The annual American Library Association conference returned (at last!) to an in-person format this year. It was great to meet up with colleagues, and miraculously, the heat and humidity of Washington DC were bearable, even at the end of June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transformation was THE<\/strong> theme of the conference, from collections and access to library physical and virtual spaces. Many sessions related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. It’s always interesting to hear from a variety of library types – it expands my own thinking about opportunities and challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the panel Everyone is Welcome: Designing for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in Library Buildings, <\/em>we heard from Richard Kong, director of the Skokie Public Library outside of Chicago. A recent renovation required them to seriously rethink how best to provide a welcoming library space to a public that is 40% foreign born. Kong spoke to the concept of architecture as having potential for healing, a space to reduce personal and social anxiety. But in practice, there is a need to balance aspects of inclusiveness with other building qualities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conducting a Large-scale Diversity Audit for Urban Public Library Systems<\/em> described a project to evaluate the St. Louis Public Library system’s fiction collection to insure its diverse community is reflected. Staff at 17 locations went into the stacks and manually assessed a sampling (213,207) of the fiction titles with an eye towards diversity in its many aspects, including: race, religion, LGBTQIA+, neuro and body diversity, mental health, and author identity. Hugely time-consuming and admittedly imperfect an approach, the exercise provided staff with a deeper appreciation of collection development and assessment practice. \u00a0Presenters Tiffany Davis and Anna Strackeljahn felt this was an important strength, in spite of tht time commitment. For a collection of 11 million titles, more feasible approaches include analysis of collection diversity using Library of Congress subject headings, or Baker & Taylor\u2019s DEI Collection HQ tool<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While not explicitly about DEIA, the session Save, Edit, Delete \u2013 Pushing Virtual Services Forward while Returning Onsite Post-Pandemic<\/em> also raised important issues about making our services as accessible as possible based on lessons learned during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To wrap up the session, facilitators asked each table to consider this question: <\/p>\n\n\n\n What services put into place during the pandemic would you most like to discard, and get rid of entirely? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A crowded room of 150 attendees all laughed in recognition as a librarian provides this idea: \u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s discard our resistance to change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The annual American Library Association conference returned (at last!) to an in-person format this year. It was great to meet up with colleagues, and miraculously, the heat and humidity of Washington DC were bearable, even at the end of June. … Continue reading Spaces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Collections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n