Diversity and Inclusion Committee – September 2018 Report


The group met 2-3 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
ALA Annual 2019 Edit-a-thon/resource list [copied from minutes]:
-About 13-15 people attended. Challenge was that the room was pretty large/overwhelming for such a small group.
-Melissa Stoner had participants have a general conversation about what D&I looks like for them, their institution’s hiring practices, if they have a person assigned to do outreach for recruitment of librarians of color, etc.
-Resources that were added to our list are possibly going to go up on a Resource list on the website.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Second Activity
ALA Annual 2019 Conference Buddy Program:
-Taken over by Jharina Pascual from outgoing member Carli Spina
-2 LITA members volunteered to mentor 2 applicants
-We will send out the call again in ALA MW 2019
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Third Activity
ALA Annual 2019 Program Proposal:
– LITA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee will solicit and host three fifteen-minute presentations on topics of choice around diversity, equity, inclusion, or anti-racism and anti-oppressive frameworks
– Jennifer Brown mocked up and submitted a proposal to ALA
– LITA members will provide a list of possible listservs and organizations to spread the word
– LITA D&I Team will have to strategize in the long-term regarding issues of helping to fund individual presenters
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy

Fourth Activity
We renewed the D & I Committee and approved our current charge with the LITA Bylaws and Organization Committee.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
We will primarily be working on spreading the word about our ALA Annual proposal (if we are accepted).

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
The chairs are having some trouble using ALA Connect to communicate with committee members. It will take some more time to adjust. Jharina Pascual thinks it would be helpful to remind people that they can send messages to ALA Connect using an email address and that they don't have to log into their ALA account.

Submitted by Jharina Pascual on 10/20/2018