In Library Journal and School Library Journal’s How To Build an Antiracist Library Culture online course, you’ll 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, you will create an equity-based initiative and get feedback from an expert in the field. When you register your team for this course, they will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

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.

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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.

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.

Speakers:

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.

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.

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Week 3: Tuesday, March 1, 2022

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

Antibias/Antiracist Hiring Practices and Recruitment

The work of creating more antiracist library organizations also involves reframing our approach to staff hiring and development. In this session, you’ll learn some approaches for implementing more equitable and antibiased recruiting and hiring practices, and how to further align such efforts towards building more inclusive workplaces, developing talent management strategies, and fostering staff retention.

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

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:

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