Best of Core Forum: When the Tools are Broken; (Re)Building Community
Description: Building toolboxes, refining skills, and developing frameworks are only a handful of methods library professionals are using—and learning to use—in their everyday workplace. The necessity grows with each challenge faced, whether it's censorship and book banning, navigating workplace conflict, or maintaining the organization’s commitment to social justice. Those who lead and manage teams, departments, and libraries work to find the means to best serve their organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion needs. Busy schedules, small budgets, and fewer resources create further barriers. And for many, this work is done alone and without a community to support needed changes. The tools and skills that were given and taught by their organization, and profession, are broken. In this interactive session focusing on building a community, participants will share learned experiences, develop accountability partners, and actively learn potential responses to an array of workplace challenges. Participants will crowdsource solutions and options to challenging situations at their libraries. This results in practices that build professional networks and enhance leadership capacity.
This webinar was previously presented in-person as a session at the 2023
Core Forum. We are hosting this webinar, with the session adapted and
presented live as a virtual event, to extend its reach.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to:- Develop accountability partners and allies to sustain leadership and service;
- Build community through shared experiences of identifying barriers to accomplish goals; and
- Practice navigating challenging scenarios to develop a routine for handling them.
Who Should
Attend: The primary
audience for this webinar is for folks invested in diversity and access
in their library, but may be feeling at a loss at how to make change.
Discussion Facilitators:
Dr. Melia Fritch is
a Professor and Academic Services librarian at Kansas State University.
Leading the Learning Experience and Design team, Melia assists with
creating learning environments and consults in the development of
innovative services and intuitive interfaces for both internal and
external users. She is the co-coordinator of the Dow Center for
Multicultural and Community Studies housed within Hale Library; serving
as the Libraries’ Diversity Point Person for the university, Melia
fosters a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging
within the university community. Her research interests include critical
information literacy/library instruction, curriculum development,
critical pedagogy, instruction assessment, and qualitative research,
with a central focus on diversity and equity. She holds a PhD in
Curriculum and Instruction, Master of Library Science, Master of Arts in
English with an emphasis in Cultural Studies, and a graduate
certificate in Women’s Studies.
Tara Coleman, recipient
of the 2023 I Love My Librarian Award, is a Professor and the Program
Services Coordinator for the Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab at
Kansas State University Libraries. She co-coordinates the Libraries’ Dow
Center for Multicultural and Community Studies; serves as a university
ombudsperson, and is the coordinator for the university’s common reading
program, the K-State First Book.
Tech Requirements