| Agenda for February/March Event Part 1: Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 2-4:15 pm ET Session 1 | 2:00-2:15 pm ET What Is a Diverse and Inclusive Collection?
Mahnaz Dar, Reference and Professional Reading Editor at Library Journal and School Library Journal, will explain how the discussion groups and assignments will work and highlight key concepts, including #ownvoices, privilege, and intersectionality. Speaker: Mahnaz Dar, Reference and Professional Reading Editor, Library Journal/School Library Journal
Session 2 | 2:30-3:15 pm ET
Opening Keynote: Details to be announced soon
Intermission | 3:15-3:30 pm ET
Session 3 | 3:30-4:15 pm ET
Conducting a Diversity Audit
In this session, Karen Jensen will discuss the need for librarians to perform regular audits of their collections and programs in order to better align offerings to community need, identify gaps, and set benchmarks for diversification. Participants will learn how to perform a diversity audit, which salient data points should be included, how to gather the requisite information, how to set goals to address gaps, and how to make diversity and inclusion natural parts of collection management and promotion. Speaker: Karen Jensen, MLS, Creator and Administrator, Teen Librarian Toolbox
Part 2: Tuesday, March 3, 2020, 2-4 pm ET Session 1 | 2:00-2:45
How Equitable and Inclusive is Your Library Staff?
A vital component in ensuring your library is equitable and inclusive is to consider staffing and representation. In this session, you’ll learn how to address issues of equity in staffing, handle workplace microaggressions, and empower library staff to be change agents in their communities. You’ll learn how one library’s staff equity initiative was developed and implemented, with practical takeaways you can apply to your own library.
Speaker: TBA
Session 2 | 2:30-3:00 pm ET How Equitable Are Your Library Programs?
Learn how to conduct an equity audit of your library programs and services and develop a plan of action for the future. We’ll take you through establishing a protocol for your audit, as well as what to do with the results once you have them, in this session designed to help you tackle gaps in your programming and address barriers to access in your community. Speaker: TBA
Intermission | 2:45-3:00 pm ET
Session 3 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET
Library Accessibility: Issues and Initiatives to Improve
While ensuring equal and accessible library and information access, regardless of ability, is a core value of libraries, library accessibility is an area that nearly every library could improve upon. Heidi Schroeder, Accessibility Coordinator at Michigan State University Libraries, will discuss common accessibility issues facing libraries, especially related to e-resources, and share accessibility initiatives to help address them. You’ll leave with an increased awareness of accessibility best practices and information you can take back to their library to be an even better advocate for accessibility. Speaker: TBA Part 3 - Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 2-4 pm ET Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET Using Local History to Combat Racism
Librarian Andrea Blackman, Nashville Civil Rights Room, will offer a deep dive into how they use their institutions’ historical collections and resources to help patrons, students, and community members explore, critically analyze, and combat systemic racism. Speaker:
Andrea Blackman, Division Manager, Special Collections & Director, Civil Rights Room, Nashville Public Library, (TN) Intermission | 3:00-3:15 pm ET
Session 2 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET Anti-Oppression, Allyship, and Emotional Labor
Librarians committed to building strong and diverse collections and programs may wonder what else they can do to be positive agents of change in their communities. While there is far more than can be and is being done than we can cover in a single session, we’ll look at what it means to be an “ally,” how librarians can strive for social justice in their spheres of influence, and make space for marginalized voices and viewpoints. We will explore the experience of emotional labor and offer ways that diverse coalitions of professionals and advocates can support each other's efforts in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Speaker: Anastasia Collins, Research + Instruction Librarian, Simmons College Beatley Library (MA) | 
