Hey April,
I really wish I could make it to this meeting but I'm tutoring a child for remote learning all day. Can you tell me when the next meeting will be though? I'd really like to attend an upcoming meeting to discuss a more formal resolution to condemn disability discrimination in the library workforce. It's a very serious problem in libraries . I'm the founder of Librarians Unite for Equal Rights: facebook.com/librariansunite and librariansunite.org. Through this grassroots coalition, I've been working tirelessly on addressing the disability discrimination that's rampant in libraries across the U.S. I even recently added several librarians and library workers to the Librarians Unite advisory team and almost all of them are disabled in some capacity. We are all disability rights activist and we are committed to addressing social justice related issues in libraries.
For example, Kayla L Martin-Grant is doing a presentation on disability in libraries for the upcoming Urban Librarians Unite conference. She is consulting my team of experts to ensure her presentation touches on all the right issues that need to be addressed. Kayla is also a new librarian admin to the LUFER team who participated in the Normalize Disclosure campaign I have going on. So, I'd really like to attend an upcoming meeting so that we as a library community can formally take action to make a serious commitment to combatant disability discrimination in libraries. I've spoken to countless librarians and library workers who have gone through disability discrimination. Many of these victims have had their ADA accommodations outright denied unlawfully or have been fired for issues related their medical conditions, when in actuality they should have received intermittent FMLA or continuous FMLA to manage their symptoms that may interfere with their ability to do their job. In addition to SRRT formally addressing disability discrimination in libraries, I believe it's time that ALA and SRRT take a stand against mold in libraries. I recently had to quit my full time librarian job with the City of Mesa in Arizona at Mesa Public Library, Red Mountain Library branch because of an ongoing mold problem that they refused to properly address. They continuously relied on their inadequate air quality tests and misleading reports from ATC Group Services to dismiss the mold problem while visible black and green mold simultaneously festered for months (and likely even years) in both the window sills of the library's staff workroom and also in a water damaged ceiling tile of the Youth Services workroom. The mold problem inside of the library has caused disabled citizens to experience full body hives, respiratory impairment, and near anaphylaxis.
I am not exaggerating when I say all this either. I blew the whistle on all of this on my FB page, here in this post. Even Hafuboti / Rebecca McCorkindale, the amazing librarian and Mover and a Shaker known for the Libraries Are For Everyone campaign, has shared my story on her page. So, I'm very serious about this and truly feel that something needs to be done about the disability discrimination that occurs far too often in libraries. If someone doesn't speak up about this, who will? I've shared my story publicly, which is a huge risk to take, in an effort to seriously get the library community to talk about this major issue (and also because I am facing financial despair as a result of being constructively discharged). I would love to talk with you, perhaps even outside of a formal SRRT meeting, to brainstorm ideas for how we can work together to address both disability discrimination and hazardous mold in libraries. Also, OSHA (ADOSH in AZ) did come into the library to conduct a formal inspection and the inspector told me on the phone that he observed mold as well. Last time I checked with ADOSH, their investigation was ongoing. Thank you. You may contact me by phone at 630-745-7990 or reach me by email at sarah.prokop@librariansunite.org. I'll be reaching out to you by email too, in case you miss this message.
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Sarah Prokop
Founder
Librarians Unite For Equal Rights
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Original Message:
Sent: Feb 22, 2021 01:13 PM
From: April Sheppard
Subject: Call for Agenda Items - SRRT 2/25 Meeting
Last chance to add something to the agenda for our meeting this week. I will be sending out the finalized agenda in the morning.
April
Original Message:
Sent: 2/8/2021 11:47:00 AM
From: April Sheppard
Subject: Call for Agenda Items - SRRT 2/25 Meeting
All –
Our next SRRT meeting will be 2/25 at 11am Central.
https://ala-events.zoom.us/j/96530854894?pwd=R29CK0pZeDkrQlZrRHlmeUt1U1Bmdz09
There are already several things for next meeting:
ALA Presidential Candidate: Ed Garcia
ALA Presidential Candidate: Stacey Aldrich
ALA Presidential Candidate: Lessa Pelayo-Lozada
Brief FYI regarding Rachel Carson Children's Book Award (Fred Stoss)
COPE Document: Concerns regarding the proposed "Resolution to Condemn White Supremacy and Fascism (Tom Twiss)
Sponsoring ALA and SRRT memberships for ALA Annual Virtual
If there is anything you would like to add to the agenda, please let me know by the end of the day 2/22.
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