Category: Advocacy and Information Policy

Intellectual Freedom Committee – September 2018 Report


The group met 1 time this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
The IFC has created a series of working groups to work on interpretations of the library bill of rights. I am on two of the working groups – Access to Digital Info, Services, and Networks working group, and Minors and Internet Activity Interpretation working group. I am leading the working group on Access to digital info, services, and networks. The working groups have been formed, and will begin work after the midwinter conference.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy

Second Activity
I am a member of the IFC Library Bill of Rights working group to work on a proposed article to the bill of rights on privacy. The working group has met several times, and has come up with some proposed language for the new article which will be forwarded to the full IFC for comment. The hope is that this draft article will be taken to Council at Midwinter.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy

Third Activity
Meeting rooms Interpretation Revision – the IFC has been working on the updated interpretation on meeting rooms. The group has made several revisions to the document, and hopes to have it presented to council at midwinter.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
For the next three months, we will continue to work on the Library Bill of Rights article, and the working groups for the interpretations.

Submitted by Matt Beckstrom on 11/01/2018

LITA / ALCTS Metadata Standards Committee – September 2018 Report


The group met 2-3 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Action plan discussion and brainstorming for 2018-2019. The 2017-2018 committee partially completed a project related to diversity and inclusion and metadata standards organizations. The 2018-2019 committee reviewed comments from the committee's presentation at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference to determine next steps and potential themes for the 2018-2019 work of the committee.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy, Education and Professional Development

Second Activity
Impact and Assessment for Fields in Metadata Standards – Based on some of the feedback from the 2018 ALA Conference committee meeting and presentation, the committee is currently in engaged in information gathering around assessment of fields/elements in metadata standards. The goal is to develop a "Metadata Assessment Framework" that could be used in conjunction to the previously published "Principles for Evaluating Metadata Standards".
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy, Education and Professional Development

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Complete literature review for "Metadata Assessment Framework". Identify core questions that the framework should answer (e.g. "Are the fields used in metadata standards effective for their purpose?", "What stakeholders benefit from each metadata field?", "Can the level of benefit be quantified or articulated in a meaningful way?", etc.).

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
We're hoping the framework will be valuable to a variety of constituents involved in metadata work and could be presented in a workshop, conference presentation, or publication.

Submitted by Michael Bolam on 10/22/2018

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