Task Force on Equity Diversity and Inclusion Archives

Michael Eric Dyson Delivers Energetic Opening Session

By Terra Dankowski | June 25, 2016

Dyson dazzled the crowd with his punchy, poetic style, tackling social issues and recent events, and expressing his love for libraries and books. “I’m a Luddite—I like the feel of the papyrus,” Dyson said. “I like the smell of the page, the decaying fragmented text that immediates intelligence. I am a fan of books.” He … Continue reading Michael Eric Dyson Delivers Energetic Opening Session →

ALA President Sari Feldman presents Sen. Cory Booker a Libraries Transform t-shirt.

Cory Booker Headlines President’s Program

By Terra Dankowski | January 11, 2016

Introduced by ALA President Sari Feldman and Trevor Dawes and Martin Garnar of the Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which cosponsored the event, Booker was on hand to talk about themes from his forthcoming book United (Penguin Random House, February 2016), including ideas for coming together, improving our country’s access to information and … Continue reading Cory Booker Headlines President’s Program →

Andrew P. Jackson leading the discussion with the ALA Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the NCAAL Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo Credit: Willie Miller)

A Conversation on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the ALA

By Willie M. Miller | August 7, 2015

Providing context for the conversation, Dawes mentioned the latest demographic data on librarians, which shows a slight narrowing of the gender gap but a disconcerting widening of the racial and ethnic gap. Jackson started the conversation by asking how library associations can positively affect the local landscape of conference cities. Orlando, Florida, the site of … Continue reading A Conversation on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the ALA →

Latest Library Links

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Michael Kan writes: “Are you still using ‘chocolate,’ ‘naruto,’ or ‘monkey’ for your passwords? You really need to stop. All three are among the most commonly used passwords, putting your accounts at risk of hacking, according to new data from NordPass. The password manager’s sixth annual list of the top 200 most commonly used passwords is pulled from a 2.5TB dataset of stolen logins taken from various sources.” ZDNet offers tips for creating stronger passwords and improved security measures.

PC Mag, Nov. 14; NordPass, Nov. 13; ZDNet, Nov. 14
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John Sharp writes: “Athens and Fairhope are two fast-growing cities in the fastest-growing areas of Alabama, and there is no mistaking their conservative bona fides. But according to early statistics about library card applications, their libraries appear to be bucking a trend embraced by conservative-leaning groups and the Alabama GOP: Their patrons appear to be trusting the libraries. More than 60% of parents at Fairhope Public Library and Athens-Limestone County Public Library have signed off on all-access passes for their children with no restrictions on library usage.”

AL.com, Nov. 17
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Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
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Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19
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John Warner writes: “I understand what people mean when they invoke the term ‘institutional neutrality,’ but I don’t know how it’s workable in today’s world. Higher education institutions are built upon a foundation of actual values, values that are, by definition, not neutral. The Kalven report, the Rosetta Stone of institutional neutrality produced by a faculty committee at the University of Chicago in 1967, is not a call to make all work emanating from an institution ‘neutral,’ but is instead a call to make the atmosphere for scholarly inquiry and debate as free as possible.”

Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 15
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Angela Hursh writes: “Ever wondered how your library’s email performance compares to others? Benchmarks help you understand how well your emails perform in key areas and identify opportunities for improvement. They also allow you to compare your email marketing performance, set goals, and stay on top of trends. However, the lack of industry benchmarks for email marketing metrics specific to libraries has been bugging me. Metrics from similar industries don’t fully capture the unique aspects of promoting a library. To help libraries accurately measure their email effectiveness, we’ve created the first-ever library email benchmark report.”

NoveList, Oct. 22
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Rachel Hendrick writes: “Students and library vendors are pushing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in higher education, but there are very few resources that help librarians and scholars separate the wheat from the chaff. Luckily, we here at Choice love a good assessment rubric. (In fact, we made a PDF of our assessment rubric.) Even the least tech-savvy of us can use a very simple AI literacy framework to think critically about whether an AI application is worth your time.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Nov. 13

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