ALAO Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Toolkit

How to Use This Toolkit

Hello and welcome to this Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Toolkit! Each page of this toolkit is dedicated to one theme in librarianship and is organized by the amount of time you have to commit to the source or the level of engagement you would like to have with the material: Little Time (Get Started), Medium Time (Learn More), Lots of Time (Take Action). The themes available in the toolkit are as follows:

• Antiracist Pedagogy

• Collection Audits

• Inclusive Cataloging

We welcome suggestions for additions to the toolkit.

Context

Librarianship in Ohio has historically been a very white-dominated field. Despite decades of efforts to improve this imbalance, according to US Census data for 2020, 83% of librarians, archivists, and curators were white. In 2017, 4.4% of the membership of the American Library Association self-identified as Black or African American, 1.2% as American Indian or Alaskan Native, 3.6 as Asian, .2% Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 4% as Other. In 2012, the last year the American Library Association conducted the Diversity Counts survey, 88% of "Credentialed" Librarians self-identified as White. The people who staff our libraries still do not reflect our communities, and the status quo will continue without commitment and action on our part.

In addition to an individual level of training, there are also things that a library can do on an institutional-level to address the lack of diversity in librarianship. In Ohio, the Luminaries Program “offers students a unique, paid opportunity in academic libraries not available in traditional internships or part-time campus employment” meant as a way to introduce undergraduates from underrepresented groups to librarianship and the information studies profession. The Luminaries Program exposes students to a wide range of work experiences based in the students' interests; creates a support system for students, mentors, and library administrators; and supports our library work environments becoming more inclusive. If your OhioLINK library is interested in learning more about participating in the Diversity Initiative, please contact info@ohiolink.edu.

While no single tool can “fix” injustice or inequality, we present this list as a way for librarians and library staff to educate themselves about the prominence of race issues in librarianship and to accelerate necessary change in our profession. We took efforts to present more than a list of links; rather, we hope to provide this curated selection of resources in a way that allows ALAO members to engage with them according to their needs and position. Underlying our work was ALAO’s Anti-Racism Statement, developed in 2022 by the DEI Task Force. As ALAO members find and recommend additional resources for the toolkit, we hope it continues to grow and reflect current understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This toolkit was created by members of the Academic Library Association of Ohio.