How To Build an Antiracist Library Culture

Transform your library culture and services by learning how to build and maintain momentum toward your equity goals.

Through this course, you’ll learn about the concrete actions library leaders are taking to help cultivate an antiracist, inclusive library culture—from examining the impacts of implicit bias, to evaluating spaces, programs, and services and examining policies and practices through an antiracist lens—to ensure that there is a shared value of antiracism at the library.

See what a past participant had to say:

"The materials and information I've learned through Library Journal's Professional Development series on How To Build and Antiracist Library Culture made a great impact on my professional and personal skillset. I recommend this workshop across disciplines!" - Briana Meyer, Circulations Manager

Featured Sessions

How To Establish a Personal Antiracism Practice

Building antiracist libraries begins with each of us understanding our own positionality and reflecting on the ways we engage with and are affected by race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and immigration status. Making a personal commitment to antiracism and anti-oppression sets the foundation for our work in our communities and institutions. In this session, we’ll discuss how to assess where you are currently and create a plan for how to dig deeper into cultivating actively antiracist practices at your library, starting with yourself.

Sustaining Equity and Diversity Momentum at Your Library

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.

Building Something New From Your Sphere of Influence

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, as well as in your day-to-day life. You’ll hear from two expert conversation-makers how to initiate and navigate high stakes conversations on complex issues that will help you engage more deeply with antiracism work, and learn techniques for cultivating dialogue that can redefine and revolutionize the culture of your library and bridge the personal and the professional.