California Academic & Research Libraries

Moving beyond DEI into justice

Friday, February 10, 2023
9:15am-12:45pm
Online

Southern California Instruction Librarians (SCIL) will host SCIL Works on Friday, February 10, 2023 as a remote half-day mini-conference. This annual mini-conference offers librarians the opportunity to hear about interventions, both small and large, best practices, innovative pedagogy, creative solutions, successes, and failures in incorporating DEI and anti-racist strategies into instruction and other related areas of librarianship.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are words which have been in higher education for some time. Institutions will look at overall metrics to see if they are meeting goals. However, the core of DEI is more than metrics, it's justice. It's providing voice to those who have been traditionally excluded and ignored. True DEI work is changing the underlying systems which push aside and devalue groups based on their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. SCIL Works 2023 will focus on ways librarians have incorporated social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racist work in library instruction.

SCIL Works 2023 Collaborative Notes

Schedule

• 09:15 - 09:30: Welcome
• 09:30 - 10:00: Research and Practice I
• 10:00 - 10:30: Research and Practice II
• 11:10 - 11:30: Break + Lightning Round Q&A
• 11:30 - 12:00: Research and Practice III
• 12:00 - 12:30: Research and Practice IV
• 12:30 - 12:45: Closing remarks and evaluations

• 10:30 - 10:40: Break
• 10:40 - 11:10: Lightning Rounds

Presentations

Research and Practice

(20 minutes followed by 5 minute Q&A)

Zemirah Lee-Ngow and Ekaterini Papadopoulou
(Bastyr University and Seattle University)
DEI in the Health Sciences Classroom: A Library Liaison Lens

Bastyr University has taken great strides over the last 3-4 years to support a diverse, equitable, inclusive, (DEI) and engaged academic community that values social justice, cultivates a culture of belonging, and advances health and education through our institutional structures, policies, practices, programs and services. In this presentation, health science librarians will share their experience collaborating with health sciences faculty intent on creating a rubric for evaluating inclusion, diversity, equality, and accessibility (IDEA) in medical textbooks and will highlight the intricacies and valuable considerations that emerge from bringing library liaisons into conversations like this. The presenters will discuss themes from an initial scoping review of research that assesses medical textbooks through a DEI lens; challenges presented when attempting to create a meaningful rubric that helps faculty and librarians contextualize DEI for selecting learning objects in the classroom; and, steps moving forward to go beyond "good intent" when it comes to textbooks and materials selection for building out DEI in the health sciences classrooms. Subject liaison librarians can use their pedagogical skills in the classroom when teaching, but through their role in collection development, librarians can also start impacting the pedagogy of any course by collaborating with faculty to select textbooks that will create a more inclusive and accessible learning environment.

• Universities of Seattle and Bastyr Presentation: PDF (4.01 MB)
• Collaborative Notes

Leyla Cabugos
(California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
Collaborating to Help Instructional Faculty Find Conversations about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in their Disciplines

As academic programs work to integrate learning objectives related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into their curricula, some engaged instructors wonder how ideas about DEI connect to their disciplinary subject matter. As a librarian liaison to an academic college, I was invited to co-develop a workshop with DEI-focused leaders in the college and the campus center that consults on instructional design to help faculty in one department explore DEI-related conversations and resources in their disciplines. I developed a resource guide with illustrative examples of engagement with DEI topics within their disciplines, and tools and strategies for further exploration. Faculty quickly engaged with the resources and generated ideas of how to use them in their courses. Based on the enthusiastic response to this approach, I joined an effort to reinvigorate an online collection of DEI resources compiled by members of the College's DEI Committee. This offers an opportunity to build upon my discipline-specific guide to reach all departments in the college, and importantly to collaborate on a resource faculty are creating for their own use. Based on preferences communicated in an internal survey, we are piloting a format that encourages users to comment on and add resources through a moderated process. This presentation will highlight resources that resonated with faculty, and share reflections from campus partners about the value of involving college librarians in their work around DEI.

• Cal Poly SLO Presentation: PDF (5.51 MB)
• Collaborative Notes

Wynn Tranfield, Sheila Garcia Mazari, and Jess Waggoner
(University of California, Santa Cruz)
Exploring User Centered Methodologies as Inclusive Practice

Three librarians reflect on their journeys as they intentionally incorporate inclusive practices into user research and student recruitment. Acknowledging that the foundations of user-centered design within the information technology field carries a deficit in valuing inclusive design, the presenters will outline their unique approaches to adapting user centered methodologies to inform both instructional and UX work. The presenters will touch on aspects of fostering psychological safety, addressing power dynamics in a space, and their journey in determining the best ways to recruit a diverse group of student voices through a social justice lens. Compensation as a justice issue will also be addressed, not just as a mere recruitment tool, but as a method for demonstrating the importance and value of the student's voice, thoughts, and time. Actionable strategies will be presented, along with reflective prompts.

