Infuse equity into every part of your library leadership and administration, from hiring, onboarding, and retention, to personnel management, budgeting, and more.  

Course Description 

The last few years have proven that leadership in the workplace must adapt and create work cultures with shared values in order to attract and retain top talent. In this course, you will learn to develop whole-person, healing-centered leadership skills to help you assess your current leadership style and organization, plan and prepare for organizational change, and foster and maintain an inclusive work environment through wellbeing, evaluation, and accountability practices. All topics will be taught with an equity lens that prioritizes radical empathy, vulnerability, and justice in your leadership practices.

This course has something for every level of leader, and will teach you how to lead up, down, and sideways. Whether you are an aspiring leader, a branch manager, a seasoned director, or somewhere in between, you will have the opportunity to participate in peer workshop groups to refine your skills with others in similar roles. Join us and learn tangible leadership practices that transform lives.

Speakers

Check out the program tab for the full speaker roster.

In the workshop, you'll complete assignments 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—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.

The live sessions run on Thursdays, September 29, October 6, and 13, 2022 from approximately 2:00-4:30 pm ET (recorded for on-demand viewing) with an ongoing facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks. Don’t miss this opportunity!
 

Learning Outcomes

After you attend this interactive online course and workshop, you’ll be able to:

• Critically examine where you are on your DEI leadership journey and plan for next steps

• Conduct an equity assessment on your organization 

• Create an equity-centered strategic plan for your organization

• Lead organizational change through iterative and data-driven processes

• Revise your HR practices (hiring, retaining, budget, etc.) to match DEI best/promising practices 

• Lead with emotional intelligence and vulnerability

• Manage staff with empathetic and trauma-informed practices

• Participate in conflict resolution and difficult feedback conversations from a people- and equity-centered approach 

Who should take this course 

Any current or aspiring library leader who wants to hone their skills in centering equity in their leadership and management practices. You will be able to self-select into peer workshop groups based on leadership experience to ensure coursework is relevant to your role.

Live sessions are also available on demand 

Can’t make a live session? All guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on demand following the initial broadcast. Asynchronous workshops allow you to complete assignments and receive feedback from experts.

Certificate of completion provided 

15 professional development credits are available

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co

Group Rates

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. When you register your team for our online courses, they will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

Send us a request for a quote.

If your group prefers to work separately, just let us know.

Curriculum Advisor

Ozy Aloziem

Ozy Aloziem is the founder and principal Advisor of HEAL INC LLC. She is a TEDx speaker and an award-winning Igbo social worker deeply committed to collective liberation and racial justice.  Ozy serves as  Denver Public Library's first Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager during which time she was named as a 2021 Library Journal “Movers & Shakers” award winner for her racial equity research and advocacy. She is a well-regarded skilled facilitator & speaker and has served as a racial equity & racial healing consultant for numerous organizations across the nation and globe. Ozy is a social work scholar and professor that is deeply committed to collective liberation and healing. As a critical Black feminist, she prioritizes racial and gender equity in her teaching, scholarship, and activism. She uses this focus to amplify the voices of communities that have been marginalized and left on the fringes of research, public policy, and global conversation. As a cross-cultural researcher, she has been the lead researcher for projects on 4 continents, has presented at numerous conferences in various disciplines, and served as a UN Practicum Delegate for the United Nation’s Annual Commission on the Status of Women in 2019. Ozy believes in engaging in critical research as a radical act of freedom. Presently, her research is centered around healing-centered organizational cultures, & culturally responsive community engagement, radical healing, and radical imagination.

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Week 1: Understanding yourself & equity-centered leadership, and planning for organizational change

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Where Am I? Self-Assessment as a Tool for Your Equity-Centered Leadership Journey

Ongoing, lifelong learning is necessary for good EDI work, and we don’t all start in the same place. Knowing where you are on your EDI leadership learning journey is the first of many steps to making good progress toward your goals, but self-assessment can be hard. This session will help you authentically and accurately place yourself on a learning spectrum using a change management approach that will immediately signal your next learning steps. Join us to learn how to understand where you are now and strategize how to get to where you want to be. 

Speaker: 

Ozy Aloziem, (she, her) Founder & Principal Advisor of HEAL INC LLC

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

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

Strategic Planning and Leading Organizational Change

This session will push you to think big when it comes to how you imagine equity-centered leadership in your organization. You’ll learn about how to think beyond the typical confines that limit the progress you want to make. How to craft your ideas into a strategic plan that maps out tangible ways to lead organizational change. This session will help you play with what’s possible and then equip you with the tools to bring your radical imagination to life. 

Speaker: 

Dr. Cerise Hunt, (she, her) PhD, MSW Director, Center for Public Health Practice, University of Colorado

Session 3 | Optional: 3:45-4:30 pm ET

Highly targeted for aspiring leaders: Aspiring Leadership: How to Craft Your Leadership Journey

Learn the foundational skills you’ll need to move into a management or leadership position in your library. This session will discuss career trajectory as well as best practices for new leaders.

