START	END	EVENT
8:45 AM	9:00 AM	OPENING SESSION
9:00 AM	10:00 AM	KEYNOTE 1 – Stephen Krueger
10:00 AM	10:15 AM	BREAK 1
10:15 AM	11:00 AM	PRESENTATION BLOCK 1
11:00 AM	11:15 AM	BREAK 2
11:15 AM	12:00 PM	PRESENTATION BLOCK 2
12:00 PM	1:00 PM	LUNCH
1:00 PM	2:00 PM	KEYNOTE 2 – David Macey, Jr.
2:00 PM	2:15 PM	CLOSING SESSION

[all times are Central Standard]

Block 1 Presentations:

Connecting the Dots: Social Justice and Information Literacy – Melinda Kovacs and Angie Brunk

This presentation has grown out of a workshop that we collaborated on at Missouri Western State University. The intention in that project and in our current work has been to highlight that there are crucial intersections between information literacy and social justice advocacy. We examine two areas of interaction: 1. Information literacy as a matter of social justice and 2. Information literacy during social justice advocacy. Both of these areas of interaction or intersection are tied to and grow out of our understanding or ontology of information literacy and social justice. The first area allows us to argue that the marginalized in our society will remain marginalized unless and until they have access to the technology, the skills and the infrastructure that our mediatized age assumes. The second area allows us to warn that without proper protocols and practices of information literacy, what begins as well-intentioned social justice advocacy may end up causing damage rather than desired results. We used this framework to reach out to students and promote information literacy in a way that was relevant to student concerns.

DEI in Collection Development: A Discussion – Christine Edwards

This will be an interactive presentation utilizing the Zoom Breakout Rooms. After a brief historical overview of collection development policies and practices, we will breakout into smaller groups to discuss questions such as:
• What are the barriers to breaking from more “traditional” practices to more diverse practices?
• Which disciplines do we find the easiest/most difficult for increasing diversity in the collection?
• What role do different entities play in creating inclusive collections? (e.g. faculty, publishers, administration, students, etc.)
• How do we deal with equity amidst decreasing budgets and/or decreasing collections?
• Do you have any advice/suggestions for your colleagues going forward from today? (i.e. How do we get started in better DEI collection development?)

After each breakout session (1-2 questions), we will gather back as a large group and have a spokesperson from each breakout room share the highlights of their discussions. The number of questions will depend upon the number of attendees and breakout rooms utilized (to ensure staying within the time limit). We will conclude with a list of resources that may be helpful in encouraging broader DEI practices in collection development.

“Other Duties as Assigned”: Accessibility in Libraries – Cristina Colquhoun, Holly Luetkenhaus, and Kathy Essmiller

Accessibility is typically viewed as necessary and legally-required in educational settings. However, this often-underestimated component of diversity, equity, and inclusion is prone to being delegated to a few individuals within the library space. While having designated accessibility champions is good practice anywhere, it’s hardly within the purview of a few people. The Office for Civil Rights (2014) defines accessible learning as “the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.” As such, each staff member in the library, within their specific role, is responsible for ensuring an accessible and equivalent experience for all patrons.

In this presentation, participants will explore how the library can work to remove barriers and, one library department at a time, provide equity through universally-accessible experiences for all patrons.

Participants will:
-Define accessibility.
-Hear examples of accessibility in action within various roles of a University library.
-Reflect on what accessibility could look like within their specific role.
-Plan next steps for increasing their individual or department’s accessibility capabilities.

More than fair: teaching online to build community – Toni Hoberecht

Teaching is demanding enough without the adding challenge of having to teach online. It’s not just your imagination: teaching and learning are more difficult through Zoom. Stress increases cognitive load. The pandemic, new software, new ways of doing things, the inability to really see how people are reacting online – these are all stressors that affect the educational enterprise. Just as important is the fact that these new arrangements expose inequities. Students with poor internet access or old laptops will face further challenges in online classes, as well as those who need captioning or descriptions of images.
In this hands-on workshop we will look at methods for being the best online teachers we can be. We’ll discuss how to help all our online students learn and retain information in an environment that wasn’t really set up for inclusive learning. We’ll explore ways to avoid mistakes that make the classroom experience inequitable for and inaccessible to learners. We’ll also review ways to arrange our online space to encourage learning, remove barriers, reduce fatigue, and build community for both student and instructor.

Block 2 Presentations:

De-mystifying Web Accessibility – Angie Brunk and Don Torrez

Website accessibility is critical for libraries as we work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. Join Angie Brunk and Don Torrez for a comprehensive introduction to accessible design. This presentation looks disability and accessible design through a social justice lens. Angie Brunk will explain higher level design concepts that are directly applicable to library web pages. Don Torrez will introduce tips and tricks for creating an accessible website and avoiding common errors. We will conclude the presentation with resources for further learning. Angie Brunk is an experienced public services librarian who has been responsible for web maintenance. In addition to being born with a visual impairment, she holds an MAS in Human Factors and has written and presented on accessible design issues. Don Torrez, Certified ADA coordinator is the Accessibility Partner-Manager at Civic Plus, a software company specializing in software for local governments. Don has developed a training curriculum for accessible web design as well as authoring white papers and delivering professional presentations.

TERF Wars: Trans Representation and Misrepresentation in Collection Development – Karl G. Siewert

The past few decades have seen a rapid change in the way trans and otherwise gender non-conforming people are presented in fiction, nonfiction, and media. Has your collection kept pace? Can you make informed patron advisory decisions? Do you know where to go for advice and recommendations? Learn where to start in this informative and entertaining session.

Be an (Equity) Champion – Marianne Myers and Amy Lagers

The staff and faculty of higher ed institutions need to reflect their diverse student bodies. Presenters, Amy Lagers and Marianne Myers, participated in Tulsa Community College’s Equity Champion certification, a program designed to teach the basic tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and develop actionable hiring practices that remove barriers for minoritized groups. Presenters will share strategies for minimizing implicit bias, equity-minded interview questions, and successful outcomes to help effectively engage with DEI during the hiring process.

On Cataloging Ethics – Shay Beezley

Catalogers bear a special responsibility when developing resource description. Information included or excluded affects access. Chosen subject headings can make or break a patron’s ability to find a resource. Additionally, it is well-known in library circles that our classification schemes and controlled vocabularies are flawed in outdated language and biases. This session will be an overview on the importance of ethics in cataloging, the current state of ethical cataloging and the work being done by the Cataloging Ethics Steering Committee, and ideas for potential solutions to implement in our bibliographic data both globally and locally.