Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Moving From Learning To Active Accountability: Inclusive Position Description Toolkit To Advance And Cement All Colleagues' Work Towards A Just Library, Annie Bélanger, Emily Frigo, Kristin Meyer, Brian Merry, Jason Durham, Joseph Vanarendonk

Presentations

So much of Libraries’ Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) work has been dually focused on increasing diversity while changing hearts and minds through training. Eventually, learning must lead to action and active commitment if inclusion, equity, and accessibility are to be integral parts of a library’s organizational culture as a PWI. By articulating how every role within the Libraries actively contributes to its IDEA commitment, leadership is making expectations clear for individuals and part of ongoing work. By building accountability for the IDEA work for all, including leaders, the libraries are ensuring that efforts are concrete, part of ongoing …

C.A.R.E.: Practical Tools For Sustaining Care, Accountability, And Radical Empathy In Difficult Times, Annie Bélanger, Sarah Beaubien, Meghan Musolff

Presentations

Engage in an online dialogue and explore ways to continue to meet the needs of users in difficult times while also setting and upholding healthy boundaries. Together we will explore care, generous accountability, and radical empathy for one another and for our users in public libraries. The presenters will share some self-reflective pre-work ahead of the session as well as a discussion guide to use locally after the session. Prepare to dig into practical tools that will enhance effective communications and sustain user-focused practices while meeting our own needs.

Robert Hall Merrill: An American Engineer In China, Annie Benefiel

Presentations

Presented at the 2023 Archival Kismet Conference "Thinking About Stuff," this presentation explores historical documents found in the Robert H. Merrill papers in the Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives.

In 1920, Robert Hall Merrill, a young civil engineer from Grand Rapids, Michigan, traveled to China to serve as Assistant Principle Engineer on a reconstruction project of a portion of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest canal system in the world. Merrill's work produced a comprehensive survey report of the Grand Canal construction area near the Yellow River. The report contains numerous …

Decentering Whiteness, Dismantling Systemic Bias: Examining Empathetic, High-Communication, And Supportive Hiring Processes To Forge An Inclusive Future, Annie Bélanger, Sheila García Mazari, Preethi Gorecki

Presentations

This presentation will explore perspectives on inclusive hiring practices from both sides of the table. The library's first diversity residency search and subsequent faculty searches integrated inclusive recruitment and high-empathy hiring practices. The diversity residency search committee chair, one of the successful residency candidates, and a tenure-track faculty hired using the new approach team up to dissect the hiring process from their perspectives. They will discuss the work behind critically examining the existing hiring process, designing an inclusive recruitment plan, and implementing a new structure in order to ensure empathy to applicants going through the process. They will then discuss …

Focusing On Candidate Experience To Decenter White Professionalism In Hiring And Onboarding, Annie Bélanger, Kat Bell, Lori Cawthorne, Jesus Espinoza

Presentations

In Focusing on Candidate Experience to Decenter White Professionalism in Hiring and Onboarding, participants will engage with the presenters and one another to dive into hiring and onboarding practices within libraries. The workshop will be structured along the hiring to onboarding life cycle with a focus on leading practices for inclusive processes. Learning about these processes will help those on the job search in better navigating processes and in making informed decisions about an organization as well as those interested in leadership in considering ways to foster healthy candidate-focused processes. Lastly, the presenters will provide practical tips on being an …

Care And Accountability In Library Leadership, Annie Bélanger, Kat Bell, Maisha Carey, Jon Jeffryes, Meghan Musolff

Presentations

Leaders and managers have an outsized impact on workers’ wellbeing. In facing the reality of constant and unpredictable change, leaders and managers need to consider the humanity of their employees as part of their commitment to equity. We suggest that library leaders and managers need to consider human-centered approaches as part of their leadership toolkit. Human-centered leaders have a strong focus on people and the organizational culture. They layer compassion and empathy in taking actions to fulfill the organization's mission.

