In Fostering an Antiracist Library Culture, our online course starting September 28, you’ll explore the concrete, antiracist actions library leaders are taking and the tools they are using to make their libraries more inclusive. 

Over three weeks, learn how to analyze your programs, hiring practices, collections, and more through a culturally competent, antiracist lens. Practical coursework, along with targeted support, will take you from theory to application, helping you to transform your library services to better meet the needs of all your patrons—and attract new ones.

Join thousands of groups who’ve transformed their libraries with this inspirational and tactical course. Contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co for group rates.

Register before September 1 and save!

Certificate of Completion Provided

15 PD credits available

Program

Part 1: Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 2:00-4:15PM ET
Session 1 | 2:00-2:45PM ET
Dismantling White Supremacy in the Library
Learn how white supremacy is baked into our institutions and how it manifests on individual and systemic levels in this insightful session. You’ll learn how to spot both explicit and implicit racism and identify white supremacy at work. You will come away with a deeper understanding of how to dismantle white supremacy from your sphere of influence, both within the LIS, and beyond it.
Speaker:
Andrea Blackman, Chief Diversity Officer, City of Nashville; former Special Collections Division Manager, Nashville Public Library (TN)

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

Unpacking and Challenging Implicit Bias
Combatting racism and injustice in the information and library sciences requires ongoing commitment and personal investment. Part of this work relies on understanding the ways our individual privilege and biases function interpersonally and within larger systems. In this session, you’ll learn how implicit bias shapes the culture of our libraries, how to make biases visible and therefore addressable, and what your role is in cultivating a welcoming and inclusive environment at your library. You’ll also learn about how to identify stereotypes, microaggressions, and more.
Speaker:
Tarica LaBossiere, Assistant Public Defender, Broward County Office of the Public Defender, Fort Lauderdale (FL), Member of the American Association of Law Libraries

Session 3 | 3:45-4:15PM ET
The Equity Landscape in LIS
In this session, you’ll learn about some of the most pressing equity, diversity, and inclusion conversations happening in the library and information sciences, including a discussion of Critical Race Theory, trans rights, and more. You’ll hear tips for how to have these conversations with library colleagues, community members, and stakeholders, ensuring that we continue to move the needle on equity in libraries.
Speaker: 
Becky Calzada, Library Services Coordinator, Leander Independent School District (TX), TLA Leg Committee, AASL Director at Large

Part 2: Tuesday, October 5, 2021, 2:00-4:00PM ET
Session 1 | 2:00-2:45PM ET
Creating Antiracist Library Programming
Learn how to assess your library programs and services and develop a plan of action for the future. We’ll take you through how to audit your current programming, establish a protocol for your audit, and 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: 
Kimberly Brown-Harden, Community Branch Manager, Indianapolis Public Library (IN)

Session 2 | 3:00-3:30PM ET
Building Diverse Collections and Displays
In this session, an expert librarian will discuss how you can assess the level of equity at your library by conducting regular audits of collections, displays, and ordering. This vital work will help you align offerings to community needs, identify gaps in service, and set benchmarks for equity, inclusion, and diversity. You will learn how to perform a diversity audit, including 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 integral parts of collection management and promotion.
Speaker:
Speaker: Dontaná McPherson-Joseph, Collection Management Librarian, Oak Park Public Library (IL)

Session 3 | 3:30-4:15PM 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.
Speakers:
Sojourna J. Cunningham, Social Sciences and Assessment Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond (VA)
Jennifer Stout, Teaching and Learning Librarian, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries, Richmond (VA)
Samantha Guss, Social Sciences Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond (VA)

Part 3 - Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 2:00-4:00PM ET
Session 1 | 2:00-2:45PM ET
Engaging Your Local Community in Antiracism Work
Learn how connecting with your community and its past can open up rich conversations about the future in this inspiring session. This session will include an exploration of how librarians can use their institutions’ collections and resources to help patrons, students, and community members explore, critically analyze, and combat systemic racism, how librarians can apply an antiracist lens to engaging their communities, and how to use community engagement as a tool to transform their organization into an antiracist one.
Speaker: 
Angel Jewel Tucker, Youth Services Manager, Johnson County Library, Overland Park (KS)

Session 2 | 2:45-3:15PM ET
Antiracism as ROI
The more we invest in antiracism, the more we will get out of our libraries. With the stagnation of a workforce that is over 80% white, libraries need to commit to including new voices and perspectives in our spaces. With an influx of new influences, concepts, and processes that BIPOC and other historically underrepresented people bring to the workforce, there will be a great advance in innovative thinking, new ways of doing things and new directions for our libraries. In this session, you’ll learn how antiracism, purely on its ROI, is a great way to go with public resources. 
Speaker:
Max Macias, Independent Librarian

Session 3 | 3:30-4:15PM ET 
How To Create Impactful Change (Or: Doing the Work Even if You’re the Only One Doing It) 
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 practical ways to navigate organizational culture, understand group dynamics, 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:
Nikhat Jehan 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

View Full Program

Course Advisory Committee
We are grateful to the following library leaders for providing their guidance and recommendations for the course speaker program and curriculum

Andrea Blackman, Chief Diversity Officer, City of Nashville; former Special Collections Division Manager, Nashville Public Library (TN)

Robin Bradford, Collection Development Librarian, Pierce County Library System (WA)

Michelle Khuu, Experiential Learning Specialist, Skokie Public Library (IL)

Max Macias, Independent Librarian

Hadeal Salamah, Hijabi Librarians; Lower and Middle School Librarian, Georgetown Day School, Washington (DC)

By the end of the course, you’ll have:

• The tools and background information necessary to audit current library structures, programs, staffing, equity statements, collections, and more through a culturally competent, antiracist lens
• The ability to assess the inclusiveness of current collection development and RA practices, acquisitions, marketing, plus assessing scheduling practices, branch hours, and staff hiring and retention
• The ability to recognize common problematic stereotypes, tropes, and microaggressions in media
• A refresher of key diversity and cultural literacy concepts such as white privilege, unconscious bias, cultural appropriation, and intersectionality

Register early and get immediate access to our foundational bonus content—rich supporting materials you can explore at your own pace, including a series of webinars from Library Journal and School Library Journal contributors, readings, activities, and videos!

Group rates are available.
Send your team and increase your impact!

Contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co for group rates.