Good Day,

We are excited to announce a solutions-based initiative designed to support people of color (POC) working in libraries. The goal of this Toolkit Project which begins January 2021, is designed to provide librarians of color with resources that support career advancement and urge art, gallery, museum, and academic library administrators to implement hiring and promotions practices that create inclusive, ethical, and intercultural library communities.

The Chairs decision to participate in the ARLIS/NA Diversity and Inclusion committee derived from her desire to build a truly equitable library community. To accomplish this, feedback was implemented from 2020 Diversity Forum participants who expressed a need for support and tasked the committee with developing action items. The committee is taking definitive steps to lead this charge.

Our priorities are as follows: first, support communities of color with career centered content, and secondly, devise accountability strategies that help administrators focus on promotions, pay equity, and representation of POC in all facets of the library. Lastly, the committee needs your support to consistently communicate whether our organization supports your needs.

These three aims are interdependent and needed to ensure that this effort is effective. Additionally, a key feature of the Toolkit is a monthly letter with workplace strategies emailed specifically to members of color, if interested please email [log in to unmask]. Corresponding resources will appear in the Art of Diversity blog and on the listserv.

We cannot thrive if we engage in wage disparities, promote inequitably, and tote the lone POC who occupies a sole position as a beacon of progress. The field can only flourish when all members have a voice at all levels of librarianship. It is an act of moral corruption and cruelty for “allies” to focus on patrons of color or prejudice in subject headings, yet remain silent about the lack of representation of librarians of color in the library itself.

Best!

Karynne Courts, of Mindessence - "a visionary leader constantly and flexibly adjusts the lenses to meet the needs of their audience"; so I think the same thing may apply to engagement, it’s important to think about the audience and adjust to their needs."