How To Build an Antiracist Library Culture

Transform your library culture and services by learning how to build and maintain momentum toward your equity goals.

Extend your learning and save more by pairing this course with its companion course, Antiracism 201: Digging Deeper in Antiracist Library Cultures—starting May 10. View bundle discounts at registration.

Course Overview

Guest speaker sessions via Zoom:
Tuesdays, Feb. 21, 28 and Mar. 7, from 2:00-4:30 pm ET (recordings available)

Workshop:
Asynchronous, facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks

Through this course, you’ll learn about the concrete actions library leaders are taking to help cultivate an antiracist, inclusive library culture—from examining the impacts of implicit bias, to evaluating spaces, programs, and services and examining policies and practices through an antiracist lens—to ensure that there is a shared value of antiracism at the library.

Practical coursework, along with targeted support, will take you from theory to application, providing tools and resources that will help you to transform your library culture and services by examining them through an equity lens.

You’ll complete assignments over 3+ weeks in an interactive online classroom environment with personal coaching from an expert in the field. In addition, you’ll have access to our foundational bonus content—rich supporting materials you can explore at your own pace, including a series of webinars from Library Journal and School Library Journal contributors, readings, activities, and videos.

The transformational speaker program has given thousands of librarians the tools and vision for meaningful change. The live sessions run on Tuesdays, Feb. 21, 28 and Mar. 7 from 2:00-4:30 pm ET (recordings available) with an ongoing facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks. Don’t miss this opportunity!

Learning Outcomes

When you sign up early, you’ll have immediate access to our Early Access On Demand Resources—a series of webinars from Library Journal and School Library Journal contributors along with rich, supporting materials in the form of readings, activities, and videos—to explore at your own pace.

When you attend this interactive online course, you’ll gain the tools to:

Evaluate your current EDI practices to engage in more authentic self-reflection and self-assessment,
Recognize key diversity and cultural literacy concepts such as white privilege, unconscious bias, cultural appropriation, and intersectionality,
Assess current library programs, staffing, hiring, equity statements, and more through a culturally competent, antiracist lens,
Recognize problematic stereotypes, tropes, acts of implicit/explicit bias, and microaggressions,
Engage in an equity-focused project that you initiate, define, and work on in a group workshop with asynchronous, written feedback from a group facilitator

Who should take this course

Any educator or librarian wanting to help contribute to an antiracist culture in their institution.

Live sessions are also available on demand

Can’t make a live session? All guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on demand following the initial broadcast. Asynchronous workshops allow you to complete assignments and receive feedback from experts.

Certificate of completion provided

15 professional development credits are available

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature live captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email libraryjournal@edmaker.co upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Group Rates

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. When you register your team for our online courses, they will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

Send us a request for a quote.

If your group prefers to work separately, just let us know.

2023 Advisory Committee

We thank the following course advisors who have helped shape the program and course work.

Michelle Khưu, Strategy Analyst, Aon

Christina Fuller-Gregory, Assistant Director of Libraries, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Week 1: Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Personal Assessment: Understanding What You Bring to Your Library

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

How To Establish a Personal Antiracism Practice

Building antiracist libraries begins with each of us understanding our own positionality and reflecting on the ways we engage with and are affected by race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and immigration status. Making a personal commitment to antiracism and anti-oppression sets the foundation for our work in our communities and institutions. In this session, we’ll discuss how to assess where you are currently and create a plan for how to dig deeper into cultivating actively antiracist practices at your library, starting with yourself.

Speaker:

Christina Fuller-Gregory, Assistant Director of Libraries, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-2:55 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Break | 2:55-3:00 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:00-4:30 pm ET

Handling Current Challenges in Information Library Science

In this session, we’ll discuss some of the most pressing equity, diversity, and inclusion issues facing librarians around the country right now, such as Critical Race Theory, book bans, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more. You’ll hear tips for how to navigate challenges with library colleagues, community members, and stakeholders. We’ll also discuss how to support yourself and promote your psychological safety while you provide support and safety for your community

Part One | 3:00-3:30 pm ET

Community Challenges and How to Address Them

Speaker:

Erika Long, (she, her) School Library Consultant

Part Two | 3:30-4:00 pm ET

Caring for Yourself and Your Wellbeing in the Workplace

Speaker:

Adeeba Rana, Poet and Librarian, Brooklyn Public Library

Part Three | 4:00-4:30 pm ET

Working with Your Library Board to Address Racism

Speaker:

Melanie Huggins, Executive Director, Richland Library in Columbia, SC

Week 2: Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Community Assessment: Understanding What Your Library Brings to Your Community

Session 1 | 2:00-2:30 pm ET

Understanding Your Community and Their Needs

Centering your equity work on the community you serve requires a deep understanding of who your community is! In this session, you’ll learn how to gather and analyze the community data you already have and find the data you don’t. We’ll also discuss how you can audit the DEI work your library or school is already doing against the data you’ve collected.

Speaker:

Audrey Barbakoff, EdD., MLIS, CEO, Co/lab Capacity LLC

Session 2 | 2:30-3:00 pm ET

Building Antiracist Programming Using Local History

Learn how connecting to your community’s past and confronting its racist history can open up rich conversations about the future in this inspiring session. Angel Jewel Tucker, Youth Services Manager at the Johnson County Library will share how Race Project KC has opened up awareness of the systemic injustices of redlining, racially restrictive covenants, and more among the young people of Kansas City. This session provides a deep dive into how librarians can use their institutions’ historical collections and resources to help patrons, students, and community members explore, critically analyze, and combat systemic racism.

Speakers:

Angel Jewel Tucker, Youth Services Manager, Johnson County Library, Overland Park (KS)

Workshop Q&A | 3:00-3:10 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Break | 3:10-3:15 pm ET

Session 3 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET

Antibias/Antiracist Hiring Practices and Recruitment

The work of creating more antiracist library organizations also involves reframing our approach to staff hiring and development. In this session, you’ll learn some approaches for implementing more equitable and antibiased recruiting and hiring practices, and how such efforts can also contribute to building more inclusive workplaces and fostering staff retention.

Speakers:

Tarida Anantachai, (she, her) Director, Inclusion & Talent Management, North Carolina State University Libraries