Minutes for April 22, 2008

Diversity Committee Meeting

 

Members present were: Thura Mack, Jeanine Williamson, Damon Campbell, Trisha Brady, Shantrie Collins, Sandy Allen, Jeff French, and Sara Green.

1. Announcements:

· Sara Green opened the meeting by announcing that the International

Festival everyone had worked so hard on had gone well. Participation

was high with there being a lot of children’s groups stopping by our

table. Everybody loved the map and being able to put pins in the area

that they call ‘home’. The one problem the committee encountered was

the disappointing raffle results. There would have been participation in

the event, but there was no good way to announce the winners, so those

members working at the table eventually just gave the Moon Pies to

anyone passing by who wanted one. Even though two tries were made to

announce winners over the loudspeaker system people still could not hear

their names being called. It is suggested that this trial not be repeated

next year. All members present agreed that this was a good idea, and Jeff

French and Thura Mack concurred on the difficulty in trying to make the

raffle a success. Trisha Brady provided committee support and sang

really well at the festival.

· Sara Green offered an update on the Poster Session presentation at TLA.

Thura Mack and Sara Green, in conjunction with Michelle Brannen,

presented a poster session at TLA dealing with the committee’s

participation in this year’s pilot program with Digital Scrap booking.

TLA participants showed a lot of interest in the project and several

questions were asked. Overall, the poster session was deemed a success.

· Jeff French announced that his other committee is gearing up for the

Spirit Awards and asks that the Diversity Committee members support

their efforts by putting the word out and attending this event.

· Jeanine Williamson announced that she has been asked to run for Possum

Queen and asks for our support.

2. Discussion:

· Sara Green presented a handout to the committee taken from Google

concerning events typically honored in May in preparation for the

discussion concerning which Hot Topic the committee wants to cover

for this month. After passing the list around members put forth

suggestions. Those ran from the unique- such as No Pants Day (put out

playfully by Jeff French) to serious contenders like Memorial Day

(several members), and Depression (Jeanine Williamson) . Members

agreed to participate in an online vote among the top four contenders:

Depression, Children’s Health Issues, Memorial Day, and World Day

for Cultural Diversity for Dialog and Development. The end result will

be announced Monday, April 28^th when a call for volunteers to put this

together will also occur.

· Sara Green mentioned that the committee would soon have to put out a

call for new members. She asked that the committee keep this in mind

over the next few weeks and put out the word to anyone they think might

be interested in joining. Thura Mack and Sara Green both asked that

existing members consider staying on the committee and not rotating off.

Thura Mack stated that submissions need to be confidential, and that all

applications will be forwarded to Barbara Dewey for approval, but that

Barbara almost never turns down anyone who wants to join. Sara Green

offered that last year the process took about 6 or 7 weeks. Thura Mack

and Sara Green will look at the exact process before the next meeting on

May 13 and let the committee know what needs to be done for this

process.

· Sara Green reminded the committee of the upcoming summer Culture Corner. The preparation for a new Culture Corner is an involved and lengthy process, so members should start thinking now how the committee wants to handle this last one for the year. With the summer being a shorter period to have a Culture Corner up, usually 8 to 10 weeks, the question arises on how large do we want to make this? Several committee members will be gone for short periods at the end of June, so will limit opportunities to participate in events scheduled in support of this Culture Corner unless timed right. Trisha Brady will talk to Jeffrey Davis from the Department of Theory and Practice to be our speaker for this summer in either June or July.

· As part of the June Hot Topic event “Foods and Culture” the committee had earlier agreed they wanted to host a Cultural/Regional Food Festival for library staff and faculty. The timing for such an event was brought up at this time and Thura Mack stated that, because of having two complicated and time consuming projects due in June (the summer Culture Corner and the June Hot Topic)- if the committee had to choose just one event she would vote for just having a speaker. Jeff French asked that schedules be checked before we cancel this event.

· The question of what to do with the map from the International Festival was raised by Sara Green and it was suggested that we might put it in Reference. Thura stated that we would have to get permission and it was decided that Jane would be the person to ask for that. But, it was also suggested that we might want to display it next to the committee’s Culture Corner space. All members present liked that idea, so it was decided that the map would be placed there. Trisha Brady agreed to make tags to tell what the map was and its purpose for people to understand why it is there. After Trisha makes the tags the map will go out.

1. Conclusion:

1. 1. Sara Green provided that the next meeting will be May 13, and that members will be in email contact concerning matters on planned committee events around this meeting as it is the only meeting scheduled before the summer Culture Corner and June Hot Topic will have to be completed and out.

b. There was no other business, so the meeting adjourned.