• University of California, Santa Cruz Presentation: PDF (5.34 MB)
• Collaborative Notes

Ariana Varela
(University of Southern California)
Searching for Change : Exploring Historical Silences and Counter Storytelling through Youth-Led Social Justice Movements

How can we engage students in critical primary source literacy and information literacy with content that reflects their own identities? Traditional information literacy instruction fails to address the social impact of information creation. Librarians should design interactive and engaging lessons that demonstrate critical search and evaluation skills that encourage students to work with issues that impact their communities.

In a two day seminar, students analyzed the impact of historic youth-led social justice movements in Los Angeles on community movements of today to understand the legacy of generations-long struggle. Through a collaborative digital exhibit, students critically analyzed primary sources related to youth movements in the city they are coming to for their undergraduate experience, undertaken by individuals of their own age group who made lasting change in their local communities. Combining critical primary and information literacies, students explored dominant narratives about youth organizing, produced new research as a counter-story to silenced histories, and traced the impact of historical youth movements on community organizations and needs of today.

In this presentation, participants will engage with the concepts of historical silences and counter storytelling as a means of engagement for first-year students. They will learn how to incorporate collaborative exhibits to support students as experts and connect historical movements to present-day issues.

• University of Southern California Presentation: PDF (885 KB)
• Collaborative Notes

Lightning Rounds

(5 minutes each, Q&A during the break)

Kat Koziar
(University of California, Riverside)
Library Workshop Strategies to Reveal Systemic Bias

Over the past several years, there has been an increasingly active conversation within the data librarian community discussing the narrow narratives around data and data science, the long history of systemic bias and inequality, and how they all contribute to algorithmic oppression and data bias. While teaching workshops as a data librarian involves unique challenges when compared to traditional information literacy classes, it does offer an opportunity to discuss the underlying structure of how data are recorded and used. This lightning session will present three examples of strategies implemented in data management workshop planning and lessons which help reveal systemic bias to learners.

• University of California, Riverside Presentation: PDF (867 KB)
• Collaborative Notes

Lisa Schattman
(Design Institute of San Diego)
Providing an Inclusive Discovery Experience
Lisa was unable to attend

When our patrons browse the shelves or the catalog, what do our classification choices and subject headings say? To make the discovery experience more inclusive and welcoming for our patrons, we are reviewing and updating the classification of print materials and the subject headings in our catalog to better reflect the thriving traditions and preferred terms of Indigenous Peoples. Books that would be better classed under a topic such as art, architecture, or literature have been moved from the LC History classes E-F to those subject areas. Problematic subject headings in the library catalog have been identified, and we are working to establish preferred terms and update the authority and bibliographic records.

Josh Rose
(College of Alameda)
Highlighting BIPOC scientists and researchers: A library one-shot for STEM disciplines

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and the National Science Board's (NSB) Vision 2030 report emphasize the benefits and imperative for increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce in the United States. In educational research, STEM identity development has been shown to have a powerful effect on students' educational success and career aspirations. Evidence also suggests that counterstereotypical perceptions of scientists, which challenge a dominant image of scientists as being White and male, can enhance science identity for students underrepresented in STEM fields. In collaboration with a disciplinary faculty member, a library session was developed for a mathematics class with the goal of highlighting Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) scientists and researchers in a variety of STEM disciplines. Working together in small groups, students selected a scientist of interest from compiled sources and conducted library research to learn more about their chosen scientist and their research areas. Students were invited to present their findings to their peers and to share new perspectives gained from completing this small library research activity.

• College of Alameda Presentation: PDF (540 KB)
• Collaborative Notes

Raymond Pun
(Alder Graduate School of Education)
Unpacking Information Privilege & Diversity for Teacher Education Students

This lightning talk centers on how the concept of information privilege and the lack of diversity in children's books can critically engage with teacher education students, and their own positionality, access, and curriculum. The talk also aligns the activities to the "Instruction for Educators: Companion Document to the ACRL Framework." Attendees will learn more about the concept of information privilege and how to unpack it with their own students.

• Alder Graduate School of Education Presentation: PDF (583 KB)
• Collaborative Notes