SRRT (Social Responsibilities Round Table)

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last person joined: yesterday 

The Social Responsibilities Round Table works to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association, but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities in order to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy.

Learn more about SRRT on the ALA website.

  • 1.  SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)

    Posted Jul 23, 2020 05:09 PM

    You are all invited to our All Member Virtual Meeting on July 30th, 12pm Central. This gives SRRT members a chance to find members with the same passions as them while sharing concerns their concerns with Action Council.

     

    Here is the login information. I hope to "see" you there!

     

    Join Zoom Meeting

    https://ala-events.zoom.us/j/95370346658?pwd=Z0ZpSjY2aUlUZDJQSUNpc3IrZTlCZz09

     

    Meeting ID: 953 7034 6658

    Passcode: 059507

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    Meeting ID: 953 7034 6658

    Find your local number: https://ala-events.zoom.us/u/adNeF8eAi5

     

     

     

     

     

     

    April Sheppard
    SRRT Coordinator

    she/they/her/them

     

    Dean B. Ellis Library   |   Assistant Library Director

    P.O. Box 2040   |   State University, AR 72467

    Phone 870.972.2766   |   Fax 870.972.5706

    asheppard@astate.edu   |  http://www.astate.edu/a/library

     



  • 2.  RE: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)

    Posted Jul 28, 2020 10:41 PM
    Hello people of SRRT. I hope this message finds you well and thriving. My name is Marian and I'd like to introduce myself and hopefully connect with some of you. I am about to embark on my second and final year of the MLIS degree at UIUC. I'm deeply interested and invested in weaving EDI values into my learning and future practice. I am a former woodworker and ranger, I enjoy puzzles, can be fastidious about details, and am open to learning the ways of the LIS. Currently, I am thinking many thoughts about the organization of information and the stories that accrue therefrom (metadata, cataloguing, preservation, memory, privilege and its lack, subject headings -  something else that I've yet to uncover).

    I'll be attending the LiLI Annual on Thursday, but hope to meet you all on another occasion, soon.

    For good,
    Marian

    Marian Ekweogwu
    MS-LIS | Graduate Student
    University of Illinois UC | Library and Information Science, MS '21
    Columbia University | English, BA '05




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)

    Posted Jul 28, 2020 10:45 PM
    Hello Marian!

    Sounds like we have a lot of common interests! Don't worry about missing the virtual meeting tomorrow, we are going to try and make them a common occurrence!



    April



    Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S10, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone


    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)

    Posted Jul 29, 2020 08:44 PM
    HI Marian,
    I found your question interesting about incorporating EDI values into your work. I am presently the interim chair for The Black Caucus of the American Library Association. I am also working with this area for curriculum at the university where I'm a librarian.  EDI is really going to have to wrestle with identity politics and voice in libraries and invariably toward subject heading to in the long run. So many in this generation are into naming and identifying themselves and any librarian knows we classify and organize.  EDI is going to have to figure out how to value several conflicting voices at once without crushing voices that dissent.  In addition EDI has to grow some teeth and not simply be a paper tiger in the world that is unfolding before us.
    Conrad

    ------------------------------
    CONRAD PEGUES
    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR/PUBLIC SERVICES LIBRARIAN, PAUL MEEK LIBRARY
    UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT MARTIN
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)

    Posted Jul 31, 2020 12:17 AM
    Hello Conrad. 
    Thank you for your thoughts and frankness on EDI. Your point is well taken. My understanding is similar to yours, in that, often, EDI is oft-talked about and little acted upon. To me I think this hinges on the fact that it is as afterthought in most circumstances. By inculcating it into my studies and eventual professional practice, I hope to go beyond being a token multi-minority with EDI thoughts, to a person whose practice and presence calls forth deep conversation and action around EDI. By using EDI as one of my pedagogical frameworks, I hope to have a clearer view of what EDI looks like in practice and to enact in every degree of every stage I'm on.

    PS. I know what you mean about identity politics and the need to name and be named. While I see the purpose, I am one who cannot and will not be boxed in by words and/or definitions. I can speak to being this, that, and the other, but those are mere fragments of a greater whole. For EDI values to be meaningful, I do believe there has to be a letting go of the identity politics we see at play. But to do that, I think we must recognize that those identity politics come from not being seen otherwise; that the cacophony voices, come from those who have not been heard and need to be heard.

    ------------------------------
    Marian Ekweogwu
    Student
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)

    Posted Jul 31, 2020 10:31 AM
    Hey Marian (and all),

    just wanted to say that yesterday was my first meeting with the SRRT, so you're definitely not the only new person in the cut.  Great to hear you're working towards completing you MLIS and that you're so passionate about EDI work, too.  I think the "often discussed, seldom enacted" sentiment you express is one we're all struggling with and trying to change where we can (or maybe it was you, Conrad, who first brought that up?  It holds too true either way).  But hopefully committees like this will at least provide some of us with a space to connect and share notes about what is actually proving effective in our EDI work, and what seems to just leave us continually spinning our wheels.

    Looking forward to working with you all more and learning new strategies from you all,
    Nick

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    Nick Demske
    Community Resources Librarian
    Racine Public Library
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------

    Original Message