Diversity Committee Minutes, January 16, 2003
Room 605, Hodges Library, 1-2 pm
Members present: Mack, T. Conner, Manoff, Myers, Blocker, Pemberton, Royse, Stephens, Roller, G. Bayne, Davis
Guest: Martha Rudolph
Guest Martha Rudolph spoke first. She had materials ready for the display case for Africa Semester and wanted to recruit Diversity Committee members to help set it up. Dianne Myers agreed to help her with that during the meeting time.
Thura gave us an update on planning and information needs for the rest of the year. If we are working on subcommittees or small groups and have information needs, please contact Thura and she will be sure we get the information or personal contacts we need to get correct and up-to-date information. She also noted that the committee has achieved a lot, and we have a lot of activities planned. This may be a time to not consider any new activities for a while.
We will try to keep our meeting times to talk about issues of interest to the whole committee, but we may have some planning meetings that last a little longer than the normal meeting time. We will use the extra time to do some planning and small group work.
Web use group. Maribeth reported for the group, comprised of herself, Molly, Tiffani, and Tamara. They have come up with a new organizational scheme for the website. The test version can be viewed at http://www.lib.utk.edu/Diversity/index2.html This group welcomes any suggestions we may have.
There will be some content changes as well as the new layout. The diversity definition will be an html as well as a pdf document. Maribeth will provide a link to the job description for the Minority Residency Program.
Thura suggested that we have either a photo gallery or an area to highlight our achievements, such as graphics of honors and awards we have received.
When we have more research activities, those may have their own heading under “Activities.” This may help us make a case for hiring a graduate student to help us with these endeavors.
Alex Haley Farm. Anne Pemberton gave us an update on our visit. We will arrive there at 9:30 am on April 16. We will have a tour, then meet Khafre Abif in the library, where we will talk about collections and the best way to highlight them. Then we will go to Anthony’s for lunch. We will continue with our previous plan of who is driving, and that we were bringing dishes to have potluck at Anthony’s.
We need to be thinking of good questions and issues about showcasing our collections so we can make the most of our time with Mr. Abif.
Anne also reminded us about a workshop to be held on January 22 from 10-11 in the InfoLab (room 211) on creating accessible webpages. No registration is necessary.
Goals group. Renee has been working on the document for this group, which should be ready soon.
ACRL update. Molly reported that she, Tiffani, and Tamara will give a poster session on the climate survey titled “Charting a Course for Diversity: an Experience in Climate Assessment.” Molly, Thura, and Jill will also lead a roundtable session called “Collaborating to Achieve Diversity.”
Minority Librarian Residency Program.
Jill presented the proposal for the program to the Library faculty for comments and questions. There were some questions about where the person’s office would be (we don’t know yet) and what duties are involved--there is a subcommittee working on planned activities for this person to achieve. The committee wants to involve others in the library with the program so it is not considered just a diversity committee program.
Publicity—committee members will take brochures to ALA and ACRL. Maribeth will link the description to our web page, getting the text from Martha Rudolph.
We have plenty of posters available for anyone to post. We will also post on listservs—Jill may have a list and Anne Pemberton has a list to share with the Personnel department. This position should also be listed on the Library’s Employment page.
James McBride—“The Color of Water” We need to decide if we want to read this book as a group as part of our staff continuing education. It is required reading for all incoming freshmen next fall.
Team Excellence Award Plaque—we have to decide where to display it. One idea was next to the LAMA grant plaque. Martha Rudolph is having copy of the team excellence award certificate made for the Dean’s office.
Other: if anyone has pictures of parties or other events, send them to Maribeth for a possible photo gallery on our web page.
Anne Pemberton will be leaving on May 15. We need to think about another person to take over her duties as liaison with Disability Services.
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2 p.m. Next meeting: January 30, 2003 in Room 150.
Respectfully submitted,
LouAnn Blocker