you feel might be helpful or interesting for library staff across Iowa, please feel free to send them my way and I will work with the committee to include them in our Resource Roundup or to otherwise share them out as appropriate.

• LGBTQ+ Learning & Affirming Library Challenge
• Open to All: Serving the GLBT Community in Your Library
• Where to Find Diverse Books

April 2022 Social Justice Discussion Group - Climate/Environmental Justice

In April, we’ll be talking about Climate and Environmental Justice. Please explore these resources with us and join us for a discussion or two. Discussions will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, April 6 at 10:00 am and Monday, April 11 at 2:00 pm (Meeting ID: 864 3832 3094, Passcode: 427944).

We would love it if you joined us for either or both discussions. The level of participation is up to you; you may actively contribute or just listen and learn.

• Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice in the US
• The Principles of Environmental Justice
• Earth Day 2021: Environmental Justice: Books & Web Sites
• Environmental Justice at the EPA
• The Environmental Justice Movement
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services - Environmental Justice
• NAACP - ENVIRONMENTAL & CLIMATE JUSTICE
• Air Pollution Deaths - How humans could live two years longer
• ‘Waste colonialism’: world grapples with west’s unwanted plastic
• The father of environmental justice, on whether we’re all doomed
• Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution And Who Breathes It
• Iowa DNR is testing more than 50 public water systems for ‘forever chemicals’ but no plans for private wells
• 76% of Iowa children have detectable lead levels in their blood, study finds. Older housing is a big reason why.
• LaToya Ruby Frazier: What Is The Human Cost Of Toxic Water And Environmental Racism?
• When Disaster Strikes
• Iowa State University Environmental Justice LibGuide

On behalf of ILA CD&I,

Amanda Bellis
Chair, ILA Committee for Diversity and Inclusion
abellis@ankenyiowa.gov

February 2022

 Hello from ILA’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion!

Every month our committee sends out a list of resources focused on topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. We’re a couple days late as March kind of came out of nowhere!

• Art Spiegelman on the School Board That Cancelled ‘Maus’ 1

• How Tiny Living Spaces Affect Our Wellbeing—Individually and Societally (Libraries are not mentioned directly, but it’s interesting to think about in the context that libraries often help to supplement lack of home space for many people)

• ALA’s Committee on Diversity Announces Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Scorecard for Library and Information Organizations

• Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion (DEI) Scorecard for Library and Information Organizations 1

• Cultural Humility & Program Planning

April 2022 Social Justice Discussion Group - Climate/Environmental Justice

This coming month, we’ll be reading, watching, and listening to resources about Climate and Environmental Justice. Please explore these resources with us and join us for a discussion or two. Discussions will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, April 6 at 10:00 am and Monday, April 11 at 2:00 pm (Meeting ID: 864 3832 3094, Passcode: 427944).

We would love it if you joined us for either or both discussions. The level of participation is up to you; you may actively contribute or just listen and learn.

• Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice in the US
• The Principles of Environmental Justice
• Earth Day 2021: Environmental Justice: Books & Web Sites
• Environmental Justice at the EPA
• The Environmental Justice Movement
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services - Environmental Justice
• NAACP - ENVIRONMENTAL & CLIMATE JUSTICE
• Air Pollution Deaths - How humans could live two years longer
• ‘Waste colonialism’: world grapples with west’s unwanted plastic
• The father of environmental justice, on whether we’re all doomed
• Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution and Who Breathes It
• Iowa DNR is testing more than 50 public water systems for ‘forever chemicals’ but no plans for private wells
• 76% of Iowa children have detectable lead levels in their blood, study finds. Older housing is a big reason why.
• LaToya Ruby Frazier: What Is the Human Cost of Toxic Water and Environmental Racism?
• When Disaster Strikes

If at any time you have resources that fall under the diversity and inclusion umbrella and that you feel might be helpful or interesting for library staff across Iowa, please send them my way and I will work with the committee to include them in our Resource Roundup or to otherwise share them out as appropriate.

On behalf of ILA CD&I,

Amanda Bellis
Chair, ILA Committee for Diversity and Inclusion
abellis@ankenyiowa.gov

January 2022

 Greetings from ILA’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion!

Each month we send out a list of resources that are focused on topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice but first, please join me in congratulating Deana Cunningham, Access Services Associate at Drake University, who is this year’s recipient of the ILA for All award!

Throughout 2022 our committee will continue to host bimonthly Social Justice Discussion Groups via Zoom. Resources for discussion topics will be included in the Resource Roundup, and we invite everyone to join us and to share any future topics you’d like to discuss with library staff around the state.

Throughout the month of January, we have been reading, watching, and listening to resources around the topic of Intellectual Freedom, a subject that is certainly at the forefront of many of our minds right now. Our first discussions of the year will focus on this topic, and are scheduled for February 2nd at 10:00 am (passcode 156568) and February 14th at 2:00 pm (passcode 156568).

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 and learn. Here are some resources for the discussion groups:

• In This Day and Page podcast - The Power of Intellectual Freedom in Libraries (Jan 24, 2022) 1
• Iowa Library Association Statement on Book Challenges across the State 1
• Steps to take when materials are challenged 1
• Iowa Intellectual Freedom Resource Guide
• Ottumwa Courier Letter to the Editor: Library is intentionally broad and inclusive 1
• Intellectual Freedom in Libraries Webinar
• Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Library Association’s intellectual freedom committee encourages libraries to defend diverse books
• LGBTQ advocates: Book banning is precursor for rocky legislative session
• ALA Statement on Book Censorship
• All 850 Books Texas Lawmaker Matt Krause Wants to Ban: An Analysis 1
• ALA Intellectual Freedom Blog: Special Prosecutor Rejects Criminal Complaint Filed Against Campbell County Public Library
• ALA Intellectual Freedom Blog: Then and now: Banning Like it’s 1981
• ALA Intellectual Freedom Blog: Lawn Boy and Gender Queer: The Trend Toward Book Challenges
• The First Amendment: Where America Stands

If at any time you have resources that fall under the diversity and inclusion umbrella and that you feel might be helpful or interesting for library staff across Iowa, please send them my way and I will work with the committee to include them in our Resource Roundup or to otherwise share them out as appropriate.

On behalf of ILA CD&I,

Amanda Bellis
Chair, ILA Committee for Diversity and Inclusion
abellis@ankenyiowa.gov

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