Speaker: 

Brandy McNeil,  (she, her) Ph.D. Director of Adult Services at The New York Public Library, PLA Board of Directors

Week 2: Sustaining equity-centered leadership through fostering an inclusive work environment 

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Radical Empathy and Servant Leadership: Strategies for Healing-Centered People Management 

So you’ve implemented equity-centered recruiting and hiring practices, but how do you keep that same energy with your hired staff? This session will lay the foundation for healing-centered and servant leadership practices to help you support your direct reports holistically. You’ll learn how to have difficult feedback conversations, manage conflict, ensure staff success without micromanaging, how to differentiate staff support and encourage wellness, and more. 

Speaker: 

Christina Fuller-Gregory, (she, her)  Assistant Director of Libraries at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

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

It Starts with You: Embodied Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Role of Vulnerability 

Black and Indigenous scholars, and other scholars of color, have long argued that attuning to embodiment is necessary in any justice-driven work. This session will teach you ways to imagine and implement embodied leadership and emotional intelligence practices so that you can show up authentically and relationally for your staff, colleagues, community - and yourself. 
Using the lens of embodied leadership, you will also learn what vulnerability is and what it isn’t, and the role vulnerability has in all levels of management. For example, you’ll learn how to assess your own communication style while leaning into direct, clear, and kind modes of communication in the spirit of vulnerability. Leave this session with a toolkit for engaging with staff, establishing policies, and more, in ways that resist white supremacist work cultures by centering embodiment, emotions, and relationships.

Speaker: 

Celesté Martinez, (she, her, ella) founder and owner of Celestial Alegria, LLC

Session 3 | Optional: 3:45-4:30 pm ET

Highly targeted for directors: Board Dynamics: How to Engage Your Board in Your EDI Efforts 

Helping your Board understand that equity, diversity, and inclusion are foundational to the operations of the library is an important part of any successful effort to embed EDI into your operations.
This session will discuss tactics for connecting the board's work to the EDI work of the staff, without confusing the two. 

Speaker: 

Melanie Huggins,  (she, her) Executive Director, Richland Library in Columbia (SC); Immediate Past President, PLA

Week 3: Applying a DEI lens and best/promising practices into all aspects of your work

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Equity-Centered Recruiting, Hiring, Onboarding, and Retention Best Practices 

Equity-centered leadership extends into every part of a library culture, including staff hiring and retention. Learn relevant and tangible antiracist practices for recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining top talent in order to create a work culture that represents your values.

Speaker: 

Tarida Anantachai,  (she, her) Director, Inclusion & Talent Management at the NC State University Libraries

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

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

Applying Equity Practices: Equity Impact Analysis Tools and Organizational Assessment

Now that you have an understanding of where you are personally on your equity-centered leadership journey, it’s time to consider your organization at large. This session will teach you the ins and outs of DEI organizational assessments so that you can home in on and prioritize the most pressing areas of growth. Similarly, you will learn how to apply an Equity Impact Analysis tool to ensure you’re able to assess all of your future organizational policies, procedures, and practices through a data-driven lens. You will leave this application-focused session with tools to implement a DEI lens in all aspects of your work. 

Speaker: 

Dr. Bre Haizlip, (she, her) LPC, LMHC, NCC, CEO/ Founder of Dr. Bre Coaching & Consulting, LLC

Session 3 | Optional: 3:45-4:30 pm ET

Highly targeted for middle managers: Middle Management: How to Lead Up, Down, and Sideways

Learn how to navigate challenging power dynamics when you feel stuck in the middle. This session will discuss how to use your position of power for good in a variety of contexts as well as best practices for middle managers.

Speaker: 

Nichelle  M. Hayes,  (she, her) MPA, MLS, Interim CEO at The Indianapolis Public Library

Online Course Preview

A preview of how we build your library skills and bring inspiration to your projects with our online learning experience.

Course Format

One-Week Timeline (Course Runs 3+ Weeks)

DAYS 1-2 On Demand	DAY 3 2.5 hours	DAYS 4-7 1-2 hours (optional)
PRE-LIVE SESSION - Resources - Discussions - Bonus Content	LIVE SESSIONS - Guest speakers via webcast - Q&A via chat - Recordings available on demand	ASYNCHRONOUS WORKSHOP - Project-based homework, applied to your job - Personalized feedback from a facilitator - Group discussion in an asynchronous workshop setting via discussion forum	3-WEEK WORKSHOP - Facilitator-led feedback WEEK 1 Research and gather data WEEK 2 Identify goals and priorities WEEK 3 Create plan of action

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers + Facilitated Group Workshop for Project-Based Learning

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Each Week Engage with presenters via live video stream, visual presentations, and chats Map out your own equity initiatives with guidance from an expert advisor Leave with refined, robust strategies designed to make a lasting impact on your community Workshop tangible antiracist approaches to your work with input from peer groups

Online Course Features

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available After The Live Session Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live video stream (with recordings available afterward) Instructor-led online course features personalized interaction over 3+ weeks

Facilitator-led workshop

Online Classroom Organizes All Materials Workshop assignments to help you make progress on your goals Individualized attention from course facilitators who work with you in a coaching environment in the workshop to help sort out challenges Ongoing group conversation via discussion forums

Early Access On Demand Resources

Early Access and Ongoing Resources To Support Learning Supporting resources (articles, videos, worksheets) in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work Access all course content for six months after the course ends Bonus: Register early and get immediate access to archival video recordings from related courses and other bonus content