We acknowledge that there are situations when taking a human-centered approach to the needs of library employees can feel in …

Building Inclusive Libraries One Step At A Time: Kindness, Equity, And Candidate Experiences In Hiring, Annie Bélanger, Sarah Beaubien, Preethi Gorecki

Presentations

Have you ever wondered if the interview process could be a kinder, more accessible experience anchored in equity that is ultimately meant to develop connections? Would you like to critically examine practices in the hiring process to ensure empathy for applicants going through the process? In taking a closer look at our own practices, we made significant improvements to our processes, which have led to a more positive experience for candidates and our organizational outcomes. Each component of the hiring process can be centered in equity and accessibility. It is key to ensure that each stage contends with bias, both …

Centering Our Collective Humanity Through Inclusive Leadership Practices, Annie Bélanger

Presentations

What if we brought the same compassion that we reserve for our users to our colleagues? This session will explore what inclusive leadership is and the traits and practices it encompasses. It will consider how leaders, whether formal and informal, can center empathy and compassion in their practice to increase equity-minded practices and fostering an inclusive organization. Attendees will be provided with approaches, frameworks, and tools to explore for their continued growth.

Practicing Organizational Care: Using Human-Centered Approaches To Facilitate Change In Your Library, Meghan Musolff, Annie Bélanger

Presentations

Most traditional change management practices seek to mitigate risk. They focus on process and implementation over listening, compassion, and healing. By using human-centered change methodologies and approaches, we will explore ways to tailor change efforts in ways that honor the individuals and the organization. We will consider how to engage in a change that harnesses the strengths of the team, making space for voices to be heard.

Journey To Idea 2.0: Moving From Education To Action, Annie Bélanger, Stacey Burns, Samantha Minnis, Ashley Rosener

Presentations

Join members of one university library’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee to learn about their journey from IDEA to IDEA 2.0 over the course of a few years. This library took steps to move beyond simply educating their colleagues to actively reviewing and addressing systems level issues. They will share their challenges and progress with a number of initiatives. These initiatives include drafting a detailed IDEA framework for the library, conducting an organization-wide policy and culture audit, facilitating library-wide action-oriented workshops, incorporating IDEA goals for all individuals and departments, and leveraging systems-thinking to empower individuals to be leaders …

Holding Space For Voice: Using Powerful Questions And Appreciative Inquiry Conversations To Understand Values And Needs, Annie Bélanger, Preethi Gorecki

Presentations

Change management is often process-centered instead of people-centered. People are centered when we focus on what is good. Appreciative Inquiry’s strengths-based, positive approach to organizational change allows leaders and facilitators to re-center individuals’ voices.

Appreciative Inquiry helps people move toward a shared vision for the future by engaging others in considering what is good, what could be, what should be, and how to co-create the future. It can foster equitable processes that decenter whiteness and deficit-mindset. Powerful conversations connect thoughts and feelings, result in new ideas, develop new perspectives and understandings, and have an increased potential for action. Developing conversations …

Acrl Diversity Alliance Webinar - Kindly Hire Me: The Process And Impact Of Inclusive Hiring, Annie Bélanger, Preethi Gorecki

Presentations

This presentation will explore perspectives on inclusive hiring practices from both sides of the table. Grand Valley State University Libraries developed inclusive recruitment and high-empathy hiring practices, which they implemented in 2018. The Dean and a past diversity resident team up to dissect the hiring process from both of their perspectives. Annie Bélanger discusses the work behind critically examining the existing hiring process, designing an inclusive recruitment plan, and implementing a new structure in order to ensure empathy to applicants going through the process. Preethi Gorecki then discusses the impact of inclusive hiring on perceptions of the work environment, satisfaction …

Thriving Through Human Centered Approaches To Change, Annie Bélanger, Megan Musolff

