DEI Committee gives conference recommendations

Looking for diversity, equity, and inclusion related sessions and conferences? Here are some DEI Committee recommendations on what to attend this year:

IDEAL ’19: Advancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in Libraries & Archives 
August 6–7, 2019, Columbus, OH

From the conference website: “IDEAL, formerly the National Diversity in Libraries Conference, aims to foster awareness and appreciation of workplace diversity issues through the exploration of exemplary practice, contemporary theory, thought leadership, and strategy development for all those in the academic and public library, archives, and museum sectors.”

ACRL 2019: Recasting the Narrative 
April 10-13, 2019, Cleveland OH

This year’s keynotes include notable experts on diversity, equity, and inclusion such as award-winning journalist Michele Norris, MacArthur fellow and novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, and renowned cartoonist Alison Bechdel. The conference also features invited presentations from library professionals and academics addressing critical issues in social justice in libraries.

ALA Annual Conference 2019
June 20 – 25, 2019, Washington, D.C.

Although the ALA conference schedule has not yet been published, we already know there will be a few interesting DEI related opportunities amidst the chaos. LITA will be hosting a Diversity, Equity, and Justice Panel, and there will be a Diversity Poster Session.

Subscribe to the community of practice listserv

We wish to encourage folks to sign-up for our new “community of practice” mailing list (DEI-COP). We decided to create a secondary listserv so that there would be a space where colleagues can share diversity-related articles, events, opportunities, etc. This is a great opportunity to stay informed of these issues if you do not have time to serve on the DEI Committee. If you do become a member, we’ll add you to our committee’s primary listserv.