Category: Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Diversity and Inclusion Committee – December 2020 Report


The group met 2-3 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Buddy Program emailing has been passed on to another member for facilitation. We currently do not have any volunteers yet but we will try to send another call.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Second Activity
Collaboration with LITA Research and Assessment Committee re job descriptions. We have a document in progress that will lead to some slide re: good job descriptions and a checklist for writing inclusive announcements.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy, Education and Professional Development

Third Activity
Standardizing LITA Calls for Proposal. Indefinite due date. We have another shared document with notes, examples of past calls for proposal and criteria for selection. We will produce a checklist.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
The standardizing for calls for proposal. Emerging plans for the combined LLAMA, ALCTS, LITA division. Bystander training.

Submitted by Jharina Pascual on 01/13/2020

Diversity and Inclusion Committee – September 2019 Report


The group met 1 time this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Submit a proposal for ALA Annual 2020.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy

Second Activity
Assign new facilitator for the LITA Conference Buddy Program.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Third Activity
Introduce new members and share documentation.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
We will be working on the joint proposal with the Assessment and Research Committee regarding LITA job descriptions. Also, if our ALA Annual proposal is accepted, we will send out the call for presentations.

Submitted by Jharina Pascual on 10/01/2019

Diversity and Inclusion Committee – February 2019 Report


The group met 2-3 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
We are currently organizing a LITA presentation panel for ALA Annual 2019. We have corresponded with and met the selected participants and are starting to investigate logistical issues.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy, Education and Professional Development

Second Activity
Creating standard language for opening LITA programming with land acknowledgements and standard of conduct. We thought this was important to focus on after the events at ALA Midwinter 2019.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Third Activity
We have determined the inactive members of the D & I group and have asked Emily Morton Owens for additional members.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
We will continue to work on organizing the ALA Annual panel, including one more meeting with the panelists.

Submitted by Jharina Pascual on 04/01/2019

Diversity and Inclusion Committee – December 2018 Report


The group met 2-3 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Planned panel structure for 2019 ALA Annual. This included drafting an ALA Annual submission proposal, and once accepted, drafting a call for panelists to participate in our “Equity, Diversity, and Justice” panel, devising communication strategy for circulating CFP, reviewing over thirty proposals after submission close date, and choosing/contacting finalists.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

Second Activity
Ran Conference Buddy Program for second year, specifically for attendees at Midwinter.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
-Working with panelists chosen for our 2019 ALA Annual “Diversity, Equity, and Justice” talks.
-Strategizing on potential pre-conference workshop ideas for 2019 LITA Forum.
-Exploring ways to connect with ALA’s ODLOS office around programs, workshop, and membership engagement.

Submitted by Jennifer Brown on 01/09/2019

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