Presentations

Can you think of a time when you have thrived through change? What made that possible? How did the change effort center on organizational values and engage those impacted? Most traditional change management practices focus on process and implementation over listening, compassion, and healing. By using human-centered change leadership approaches, we will explore ways to align change efforts with organizational values. We will identify factors that can lead to a change that harness the strengths of the team, while also make space for voices to be heard. Together, participants will consider how the Bridges’ Transition Model enables effective and compassionate …

Towards An Accessible Library, Annie Bélanger

Presentations

• Why Accessibility?
• What is Accessibility?
  • Legislation
  • Accommodation vs Accessibility
  • Shifting to a proactive approach
• Principles of Accessibility
• Print Disabilities
  • What constitutes a print disability?
• How to Increase Accessible Service
  • Barriers
  • Making a daily commitment
• Tips for Daily Interactions
• All together to Prevent New Barriers
• Open Q&A

Towards High-Empathy Hiring: Implementing Leading Practices For More Inclusive Recruitment, Sarah Beaubien, Annie Bélanger, Scott Ayotte

Presentations

Have you ever wondered if the interview process could be a kinder, more accessible experience, meant to develop connections? Would you like to critically examine practices in the hiring process to ensure empathy to applicants going through the process? In taking a closer look at our own practices, collaborating with the Office of Inclusion and Equity, we have made changes, which have led to a more positive experience for candidates and our organizational outcomes.

I Am Oz The Great And Powerful: Elevator Pitches To Pull Back The Curtain On The Value Of Technical Services, Susan Ponischil, Beth Johns, Francene Lewis

Presentations

When asked about your work, what do you say? Technical services staff make things happen behind the curtain, so to speak. Communicating the value of that work to a variety of stakeholders, especially in light of shrinking budgets and shifting demands is more important than ever. This facilitated discussion will provide an introduction to the art of elevator pitches and prompts to get you started.

Sharing Our Value Through Critical Librarianship, Mary Kickham-Samy, Joshua Neds-Fox, Susan Ponischil, Virginia C. Thomas, Zoë Mclaughlin

Presentations

A critical theorist framework is not new to librarianship or its literature. But, what does the practice of critical librarianship look like in the workplace? A panel of practicing librarians who embrace this perspective share their “boots on the ground” experiences and insights with program participants. Panelists represent several functional areas of academic librarianship including technical services, public services, collection development, instruction, and administration. Our goal is to inspire dialog and collaboration among academic librarians who wish to continue challenging power and privilege in transformative ways.

2019 Accessibility Roundtable Customer Service Planning, Annie Bélanger

Presentations

Accessibility permeates all aspects of our public-facing work. Being accessible is in every aspect of workflow development and application for user services and support. Many more than the manager are involved in the development and application of our guidelines, practices and procedures. It is everyone’s responsibility.

The session covered:

• What is accessibility?
• Accessible Customer Service
  • Leading Practices
  • Practical approaches to delivery
  • Planning with Accessibility in Mind
  • Resources to learn more about accessibility in libraries

The session is premised on goal of accessibility, or moving beyond compliance. As such, accessible means that a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity …

If You Build It, They Will Crash Into It: Data Visualization Of A 4-Year Study Of Bird-Building Collisions, Barbara Harvey

Presentations

The purpose of this study was two-fold: •To determine if there is a discernable pattern in the bird-building collisions which could inform a solution. •To strengthen liaison relationships with the Biology Department by providing museum study skins.

Student Retention Three Ways: Numbers, People, And Stories, Mary O'Kelly, Rachael Passarelli

Presentations

Academic libraries are aligning themselves with their institutions’ strategic focus on student retention. But how do libraries get retention data? What do we do with it after we get it? And how do we tell our story? This presentation offers a successful, replicable model.

Escaping Gravity: One Library's Journey From Idea To Understanding, Lee C. Van Orsdel

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Advocating For Green With Video Presence, Anne Merkle, Linda Masselink

Presentations

No abstract provided.