Category: Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

The group met 4-6 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
EDISJ Matters Column for PLA Magazine: We continued to write our EDISJ Matters column. This platform has enabled us to broaden our reach and more collectively engage PLA members. We've used the column to introduce people, concepts, ideas, and information with an EDISJ focus. Having the standing 'real estate' in the magazine has allowed us and this important work to remain front of mind for PLA members.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

Second Activity
PLA Leadership Lab: Embedding EDI in Library Leaders: This workshop—consisting of six live virtual classroom sessions—explored transformational leadership through the lens of the current social crises, emphasizing equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice (EDISJ) principles and approaches, supplemented by leadership development and asset-based community development tools. Members of the EDISJ Committee acted as both small group moderators, and large group facilitators.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
In the coming months the EDISJ Committee will continue to meet regularly, continue the EDISJ Matters column, develop and present EDISJ-centered trainings and work together to ensure that they continue to address and amplify the need for having difficult, but meaningful conversations around race, racial equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
We would very much like to find a way to begin our Equity starts with us trainings. While we understand that this may look different than the in-person trainings that we've offered in the past, we know that we have the audience and interest for these training opportunities.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
N/A

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
As the PLA/ARL/ALA-led Building Competencies for Racial Equity Task Force wraps the development of its Framework for libraries, it would be wonderful if the EDISJ Committee could in some way work collaboratively with them in sharing out this work, perhaps developing a community conversations model that can include public, academic, special, and school libraries.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
As always, it was a pleasure working with Scott and Leighann! They were supportive, helpful, and were dynamic allies in our work.

Submitted by Christina Fuller-Gregory on 08/24/2021

The group met 4-6 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Twitter Chat Series:
To date, our Task Force has hosted a Twitter Chat series focused on health inequity, diversity in library staffing, and community engagement. We continue to work on additional issue-based chats to present to library workers. The purpose of these chats is to encourage librarians and library staff to begin to consider the significance and importance of these topics through a Post-Covid lens. As each of us begins thinking of how to safely and fully reopen our libraries, we want issues of EDISJ to be a focal point for these upcoming and ongoing conversations.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

Second Activity
PLA Magazine Articles:
The task force has been given the opportunity to contribute a monthly column to the Public Libraries magazine. This column enables us to highlight issues and concerns as they relate to EDISJ.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

Third Activity
PLA Statement and Call to Action for Public Library Workers to Address Racism:
While this may not be considered an activity… our collective work on this statement reflects our commitment to supporting all public library workers in addressing systemic racism. This statement acts as a compass for how we will develop new opportunities to serve the profession.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
We will continue to host our Twitter Chats. This platform has enabled us to build an information sharing network as it relates to EDISJ. We’ve also been able to act as a connector- introducing library workers to others who have shared interests, shared work, and shared ideas.

We look forward to working with and supporting PLA Leadership Academy on a training that centers EDISJ work. The committee will also continue to contribute our monthly column to Public Libraries magazine.

While we’ve had to shelve our highly successful, in-person training, with Mia Henry – Social Justice and Public Libraries: Equity Starts with Us, our goal is to identify ways in which we can implement a successful virtual training.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
As a Task Force we have two concerns:

1) We believe that we have moved beyond the Task Force designation and should become a committee. Task Force work is often targeted, short term and focused on one specific issue. We recognize that our work is long-term, frequently evolving, and requires consistent, on-going effort and attention. To that end, we are asking to become the PLA EDISJ Committee.

2) This work is too big, too important to move forward strictly by committee members who meet once-monthly. Social Justice and equity, diversity, and inclusion are more important than ever before. As hard as we are working on fostering conversations, providing information, and building a network of supportive, engaged, and fully invested librarians and library professionals, we need greater support. We believe that this work could be furthered by a full-time staff member who is dedicated solely to this work.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
PLA EDISJ Task Force Equity Toolkit. This kit should feature a lexicon, conversation starters, activities, and more.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
We’d love to collaborate with BCALA, APALA, AILA, REFORMA, JCLC, CALA, and any other library organizations that amplify the voices of communities of color.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
I think it should be said that the EDISJ Task Force wouldn’t be able to contribute to the level that we do without PLA staff Leighann Wood and Scott Allen. They absolutely provide tremendous and highly appreciated support to our Task Force. With their continued support and the addition of a staff member who is solely dedicated to moving this important work forward, the PLA EDISJ TF could better meet our desired goals.

Submitted by Christina Fuller-Gregory & Lois Langer Thompson on 08/24/2020

The group met 2-3 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Our primary focus has been on the 3 regional trainings in Denver, Charleston, and Chicago. Each training's first day has been led by Mia Henry followed by a 2nd half day led by various practitioners from the GARE network. The content on the 2nd day has been refined over the last 2 convening.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Transitioning in our new co-chairs and setting new TF priorities. We are hopeful the new members of our group will add to our overall capacity.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
N/a

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Organizational assessment tool
Online library/portal for policies, interview questions, etc.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
2020 Census
Health Literacy

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
You all are awesome!

Submitted by Amita Lonial on 09/06/2019