Library Committee Handbook

Diversity Committee 

E-mail:
diversity@library.uiuc.edu

 

Library Diversity Committee Meeting Minutes

February 28, 2006
Room 413
1:30 pm

Present: Cindy Ingold, Chair; Mary Beth Allen; Silda Andrick; Lori Carroll; Lisa Romero

  1. Lori volunteered to take minutes for the meeting.

  2. The committee discussed plans for showing and discussing the video "People First: Serving and Employing People with Disabilities" at 295 UGL on Wednesday, April 19: 1-2:30pm and Friday, April 21: 10-11:30am.  We discussed who might facilitate discussion, and whether we wanted to co-facilitate.  Mary Beth spoke to the Staff Training Committee, and noted that some questioned whether we should address racial and/or ethnic issues before issues concerning disabilities.  The committee agreed that we are taking a broader view of diversity, including religious differences, sexual orientation, disabilities, racial, and ethnic matters.  As a group, we can take up more of these issues in the future; we are just starting with disabilities for now.

    Mary Beth will speak to members of DRES to explore whether a DRES specialist could lead a discussion of the video.   Lisa pointed out that such an expert could heighten interest in attending.

    We decided to pursue having a DRES expert attend, and we decided to have committee members as back-up facilitators in case DRES cannot help us.

    As for publicity, we decided to use libfac and libnews.

    As for outcomes, we want to raise diversity awareness.  Lisa suggested that we have attendees provide feedback via a short evaluation form, one that could gauge interest in other diversity topics.  Lisa agreed to work on the evaluation form.

  3. The committee discussed setting regular future meeting dates.  Tentatively, we chose the second Tuesday of the month.  All members present thought this day would work.

  4. Cindy discussed sharing information via articles, listservs such as ALA's diversity listerv, and other sources such as Versed, an ALA online publication focusing on diversity issues.  Currently, Cindy and Lisa are on ALA's diversity listserv.  We discussed joining such listservs, or having Cindy forward relevant listserv posts to the group as a whole.  The group leaned toward the latter.

  5. The committee briefly discussed the possibility of a committee web page again.  We discussed the possibility of collaborating on a web page with the future Outreach Librarian for Multicultural Services instead of maintaining our own separate page.  Today we leaned toward the former option.

  6. We discussed future workshops, and thought the evaluation form could help us determine engaging topics.  Cindy stated that she will contact the Lincoln Trails Library System, and she also mentioned the possibility of working with the Mortenson Center.

    Silda, Lisa, Cindy, and Lori discussed the Diversity Committee role in future exhibits. Cindy also suggested a Diversity Lunch, which allows attendees to bring dishes representing their religious, cultural, social, and/or ethnic backgrounds.

    Participants could bring a recipe card as well to facilitate diversity awareness in a fun way.  Cindy thought we could email Scott Schwartz in the future to help advertise this event. Finally, we discussed inviting Cindy Kelly to our next meeting because she is an ex-officio member.

  7. The next committee meeting will be held on March 14, 2006, from 1:30 to 3pm in room 413 Library.

Respectfully submitted,

Lori