September 8, 2015 Meeting of Diversity Committee

I. Select Minute Taker
A. Establish a Method for determining Meeting Minute Takers

II. Approve August Meeting Minutes

III. ClimateQUAL updates

IV. Campus Microaggression Events with Laurie
A. Oct. 6th and Oct. 28th
B. Modification of posters? / Event Promotion
C. Do we plan to provide cookies, &tc?

V.   Inclusive Illinois Week
A. Cindy and Heather’s meeting with Tracy Kleparski
1. Leaving it up to the units regarding what to do for II week.
2. Tracy was looking into II promotional stuff.
B. Zoe has reserved Rm. 106 for Tuesday, Sep. 29, from 10 – 3.
1. Rm. 106 may still be available for Thurs., Oct. 1…
2. Staffing this event.
3. Do we intend to provide cookies, &tc, for this event?
C. Should we contact other Units (i.e., ACES, Grainger…)?
D. How do we want to promote this event?

VI. Diversity Summit Update

VII.  From Cultural Competency to the Americans with Disabilities Act
A. 2016 marks the 25th Anniversary of the ADA.  Should we change our Spring semester focus from Cultural Competency?
B. ODEA and GSLIS have both planned events around this topic for Spring 2016

VIII.  Getting Involved with the Diversity Committee
A. GA’s have inquired about the possibility of involvement with our committee.
B.  Regarding “Involvement”, is it worth considering this more broadly (beyond the GA)?

IX.  Library Strategic Plan
A. Updates?
B. Beginning discussion for talking points / questions for 20 minutes with Lisa H. during our Nov. meeting.

X. Other News and Updates

1. Erik Chapman, Qiang Jin, Cindy Ingold, Heather Murphy, Cindy Kelly, J.J. Pionke, Harriet Green, Zoe Revell, Ben Riegler, Ellen Swain
   Absent: Laila Moustafa

Erik Chapman, minute-taker

1. Select Minute Taker
   It was decided that Erik would take the minutes and that we would proceed in alphabetical order for each subsequent meeting.
2. Approve August Meeting Minutes
   The meeting minutes for August were approved without edits.
3. ClimateQUAL updates
   An executive summary of the ClimateQUAL survey results is in its final stages of composition and, barring incident, will be sent to Dean Wilkin and the Executive Committee by the end of the week.  Cindy I. will meet with the Executive Committee on Monday, Sept 14th, and will share what she learns about moving forward library-wide.
4. Campus Microaggression Events with Lori Mestre
   Informational sessions on microaggressions will be held Oct. 6 and Oct. 28, both from 11 am – 12 pm.  Lori Mestre will present the sessions with the support of the Diversity Committee.  The Oct. 6 session will take place in Main Library, Rm 106.  Zoe will get the Room key for the Oct. 6 session; she and Cindy I. will introduce Lori at the event.  The Oct. 28 session will be held in Room 335, Grainger.  The promotion for this event will be kept internal.  We will not provide refreshments for either session.
   Erik will contact OIIR, regarding the “Illinois Intervenes” posters that Lori had forwarded to us, to see if these could be easily repurposed and used at the microaggressions events and/or at our upcoming Inclusive Illinois open house.
5. Inclusive Illinois Week
   Cindy I. and Heather met recently with Tracy Kleparski of Inclusive Illinois and learned that it will essentially be left up to individual units to determine how to celebrate the week.  It is possible that we may be able to get some Inclusive Illinois Week promotional items from Tracy.  Cindy I. will check with her and report back.
   Zoe has reserved Rm. 106 for Tuesday, Sep. 29, from 10 – 3, for our Inclusive Illinois Open House.
   Harriet has agreed to create an online sign-up sheet in order to provide adequate staffing for this event.
   Zoe has agreed to purchase bottled water, candy, and balloons for this event, using Diversity Committee funds.  We will have 3 white boards, two of which visitors will be encouraged to stick post-it notes upon, in answer to the questions, “What does diversity mean to you?” and, “What can the library do to be more inclusive?”.  The other board can be used to display posters.
   Erik will compose an e-mail about this event for LibNews and Cindy I. will contact units to solicit promotional materials and learn if the other units have planned events for Inclusive Illinois week.  Heather will bring a library event table cloth and add notice to the Library’s digital sign.
   Ellen is considering a possible student life exhibit in the North / South Hallway onb the first floor of the Main Library.
6. Diversity Summit Update
   Harriet and Heather attended the Diversity Summit on campus.  They both stated that the Chancellor’s stepping-down was a major topic at the summit.  Heather commented that the Inclusive Illinois reps were drafting a response regarding the negative treatment of the Chancellor and Harriet mentioned that it was stated that campus leaders would like to see more forums, involving both faculty and staff, focused on policies of inclusivity.
7. From Cultural Competency to the Americans with Disabilities Act
   2015 marks the 25th Anniversary of the ADA.  It was decided that we would change our focus for the
   Spring 2016 semester to issues surrounding disability.  JJ may provide an exhibit for the North / South hallway in the Main Library this February.  ODEA will be hosting a speaker per month and GSLIS is planning a lecture series, we may be able to participate in these, or other campus efforts.
   We discussed hosting a demonstration and a training event, as well as a “petting zoo” to exhibit current
   library resources, hardware and software available for patrons with disabilities.
8. Getting Involved with the Diversity Committee
   GA’s have inquired about the possibility of involvement with our committee.  It would be possible for someone from the Diversity Committee to attend HUB meetings in order to explain how graduate student employees can interact with the Committee.  For this, we decided we would promote our general e-mail.
9. Library Strategic Plan
   The Committee’s hope is that the forthcoming Library Strategic Plan will include a section on Diversity and that the Committee will be able to provide insight pertaining to this section.  To this end, Lisa Hinchcliffe has been invited to the first 20 minutes of our November meeting.  It is possible that the ClimateQUAL Response Team may have a role.
   During our Oct. meeting we will begin discussing talking points and draft a list of questions for our
   meeting with Lisa..
10. Other News and Updates
    Harriet and Cindy I. will look into possible webinars provided by groups such as, ALA, ACRL, ALSCA, Joint Librarians of Color; to see if there are webinars that we could host over the coming months.  It is possible that these events could be organized in collaboration with staff training.