Diversity Committee Minutes, August 8, 2002
Meeting began at 1:10 pm in 605 Hodges Library
Members present: Renee Smith, Thura Mack, Sheila Stephens, Tiffani Conner, Tamara Miller, Anne Pemberton, Dianne Myers, GiGi Horodysky, Molly Royse, and LouAnn Blocker
Anne Pemberton reported that a date had been selected for a 2nd disability forum to accommodate staff who work evening shifts—October 1st. We reviewed the list of questions that would be covered and she asked for more suggestions. (Send them by email if you didn’t have any at the meeting.) The group loved the idea of using the wheelchair. Anne will keep it in her office for a day or two for people to come and try it.
Thura will put this event on the Library Calendar. Anne and Thura will make brochures.
Those on the refreshments committee for this event decided who would bring what items.
TLA subcommittee: we are not sure at the moment whether or not we will have an outside speaker for the pre-conference. The group then discussed the timeslot for the pre-conference. Although we will take whatever time we are assigned, there were good and bad points to both 9-12 and 1-4. We decided to ask for 9-12 first. The title of the pre-conference needs to be snappy. The current title is “Creating a Vision of Diversity for your Library: a Recipe for Success.” Send any suggestions for titles to Molly Royse, Jill Keally, Becky Roller, Thura Mack, or Tiffani Conner.
Jill is still working on the Geier decree forum. One suggestion from Marva was to add Theotis Robinson to the program. All agreed this was a good idea. He is the Vice President for Equity and Diversity at UT.
Budget report by Molly Royse: She has asked for $6,000. Everyone looked over the programs outlined to see if there were things to add. The list was based on what the group did last year. Anthony Smith had previously suggested “Research and Administrative Costs.” This would pay for maybe having a student assistant to help with the committee’s work. We agreed this might be needed in the future but not next year.
We had a choice of going with setting up a budget line with the Business Office or present bills for activities as they come due to the Dean’s office. We decided to go with presenting to the Dean’s office on Tamara’s recommendation, though each way had pros and cons that were discussed by the group.
The budget forms are due by Sept. 6; Molly wants to turn in by the 1st. We still need our list of goals to be included in the budget document. The next meeting will largely be devoted to developing those goals.
The annual report is being written now. It would be good to include that in a budget request, too. Molly and Thura will present a draft at the next meeting. It will go back to Fall 2001.
Thura reported that SDAC will co-sponsor the tour of the new Black Cultural Center. Molly stated they will have an open house in September but we would like to do our own tour—maybe in February. Molly will keep in touch with them.
We would like to get a copy of our Timeline up on the website. Maribeth will add the Black Cultural Center open house to the Diversity Committee calendar.
Molly reported on the display case project. It is a modified version of the poster session done at ALA this summer. It is intended for a more general audience. Besides information for patrons, it’s a chance for staff to see what the committee is doing. The LAMA grant plaque will go in there, too. Molly will ask Aubrey to get a copy of the picture of him receiving the plaque.
The banner for the display reads “Diversity at UT Libraries=you” with a link to the committee’s website for more information.
Diversity bookmarks will be on the table outside the display case.
Tiffani reported that SIS orientation is on the 15th so it may be a good idea to get the display up then instead of on the 19th.
After we have more information about building collections, we can plan another display.
Tamara reported that a wooden holder for our plaque was made by Steve Pursiful. In its original frame, it was too delicate to hang in the public area.
Thura will send a sharenews telling everyone who the current committee members are, and reminding them to take a look at the display.
GiGi reported that her wedding will be Thursday, November 3, at 7 pm at the Church of the Good Shepherd and that everyone would be invited.
Intercultural Communication Forum
Sheila got a confirmation from Janet Atwill of the English Department.
Tiffani got confirmations from Mattie Tippitt of the Office of Equity and Diversity and Lorida Velasquez. We decided that three participants were enough and there was no need to attempt to get a fourth person. The best length for the program was determined to be one hour.
The group then discussed dates. The week of the 14th-18th of October or the 21st-25th were the best weeks, with some restrictions. The 15th and 16th are not good dates. Friday afternoons are never good times for programs, and we have some library staff whose regular day off is Friday. The time of day should be around 2 or 3 o’clock. The auditorium or the I-House would both be good locations, though we all preferred the auditorium. Someone will check on times for the auditorium (Sheila?) Tiffani will call her two contacts and Sheila will call hers.
TLA subcommittee
Next we talked about the program, not the pre-conference. We will start working on a program on barriers to diversity. Tamara will send us all a copy of the proposal form. The members of this program group split the literature that Tiffani brought and will all study different parts of it before our next meeting. This group will meet on its own sometime.
Next meeting: August 22. The main agenda item will be goals. We have three easels we can use around the room to write goals on. Thura will take care of this.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:30 pm.
LouAnn Blocker
Secretary