Optical Allyship

Year of Learning

The February Year of Learning topic was “Critical Cataloging.” The on-demand Change the Subject documentary follows a group of Dartmouth College students who challenged anti-immigrant language used by the Library of Congress. Their actions led to debates about immigration on Capitol Hill. During our monthly meetup the attendees had a thoughtful discussion about the challenges and benefits of adding and revising catalog subject headings. The monthly challenge was to look up the subject headings that the documentary references and see if  your library uses them.

During the month of March, library equity partners, the Utah Library Association and Utah State Library will focus on Optic Allyship. I hope you continue to take advantage of the monthly opportunities to learn, interact, and take action, leading up to the ULA 2022 Annual Conference. Explore the Year of Learning Hub to familiarize yourself with the year long “United in Diversity | Unida en la Diversidad” curriculum.

Rita Christensen (She/Her/Hers)
ULA President, 2021-2022

March 2022: Optical Allyship

LEARN Webinar: The Performative Nature of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – Sofia Leung – Thursday, March 24 @ 1 p.m. This presentation will briefly discuss how diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI/EDI reinforce and sustain the very systems DEI is purported to change. In this webinar the presenter will examine optical allyship, how it harms as much as it hopes to help, and offer an alternative framework to approach the work of anti-racism in libraries. This webinar will not be recorded.” [Register Now]

DISCUSS Zoom Meetup: The Performative Nature of EDI –Catherine Soehner – Thursday, March 31, 2022 @ 9 a.m. At this meetup, we’ll be discussing the performative nature of EDI, or optical allyship. This happens when everyone seems to be talking about EDI, but initiatives don’t seem to be moving forward. Why does this happen and what can be done about it? We’ll also discuss what we learned from Sofia Leung’s webinar on the performative nature of EDI. This discussion will not be recorded. [Register Now]

TAKE ACTION: Have a conversation with colleagues or staff about allyship and your library’s values. Post what you learned and how you shared it in the Slack Discussion.