DEI&A Initiatives & Challenges: Librarian and Publisher Lessons from the Frontlines

Thursday, May 5, 2022

10:30 AM – 11:50 AM CT

Location: 344

Speaker(s)

Marlene M. Bishop, MLIS

Head, Collection Development
LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Library
New Orleans, Louisiana
Patrick Hannon

Director
New England Journal of Medicine
Brenda M. Linares, MLIS, MBA, AHIP

Health Sciences Librarian
A.R. Dykes Library, University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, Kansas
Laurie Phillips

Interim Dean
Loyola University–New Orleans

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEI&A) are key guiding principles in today’s scholarly communication ecosystems. In this session, you’ll learn from a panel of librarians and publishers how their organizations define DEI&A and are realigning their publications, collections, and environments to better reflect these core values. You’ll gain insights into the successful initiatives implemented by society and association journals to address DEI&A challenges, discover how a consortium prioritizes and evaluates diverse system-wide resource purchasing, and learn how to improve accessibility of library collections and experiences. Come prepared to ask the panelists your pressing DEI&A questions.

Whatever your institutional role, you will be inspired to evaluate how your work aligns with your professional values and leave the session with concrete ideas for change.

This session was developed by the 2022 Special Program Committee members, Donna S. Gibson, Director, Library Services, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center & Susan Haering, Director, NEJM Group Licensing.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the challenges publishers face in implementing DEI initiatives and how they are addressing DEI goals in authorship, editorial boards, and corporate missions
Assess and improve the DEI content in your collection
Negotiate for and support improved DEI representation and content from publishers
Improve the accessibility of your collection and the library experience for those with diverse backgrounds and needs