Increase your impact! Send your team to How to Build an Antiracist Library Culture - starting 2/15

Professional Development for Teams and Individuals!

When you register your team for How To Build an Antiracist Library Culture, you may request to have them placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

Groups of 3 or more get discounted rates. Contact [email protected].

to get started.

Your team will learn about the concrete actions library leaders are taking to help cultivate an antiracist, inclusive library culture—from reflecting on their own implicit biases, to evaluating spaces, programs, and services and examining policies and practices through an antiracist lens.
Over 3 weeks, your team will create an equity-based initiative and get feedback from an expert in the field.
The speaker program runs on Tuesdays, February 15, 22, and March 1, from 2:00-4:30 pm ET (recordings available for on-demand viewing) with an ongoing facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks.

Register by Dec. 17 and save!

Certificate of Completion Provided

15 PD credits available

We thank the following course advisors who have helped shape the program and course work.

Michelle Khuu, Experiential Learning Specialist at Skokie Public Library

Christina Fuller-Gregory, Assistant Director of Libraries, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville

Klem-Marí Cajigas, Family Literacy Coordinator, Bringing Books to Life, Nashville Public Library

Sandra Farag, Head of Youth Services at Kalamazoo Public Library

Nikhat Ghouse, Associate Librarian for the Social Sciences and Coordinator of the Diversity Alliance Residency Program, American University (DC) and Organization Development Consultant and Facilitator, Jehan Consulting

Program

Week 1: Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Critical Conversations: Addressing the “Elephants” in the Library

Reimagining our libraries as antiracist spaces requires us to initiate and navigate high stakes conversations on complex issues such as race, identity, white supremacy, social consciousness, gender and more. In this session, you’ll hear two expert conversation-makers share their intention and techniques for cultivating dialogue that can redefine and revolutionize the culture of your library.

Speakers:

Andrea Blackman, Chief Equity and Diversity Officer, City of Nashville

Tasneem Ansariyah Grace, Vice President, Mosaic Changemakers

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Using Local History to Combat Racism

Learn how connecting to your community’s past and confronting its racist history can open up rich conversations about the future in this inspiring session. Angel Jewel Tucker, Youth Services Manager at the Johnson County Library will share how Race Project KC has opened up awareness of the systemic injustices of redlining, racially restrictive covenants, and more among the young people of Kansas City. This session provides a deep dive into how librarians can use their institutions’ historical collections and resources to help patrons, students, and community members explore, critically analyze, and combat systemic racism.

Speaker:

Angel Jewel Tucker, Youth Services Manager, Johnson County Library, Overland Park (KS)

Week 2: Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Antiracist Collection Development

In this session, you’ll hear from an expert collection development librarian on how to take an antiracist approach to your collection development strategies. They’ll discuss how conducting regular audits of collections, displays, and ordering will help you keep track of how equitable and diverse your collections are. This vital work will help you align offerings to community needs, identify gaps in service, and set benchmarks for equity, inclusion, and diversity. You’ll hear about key considerations for ordering, weeding, handling challenges to materials, dealing with problematic titles, and how to make diversity and inclusion integral parts of collection management and promotion.

Speaker:

Beth Atwater, Collection Development Librarian, Johnson County Library (KS)

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Building Antiracist Programming for Your Library

Learn how to develop antiracist programming for your library in this practical and inspiring session. We’ll discuss how to assess your current library programs and services and develop a proactive plan of action for the future. We’ll take you through examples of antiracist library programs, how they were conceived and how they were executed in this session designed to help you tackle gaps in your programming and address barriers to access in your community.

Speaker:

Ozy Aloziem, MSW, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Denver Central Library (CO)

Week 3: Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Antibias/Antiracist Hiring Practices and Recruitment

Creating an antiracist culture at your library must involve consideration of staff culture and hiring practices. In this session, you’ll learn how to develop and implement antiracist/antibias recruitment and hiring practices (including antiracist interviewing and candidate selection), steps to take toward fostering inclusive workplaces, and how to conduct an organizational talent equity audit at your own library.

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET: Your Sphere of Influence: Doing the Work From Where You Are

Your Sphere of Influence: Doing the Work From Where You Are

In this closing session of our course, you’ll learn how to make valuable change from within your sphere of influence, regardless of your institutional support system or lack thereof. You’ll learn about what you can do as an individual to tap into your power to combat racism and promote antiracism in your library and community. You’ll also learn practical ways to navigate organizational politics and power structures, and come away with ideas for where to go next, now that you have the tools you need to dig deeper into cultivating actively antiracist practices at your library.

Speaker:

Emily Dowie, Teen Librarian, Greenburgh Public Library, Elmsford (NY)

Course Format

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers + Facilitated Group Workshop for Project-Based Learning
Engage with presenters via live video stream, visual presentations, and chats, and workshop practical solutions in groups, with guidance from an advisor, to map out your own equity and inclusion initiatives. You’ll leave with well-developed strategies designed to make a lasting impact on your community.

Online Course Features

Register by Dec. 17 and save!

Contact [email protected] for group rates.

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. To get details on group pricing, email [email protected].

When you sign up as a group, your team will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.