RA for All Roadshow Virtual Visit to NYLA-ESRT

Later today I will be part of a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Public Library Section of the NY Library Association. The subcommittee of PLS hosting the talk is the Ethnic Services Roundtable. They have created a month long series of programs for their members with the theme, "Combating Racism in Libraries: Creating Spaces to Educate and Inform Our Communities."

From the homepage for this CE series:

Date: Wednesdays September 23 - October 21, 2020 
Time: 2 – 3 p.m. EST
Register Here

Description:
The Public Libraries Section (PLS) of NYLA is dedicated to supporting public libraries and public library staff of New York State. Ethnic Services Round Table (ESRT) has provided a forum for libraries and library staff to share information on ethnic services. United we value diversity, equity, inclusion and stand against racism, hatred, and violence. To take action, we have collaborated to curate the webinar series, “Combating Racism in Libraries: Creating Spaces to Educate and Inform Our Communities.” It will be a thought provoking hour. The goal of the series is for libraries and library staff to learn, share, and discuss the historical and present day barrieres that communities are facing regarding racism against the Black community. We hope you’ll join us to learn how we can combat racism together and create spaces for our communities to listen, learn, and grow.

That is the description for the entire series, meeting every Wednesday afternoon. I am a part of the second event:

Using Collection Development and Readers Advisory to Introduce Race Relations
Wednesday, September 23, 2020 2-3 PM EST
Speakers: Robin Bradford, Becky Spratford
Moderator: Shauntee Burns

They are recording every conversation and then posting those videos including extra resourced on the website here. So please bookmark the page.

I am very proud to be a part of this ongoing conversation. I am also excited for the resource that they are building after the fact. The archives via the web page will be available for any library worker anywhere to access.  Look at this list of topics!

• Community and Communication in the Dialogue on American Racism - Past, Present & Future
• Using Collection Development and Readers Advisory to Introduce Race Relations
• Inclusive Programming - Every Race, Every Month
• I Write about Race - a panel discussion
• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in Human Resources & Microaggressions in the Workplace
• Teaching Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and American Culture in ESOL Classrooms

The list of topics itself is an example of being inclusive. This is a discussion of EDI issues from multiple angles.

So today, some of you will see me and Robin live having a conversation about EDI, RA, and Collection Development, but bookmark the NYLA ESRT page because all of you can see the video and learn from the entire page as this series goes on. 

In terms of my presentation, this is a conversation so there are no slides, although I did pass on my latest iteration of the EDI talk which you can access here. I will refer to those slides and the links they lead you to during the conversation. 

And a huge thank you to NYLA ESRT for taking on this huge project. They are leading by having these tough conversations with a diverse group of library workers and then making the results easily accessible to all.

Please pass on the webpage to everyone and anyone. I have already forwarded it to my library system HQ.