[Libs-Or] ACRL-OR Statement for Racial Justice
Candise Branum
cbranum at ocom.edu
Fri Aug 28 08:00:00 PDT 2020
Friends and Colleagues,
On behalf of the ACRL-OR Board, I would like to share our statement for
racial justice, which includes our recommendations for academic library
staff. We acknowledge that our group has a long way to go, but our
leadership is committed to making anti-racist work a priority in our
organization.
In Solidarity,
Candise Branum ACRL-Oregon President (2019-2020)
--
The Oregon Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries /
Academic Division of the Oregon Library Association (ACRL-OR) stands in
solidarity with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association
(BCALA) and REFORMA Oregon in condemning the systematic social injustices
and violence endured by Black people and all people of color. We support
the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement and pledge our support to
library workers and the communities we serve by advocating for the
eradication of racial injustice and White supremacy in our profession. We
recognize the pervasive role of both implicit and explicit racism in
denying equal rights and equitable access, and commit to working towards
becoming an anti-racist chapter that confronts, deconstructs, and
dismantles the systems, policies, and procedures that reify racism and
anti-blackness.
In order to effect change within our organization, the ACRL-OR Board
commits to:
-
Exploring ways to support academic library staff in Oregon in doing
anti-racist work, including providing professional development and staff
training opportunities that counteract anti-blackness, racism, and White
supremacy in librarianship;
-
Assessing our internal processes and procedures and implementing systems
that operationalize racial equity;
-
Deconstructing the Whiteness of our professional organization by
actively recruiting BIPOC library staff for leadership positions, and by
working towards identifying and dismantling the barriers that prevent BIPOC
library staff from engaging in organizational leadership;
-
Ensuring that an ACRL-OR Board member is represented on (and ACRL-OR is
accountable to) the OLA’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Taskforce.
We recommend that academic library staff commit to:
-
Engaging in an equity audit of current policies, processes, and
procedures that have been built upon and support a legacy of White
supremacy, and then work to rectify or dismantle these policies and
procedures;
-
Advocating for anti-racist actions within our institutions;
-
Ensuring that patrons from historically marginalized groups feel
welcomed and included in the spaces we manage (both in our libraries and
our classrooms);
-
Providing public programming and displays that further anti-racist
causes;
-
Pursuing professional development and staff training opportunities that
counteract racism;
-
Making resource purchasing decisions using an equity lens;
-
Incorporating inclusive design and anti-racist pedagogical principles in
teaching.
--
ACRL-Oregon Board
*Candise Branum*
Director of Library Services
Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM)
503-253-3443 x134 <(503)%20253-3443> | 75 NW Couch Street, Portland, OR
97209
<https://maps.google.com/?q=75+NW+Couch+Street,+Portland,+OR+97209&entry=gmail&source=g>
| library.ocom.edu
*Pronouns: She, her, hers**Want to donate? Check out our book wishlist
<http://a.co/7TjGlRX>*
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