Retention of Racialized Academic Librarians in the U.S. and Canada

This research team invites academic librarians that identify as racialized or members of the BIPOC community to participate in our survey related to retention. The purpose of this study is to identify organizational barriers that may impact the retention of racialized academic librarians in predominantly white institutions such as colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada.

The study focuses on structures in the library organization that may impact the experiences of racialized or BIPOC librarians.

The study will focus on the experiences of racialized or BIPOC librarians working in academic libraries as well as former librarians that identify as racialized or BIPOC who have left the profession due to challenges with organizational practices listed above.

COMPLETE THIS SURVEY

If you would like more information about the study, please feel free to contact us. This study has received a Research Ethics Board approval at the University of Toronto (RIS-41402) and the University of British Columbia (H21-02220). Your participation would be greatly appreciated in understanding organizational barriers in retaining racialized or BIPOC librarians.

INVESTIGATORS

• Allan Cho, Community Engagement Librarian, University of British Columbia
• Elaina Norlin, Professional Development/DEI Coordinator, Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
• Silvia Vong, Head of Public Services, University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto

Equity and Inclusion at the BookNet Canada's Tech Forum

 

One of the outcomes of Covid has been the migration of in-person events to online.   I've enjoyed my fair share of conferences and workshops this past year.   I've been following the BookNet Canada's Tech Forum, which is one of the country's largest book industry conferences with a focus on technology, data, and collaboration.   In recent years, like many industries, it's focused a lot on EDI topics, and 2020 highlighted some excellent sessions, one which particularly caught my attention.

Cynthia Pong, Feminist Career Strategist & Founder at Embrace Change, is a lawyer turned career coach whose passion is helping women of colour realize their ambitious career goals.   Her webinar at the conference, "Be seen be heard: A workshop to help you reclaim power in your career," however, is for anyone who is a minority and wants "actionable, high-impact tools and strategies to empower themselves in their day-to-day" — and in their overall career trajectory.  A few strategies I found extremely useful: 

1)  Make room for yourself to interject and be heard

2)  Seize the moment or pause the agenda

3)  Use non-verbals

4)  Pre-meet and amplify each other

5)  Demonstrate your leadership 

6)  Make yourself visible to sponsors and champions

7)  Identify allies

8)  Sharpen your communication

There are some fabulous sessions on EDI that I'm sharing here with you from the Tech Forum.   It's heartening to see that there's a real sense of inclusion, which is an evolution from previous conferences.   As libraries, publishing, and creative writing are all intertwined, these webinars are all so relevant and important.  

• Foreign object in the house of Canadian literature with Annahid Dashtgard, Chelene Knight, and moderator Léonicka Valcius.
• How to combat racial gaslighting in the workplace with Keni Dominguez
• Don't believe everything you think: How to spot and overcome your hidden biases at work with Michelle Grocholsky 
• Why are women always talking to men in novels? A conversation about debiasing books with Andrew Piper
• Diversity benchmarking: Improving diversity and inclusion in library collections with Laina Kelly

Turning from "Being to Doing" Anti-Racism As Action at Work by Iones Damasco

I highly respect Ione T Damasco for the work she's done in the area of equity, diversity, and inclusion.   Her talk urges us to view anti-racism as action, rather than using the word anti-racist as an identity.   While she questions whether we can change how we define organizational culture in library workplaces be an example of anti-racist action, she frames the challenge that certain hallmarks of white supremacist culture inform our notions of professionalism and workplace norms.  

There are many hurdles.  Quite likely, I won't see great change within my lifetime both within my profession and certainly in society.   I wish to be more optimistic, but based on the experience in my brief fifteen years in this profession and my volunteer work in the community, I've just seen it all and the tokenism and performativity.   One of Ione's message is that having mentorship and a supportive network is necessary to navigate the uncertainties and injustices that racialized and (in)visible minorities face in the workplace.   I've been part of a number of mentorship programs, offering my wisdom and support to graduate students and new information professionals.   I've been heartened at how I've been able to make a difference in their lives and how they've been able to use my advice and person experiences (gathered through years of trial by error).   From We Here, to ViMLoC, to the many ethnic caucuses, change will happen, though at a glacial pace.