Greetings!
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Group (DEI SG), a subgroup of RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee, is excited to announce the launch of a peer mentorship space on Discord in support of "Rare Materials Cataloging & Metadata Peer Mentorship."
The DEI SG initiated a peer mentorship project in April 2023. Following the communal feedback collected from a 2024 survey, we decided to incubate a Discord community that allows professionals in this space to see support and access resources in an environment that feels less formal than listservs. For administrative simplicity, the server is managed by volunteers and functions independently of ACRL, RBMS, and BSC. Membership of ACRL/RBMS is not required.
Our hope is that this space will help library professionals facing barriers to entry, advancement, and development in specialized metadata and rare book cataloging due to their race, gender, sexuality, disability, or socioeconomic status to grow professionally by providing a safe space to mentor each other and exchange information on internships, conferences (virtual and in-person), workshops, webinars, and scholarships, funding opportunities, and more!
You can now join the Discord server here: https://discord.gg/Jr3CFEY3ZC
Best regards,
RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Group
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Jana Gowan
Reference & Outreach Librarian
Helmerich Center for American Research, Gilcrease Museum
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