Thank you to all of our speakers, presenters, and attendees!
You can find handouts from the keynote speaker and the program activities on this page within the agenda below. For Idea Fair handouts, please check the Idea Fair tab. We encourage you to continue to conversation on our Discussion Tab!
About this program:
Each spring, MLS offers a day-long program to give our members an opportunity to explore a topic in depth along with their peers. This year, we will focus on social justice, which is one of the themes in the 2017-2019 MLS strategic plan.
Why "Diversity to Equity"?
| 9:30am |
Registration and Coffee Tweeting the program? #mlssp17 |
| 10:00am | Welcoming Remarks |
| 10:15am |
Keynote Address: "Breaking Below the Surface of Racism, Whiteness, and Implicit Bias"
April Hathcock is the Scholarly Communications Librarian at NYU where she educates the campus community on issues of ownership, access, and rights in the research lifecycle. She received her J.D. and LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law and her M.L.I.S. from the University of South Florida. Before entering librarianship, she practiced intellectual property and antitrust law for a global private firm. Her research interests include diversity and inclusion in librarianship, cultural creation and exchange, and the ways in which social and legal infrastructures benefit the works of certain groups over others. She is the author of the article “White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS” and the blog At the Intersection, which examines issues at the intersection of feminism, libraries, social justice, and the law.
"Breaking Below" Handouts:
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| 11:15am |
Scenario Discussions Handout: Worksheet for scenario discussions |
| 12:00pm |
Lunch Conference One Book: Uprooting Racism Join us at the One Book Wall in the lobby for informal discussion during lunch! See the box at the top right of this page for book info and complimentary e-book access within Massachusetts. Set-up for Idea Fair (presenters) |
| 1:00pm |
Idea Fair Discover what your colleagues at thirteen public, school, and academic libraries throughout Massachusetts are doing to promote social justice at their libraries and in their communities. View Idea Fair descriptions. |
| 2:00pm |
Afternoon Address: MIT Libraries’ Committee for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion
Ann Marie Willer is the Director of Preservation Services at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), an independent conservation laboratory located in Andover, MA, that offers conservation treatment, digital imaging, and audio preservation services, as well as preservation training, consultations, and disaster advice to clients nationwide. She previously served as Preservation Librarian for the MIT Libraries and the University of North Texas Libraries. At MIT, Ann Marie was an inaugural member of the Libraries’ Committee for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion.
Allison Gofman is one of the current co-chairs of the MIT Libraries’ Committee for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion. She works as an Access Services Assistant at MIT, where she staffs the circulation desk, course reserves, remote reference services, support for citation management tools, and more. She will complete an MSLIS at Simmons School of Library and Information Science this summer, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard College. |
| 3:00pm |
Action Planning Identify actions you can take to promote social justice at your own libraries, and work with other attendees to plan how we can continue the discussion at the statewide level. Handout: Worksheet for reflection and action planning We also invite you to participate in the virtual discussion board on this guide! Dessert |
From the Program Speakers:
Resource Guide:
Reading List:
Related MLS Guides:
Uprooting Racism by
In 2008, the United States elected its first black president, and recent polls show that only 22 percent of white people in the US believe that racism is a major societal problem. On the surface, it may seem to be in decline. However the evidence of discrimination persists throughout our society. Segregation and inequalities in education, housing, health care and the job market continue to be the norm. Post 9/11, increased insecurity and fear have led to an epidemic of the scapegoating and harassment of people of color. Uprooting Racism offers a framework for understanding institutional racism. It provides practical suggestions, tools, examples and advice on how white people can intervene in interpersonal and organizational situations to work as allies for racial justice. Completely revised and updated, this expanded third edition directly engages the reader through questions, exercises and suggestions for action, and takes a detailed look at current issues such as affirmative action, immigration and health care. It also includes a wealth of information about specific cultural groups such as Muslims, people with mixed-heritage, Native Americans, Jews, recent immigrants, Asian Americans, and Latino/as. Previous editions of Uprooting Racism have sold more than 50,000 copies. Accessible, personal, supportive and practical, this book is ideal for students, community activists, teachers, youth workers and anyone interested in issues of diversity, multiculturalism and social justice.
The program organizers invite you to join us for informal discussion of this title at the One Book Wall in the lobby during lunch. In partnership with New Society Publishers, we are pleased to offer free access to the e-book to all MLS members and LIS students within Massachusetts for a limited time via the Commonwealth eBook Collection. Use the link above to access the title through BiblioBoard, or read it offline via the free BiblioBoard app (available on iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire).
MLS thanks the following people for their help planning the 2017 Spring Program:
