Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility

Updates from the DEIA Director

Patricia Izek, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), brought the Libraries’ DEIA Strategic Plan into its final development phase this past fiscal year. Its primary focus is ensuring that the Libraries are a welcoming space for all students, faculty, staff, and community members. Highlights from the plan include:

• Coordinating accessibility scans of our main libraries on the Twin Cities campus (including East Bank, West Bank, and St. Paul).
• Examining the topics of cultural competence and institutional racism in libraries with our staff and exploring possible solutions.
• Fostering conversations, self-reflection, and book studies about antiracism through the Libraries’ Antiracism Community of Practice.
• Launching a Libraries task force to drive the implementation of recent changes to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title II, which focuses on web content and mobile app accessibility.
• Inviting speakers to all-staff meetings to speak on topics such as campus sustainability, as well as the community impacts of the University’s expansion into the West Bank.
• Forming and training a group of Libraries staff to review internal policies, processes, and procedures using the same criteria used by the University’s Equity Lens Policy Review Committee. As defined by the University of Minnesota, these equity lens reviews analyze the impact of institutional policies on under-served and marginalized individuals or groups, and offer recommendations for adjustment.