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
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: Jul 29, 2020 08:44 PM
From: CONRAD PEGUES
Subject: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)
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:
Sent: Jul 28, 2020 10:40 PM
From: Marian Ekweogwu
Subject: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)
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:
Sent: 7/23/2020 6:09:00 PM
From: April Sheppard
Subject: SRRT All Member Virtual Meeting - July 30th (12pm Central)
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
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,95370346658# US (Chicago)
+13017158592,,95370346658# US (Germantown)
Dial by your location
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
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