ALA Anaheim--Diversity Town Meeting

The ALA  Diversity Town Meeting  is an opportunity for the ethnic affiliates and GLBT round table to report about how they are supporting their communities.  The meeting provides information about how librarians that belong to these communities or serve these communities.  It was apparent that these groups are excellent resources for materials about their communities (especially AILA and GBLT Round Table).  Many groups (especially REFORMA and AILA) continue to stress family literacy initiatives.

Lots of discussion about the responsibility of librarians to the many groups that make up their patron communities:  How do we recruit a more diverse population of librarians?  How do we sensitively address needs of our patrons and serve their needs?

Some ideas that might be useful:

• At state conferences—think about a panel on diversity offering input from these groups to talk about sensitively reaching out to their communities? 
• Be sure that school librarians serving schools with large populations from particular communities (e.g., Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Native American, GLBT) know that they can join these affiliates on behalf of their patrons even if they are not themselves members of those communities

One nice feature of the meeting this year was lots of discussion about how to involve members and grow leadership.  Some of the ideas that resonated with me included:

• Membership needs to be fun and members need to be engaged—many spoke about the need to provide members with opportunities to get involved in a way that is safe and increase comfort levels as they become involved—this is the best way grow leaders
• When the same people continue to do everything, there is a risk of alienating the new members—there is a tendency in some organizations to ask the people that you know and that you know are capable to do the work;  there can also be a tendency to put out the call for help in a very general and generic way and then complain when no one steps up.  Burn out can be a real issue when the same people do the same things for too long.

• The ALA  Diversity Town Meeting  is an opportunity for the ethnic affiliates and GLBT round table to report about how they are supporting their communities.  The meeting provides information about how librarians that belong to these communities or serve these communities.  It was apparent that these groups are excellent resources for materials about their communities (especially AILA and GBLT Round Table).  Many groups (especially REFORMA and AILA) continue to stress family literacy initiatives.

• Lots of discussion about the responsibility of librarians to the many groups that make up their patron communities:  How do we recruit a more diverse population of librarians?  How do we sensitively address needs of our patrons and serve their needs?
  
  
  Some ideas that might be useful:
  • At state conferences—think about a panel on diversity offering input from these groups to talk about sensitively reaching out to their communities? 
  • Be sure that school librarians serving schools with large populations from particular communities (e.g., Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Native American, GLBT) know that they can join these affiliates on behalf of their patrons even if they are not themselves members of those communities
  
  
  One nice feature of the meeting this year was lots of discussion about how to involve members and grow leadership.  Some of the ideas that resonated with me included:
  • Membership needs to be fun and members need to be engaged—many spoke about the need to provide members with opportunities to get involved in a way that is safe and increase comfort levels as they become involved—this is the best way grow leaders
  • When the same people continue to do everything, there is a risk of alienating the new members—there is a tendency in some organization to ask the people that you know and that you know are capable to do the work;  there can also be a tendency to put out the call for help in a very general and generic way and then complain when no one steps up.  Burn out can be a real issue when the same people do the same things for too long.