DEI Training, Previous Years

Introduction

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Standing Group (DEISG) identifies and coordinates training opportunities with a goal for inclusive and intersectional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training. The DEISG proposes different types of training to engage Alliance members wherever they are with their DEI practices. Training opportunities will address different learning styles and topic familiarity while incorporating community elements.

  • Training types: speaker/presentation, panel discussion, workshop, multiple session series
  • Learning styles: active learning, group discussion, think + write, interactive response, Q&A
  • Topics: diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, identity (personal, community, and systems), LGBTQ+, anti-bias, anti-harassment, policies and practices

Previous Training Opportunities

This page collects information for training offered during previous years, with goals for both creating a collection of training information and supporting transparency.

Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations on Identity and Libraries

photograph of Drew Balduff
Drew Balduff
Image of Kel R. Karpinski
Kel R. Karpinski
Image of Maria Mejia
María Mejía
Image of Danielle Nista
Danielle Nista
Image of Sara A. Howard
Sara A. Howard
Image of Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz
Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz

Panelists: Drew Balduff, Kel R. Karpinski, María Mejía, Danielle Nista, Sara A. Howard, and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz

Date: June 18, 2024, 11:00am-12:30pm

Description: A conversation among six contributors for the Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations on Identity and Libraries monograph, a 2024 title from Litwin Books’ Series on Sex and Gender, which engages in conversation on library employees and affiliates who identify as (or within) LGBTQ identity. Conversations explore the interrelations of LGBTQ politics and the workplace and ask us to consider our own positionalities as we navigate colleagues, ourselves, and library professional spaces.

This session will be formatted as a conversation, exploring themes such as the intersection of race and bisexuality in libraries, navigating queer professionalism, Not Safe For Work (NSFW) research in libraries, and other topics connected to contributor chapters. The conversation starts with editors and contributors sharing their stories, and will then open to the room of participants who may bring questions and provocations learned from previous DEI series sessions to bring the conversation forward.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will gain a greater understanding of LGBTQ identities and libraries.
  • Participants will identify interrelations of LGBTQ politics and library professional spaces.
  • Participants will consider their own positionalities when navigating relationships and professional spaces with colleagues, user communities, and themselves.
  • Participants will recognize how intersectional identities overlap and weave throughout queer professionalism and libraries.

Panelists’ Bios:

Drew Balduff (he/him) is a public librarian based in Cleveland, Ohio. He lives with his cat, Petey.

Kel R. Karpinski (they/he) is an Assistant Professor and the Information Technology & Interlibrary Loan Librarian at the New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (CUNY). Their research focuses on mid-century queer films and novels as they relate to sailors and hustlers in Times Square and how these texts map queer desire onto the city. They are a vice president of the New York Metro chapter of the American Studies Association (NYMASA). Kel is also a zine maker and a NY Queer Zine Fair organizer.

María Mejía is a librarian and historian from New York City. She is the Open Scholarship Librarian at the New York University Libraries. Her research interests include critical librarianship, digital scholarship, reproductive justice, and Black feminist theory and activism.

Danielle Nista is the Assistant University Archivist at New York University Special Collections. She earned her Master of Arts in Archives from New York University and her MS in Library and Information Science from Long Island University. In addition to her work in professional organizations, Danielle is also an active participant in the queer, Catholic community in both her parish and the tristate area.

Sara A. Howard is the Librarian for Gender and Sexuality Studies and Student Engagement at Princeton University. Sara is the co-editor of a forthcoming two volume series Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations on Archives and Practice and Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations on Identity and Libraries expected 2024 from Litwin Books/Library Juice Press. Sara’s research interests include; gender and labor, gender and performance and exploring traditionally and purposefully marginalized voices and materials within the academy. When outside of the library, Sara enjoys cooking with way too much garlic, swimming in all bodies of water and hanging with her pup, Rosie!

Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz is an assistant curator and associate dean for Teaching, Learning, and Engagement at New York University Division of Libraries where she serves as the Faculty Diversity Search Liaison. Shawn is also an adjunct assistant professor at Pratt School of information, teaching Reference & Instruction. Shawn is a co-coordinator at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, a co-convenor of the Reference & Instruction Special Interest Group at METRO where she co-curated the Critical Pedagogy Symposium and Case Studies in Critical Pedagogy series. Shawn is the co-editor of a two-volume series, Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations in Archives and Practice and Queer Conversations in Identity and Libraries expected 2024 from Litwin Books/Library Juice Press.

