In this multifaceted online course, you’ll complete work to ensure that your collections, programs, services, and staff culture are diverse, equitable, and inclusive—with personal coaching from experts from libraries and beyond.

Live Interactive Sessions: Tuesdays: February 25, March 3 & 10, from 2-4 PM ET. Plus, self-guided options and additional bonus content offered so you can follow along at your own pace.

Live sessions are bridged with online workshops, video lessons, assignments, discussions, and resources designed to help you build your own diversity initiative. PD certificates are available upon couse completion.
 

Also Available On-Demand! 

Can’t make a live session? All sessions will be available to you “on-demand” following the initial broadcast.

Course Overview

Do you want to ensure that your collections, programs, services, and staff culture are diverse, equitable, and inclusive?

Do you want to become more culturally literate and a more effective advocate for your community and institution?

In this course, you will learn from EDI experts in speaker sessions created specifically for library professionals. You’ll learn about the concrete actions library leaders are taking to make their libraries more equitable today and in the future, and the tools that make it possible. 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 users—and bring in new ones.

You’ll complete assignments to build your own diversity initiative over 3+ weeks in an interactive online classroom environment with personal coaching from an expert in the field. In addition, you’ll have access to our foundational bonus content—a series of webinars from Library Journal and School Library Journal contributors along with rich, supporting materials in the form of readings, activities, and videos—to explore at your own pace.
 

When you attend this interactive online course, you’ll come away with: 

• The ability to audit current library collections and programs through a culturally competent 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 on key diversity and cultural literacy concepts such as white privilege, unconscious bias, cultural appropriation, and intersectionality

The course features live guest speakers in interactive sessions with Q&A as well as self-guided assignments, readings, and weekly discussion topics to support deeper learning. You’ll work in small groups with facilitators experienced in anti-oppression work to complete assignments and field research that will fuel your diversity initiatives.

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers + Project-Based Learning:

Engage with presenters via live video stream, visual presentations, and chats, and workshop practical solutions in groups, with guidance from an advisor, to map out your own cultural literacy and inclusion initiatives. You’ll leave with well-developed strategies designed to make a lasting impact on your community. Full participation in the course and workshop will earn 15 hours of professional development credit at some institutions.

Online course features:

• Instructor-led online course features personalized interaction over 3+ weeks

• Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live webcast (with recordings available afterward)

• Self-guided track with video lessons and supporting resources in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work

• Homework assignments to help you make progress on your goals

• Individualized attention from course facilitators who work with you in a coaching environment to help sort out challenges

• Ongoing group conversation via discussion forums

• Articles, videos, and other resources

• Access all course content for 6 months after the course ends

• Bonus: Register early and get immediate access to archival video recordings from related courses 
   

Who should take this course:

This event is excellent for public librarians, both adult and youth services; academic librarians; and school librarians. The program will be especially relevant to librarians in collection development, collection management, merchandising and displays, programming, outreach, and library marketing. 
 

Session Themes:

• Reviewing the Basics: Foundations of Cultural Competency

• How to Conduct a Diversity Audit

• Recognizing Stereotypes, Tropes, and Appropriation

• Assessing Programming for Equity and Inclusiveness

• Using Local History to Combat Racism

• Dealing with Microaggressions

Can’t make a live session? No worries. All sessions will be available to you “on-demand” following the initial broadcast. 

Group discounts are available!

Register in groups for a unique team-building experience and get everyone working together. Contact us to learn more.

Part 1: Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 2:00-4:15 PM ET
 

Session 1 | 2:00-2:15 PM ET

What Is a Diverse and Inclusive Collection?

Mahnaz Dar, Reference and Professional Reading Editor at Library Journal and School Library Journal, will explain how the discussion groups and assignments will work and highlight key concepts, including #ownvoices, privilege, and intersectionality.  

Speaker: 

Session 2 | 2:15-3:00 PM ET

Acknowledging the Elephant in the Library: Making Implicit Biases Explicit

Serving diverse and marginalized populations is rewarding, but complicated, work. Among the barriers to inclusive service is implicit bias. It is important for information professionals to examine and acknowledge their own privileges and biases, and recognize their role in creating and sustaining a welcoming environment in the library for every person who seeks access to the library’s materials, services, programs, and spaces. In this session, you'll unpack the concept of implicit bias, as well as the closely related concepts of stereotypes, microaggressions, and cultural competence, and walk away with ideas for how to use this deeper understanding to enhance your critical information practice.

Speaker: 

Intermission | 3:00-3:15 PM ET
 

Session 3 | 3:15-4:00 PM ET

Conducting a Diversity Audit

In this session, Karen Jensen will discuss the need for librarians to perform regular audits of their collections and programs in order to better align offerings to community need, identify gaps, and set benchmarks for diversification. Participants will learn how to perform a diversity audit, 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 natural parts of collection management and promotion.

Speaker:

Part 2: Tuesday, March 3, 2020, 2:00-4:00 PM ET
 

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 PM

From Stereotype to Authenticity: Representation in Children’s Collections

In this engaging session, you’ll learn how to dive deep into your current collection to spot problematic stereotypes and tropes -- both the easy to find and the more insidious ones -- and become a more critical reader. Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, co-creator of the widely popular “Diversity in Children’s Books” infographics and co-editor of “Research on Diversity in Youth Literature,” will discuss both the landscape of children’s literature today as well as how we can assess books of the past - including well-loved classics like Dr. Seuss - and address how we can make our libraries more inclusive for all of our patrons.

Speaker:

Session 2 | 2:45-3:15 PM ET

How Equitable And Inclusive is Your Library Staff?

A vital component in ensuring your library is equitable and inclusive is to consider staffing and representation. In this session, you’ll learn how to address issues of equity in staffing, handle workplace microaggressions, and empower library staff to be change agents in their communities. You’ll learn how one library’s staff equity initiative was developed and implemented, with practical takeaways you can apply to your own library.

Speaker:

Intermission | 3:15-3:30 PM ET
 

Session 3 | 3:30-4:15 PM ET

How Accessible is Your Library?

Creating a space where all are welcome and engaged is a key component of inclusion at our libraries, and yet accessibility efforts are often overlooked when it comes to equity initiatives. In this enlightening session, you’ll learn how to focus your lens on how well your library is serving patrons with diverse accessibility needs by investigating physical and digital spaces, programming, and more. You’ll walk away with an increased understanding of accessibility issues that libraries face and best practices to use when approaching them.

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Part 3 - Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 2:00-4:00 PM ET
 

Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 PM ET

Using Local History to Combat Racism

Librarian Andrea Blackman, Nashville Civil Rights Room, will offer a deep dive into how they use their institutions’ historical collections and resources to help patrons, students, and community members explore, critically analyze, and combat systemic racism.

Speakers: 

Intermission | 3:00-3:15 PM ET
 

Session 2 | 3:15-4:00 PM ET

Anti-Oppression, Allyship, and Emotional Labor

Librarians committed to building strong and diverse collections and programs may wonder what else they can do to be positive agents of change in their communities. While there is far more than can be and is being done than we can cover in a single session, we’ll look at what it means to be an “ally,” how librarians can strive for social justice in their spheres of influence, and make space for marginalized voices and viewpoints. We will explore the experience of emotional labor and offer ways that diverse coalitions of professionals and advocates can support each other's efforts in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Speaker: