Anti-Racism Team Learning Series

Series Objectives & Design

This series of workshops was designed to facilitate discussion on approaching our work in the library with an anti-racist frame. We chose readings and discussion questions that would prompt our staff cohort to think deeply about what we know and need to know about our users, and about how we might use these self-reflective discussions to improve our services, collections, and spaces.

The arc of the series was designed based on a division survey where each staff member answered questions about their past reading and what they would like to learn more about. The facilitators categorized the responses and looked for areas of interest that were focused on external (our users) rather than internal (our staff) audiences, and that could effect systemic rather than individual change. Based on this, we chose services, collections, and spaces as the general topic areas for the three workshop series.

We designed these workshops for library staff in the Engineering & Physical Sciences Division, but they can be adapted to other subject areas and library types.

Kristen Greenland
Chemical & Physical Sciences Librarian

Erica Newcome
Technical Processing & Collection Projects Assistant

Susan Powell
GIS & Map Librarian