Understanding Your Institution’s Policies as a Pathway for LGBTQ+ Support

Trainers: Reed Garber-Pearson and Maggie Faber

Date: May 22, 2024, 1:00pm-2:00pm

Description: How well do you know your institution’s policies in support of – or against – LGBTQ+ library workers and users? Do you know if your organization provides gender affirming care? Does your institution have pronouns associated with patron IDs?

Understanding your institution’s policies and cultures around LGBTQ+ library workers and users is an important step to being able to advocate and support. The first part of this session will provide a worksheet framework to help you examine the policies and cultures at your library. During the second part of the session, presenters will share common barriers to making institutional change and engage participants in strategies to overcome these barriers and take care of themselves when navigating complex systems.

Learning Objectives. At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Use a framework to understand your institution’s culture and policies to be a better ally to LGBTQ+ colleagues and users.
  • Recognize barriers to navigating institutional policy change within complex systems in order to anticipate obstacles to change.
  • Share experiences in order to collectively reflect and strategize about self care, structures of support, and avoiding burnout when advocating for change.

Trainers’ Bios:

Reed Garber-Pearson (they/them) is the Integrated Social Sciences & Online Learning Librarian at the University of Washington. Reed uses participatory, critical and inclusive strategies as part of the instructional design team, creating multimodal learning programs, collaborating on curriculum development, and teaching information literacy classes.

Maggie Faber (she/her) is the Assessment & Data Visualization Librarian at the University of Washington. She leads Libraries efforts to analyze and communicate assessment results and related data by developing interactive

LGBTQ+ Stories in Library Collections

Trainer: Carson Williams

Date: April 17, 2024, 11:00am-12:00pm

Description: Creating inclusive library collections incorporates diverse and equitable representation across communities, identities, experiences, and more. This session will focus on LGBTQ+ perspectives for collection development activities. We’ll review how to identify problematic stereotypes and tropes, along with how to avoid perpetuating such depictions. We’ll also discuss how to amplify representation that affirms queer identities and experiences.

During the session, we’ll share practical tips and strategies for promoting LGBTQ+ identities and perspectives in collections: evaluation, selection, acquisitions, removal, diversity audits, and more. We’ll also review recommended tools and resources for supporting this work. The session will close with time for participants’ questions and follow-up conversation.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will gain a greater understanding of LGBTQ+ inclusion in library collections.
  • Participants will identify examples of how problematic depictions of LGBTQ+ identities and perspectives occur in library collections, as well as how to address them.
  • Participants will learn about resources, tools, and approaches to amplify and affirm queer identities and experiences in library collections.

Trainer Bio: Carson Williams is a Collection Development Librarian at Cornell University.

Trans and Gender Diverse Inclusion for Libraries

Trainer: Stephen Krueger

Date: March 5, 2024, 10:00am-12:00pm

Online Training: Presentation Recording (1:37:48) CC BY, Transcript, and Slides CC BY-NC. (The discussion was not recorded.)

Description: The first hour of this session is Trans 101; we’ll go over basic concepts of gender identity and how the nuances of gender vary widely between different contexts and cultures. The presentation will then cover different ways in which trans and gender diverse people express themselves, and various barriers they face. Participants will gain practical guidance on gender inclusive behavior as well as tools to continue learning.

The second hour will go over recommended practices for academic library workers on how to support trans and gender diverse patrons and employees. Trans and gender diverse inclusion is an essential element of all areas of library work; this portion of the session will demonstrate what that looks like in practice through some common examples. Resources will be shared for learning more about trans inclusion in specific aspects of library work. Time is provided for questions about particular topics or examples in both sections.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will gain a greater understanding of trans and gender diverse identities.
  • Participants will identify some of the most common issues of trans and gender diverse inclusion in libraries and library work.
  • Participants will select specific actions in their work, processes, or services to support trans and gender diverse patrons and employees.
  • Participants will learn about resources and approaches for growing their own understanding of trans and gender diverse inclusion as it relates to their work.

Trainer Bio: Stephen G. Krueger is the Affordable Course Content Librarian at the University of Kentucky. Ey holds a B.A. in English from Warren Wilson College and an M.S.L.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is working on an M.A. in Arctic and Northern Studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Stephen is the author of Supporting Trans People in Libraries (Libraries Unlimited, 2019), co-editor (with Keahi Adolpho and Krista McCracken) of Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries (Library Juice Press, 2023), and co-author of the Trans Advice Column. Ey is also the founder of the Trans and Gender Diverse LIS Network.