Harrell Library hosts Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Journal Club
Starting in 2021, the Harrell Health Sciences Library has held bi-monthly meeting of its internal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Journal Club. So far, topics have included race and library exhibits, displays and galleries (February); accessibility in email or web content (April); and pronouns (June).
Alex Harrington and Mike Cote select a wide variety of interesting resources – journal articles, news articles, blog posts, videos and more – to develop discussion questions to guide participants. The meetings are entirely discussion-based and everyone contributes their own unique perspective on the topic at hand. One of the main goals is to draw connections to the work of the library, and how, individually or collectively, participants can create positive change in the library and beyond. To help organize the resources, discussion questions and notes from each meeting, a Team was created in Microsoft Teams. Everyone in attendance was added to the Team. Now, the group can meet virtually in Teams, collaborate on creating discussion questions and review resources before or after the meetings.
During the University Libraries’ Diversity Week in May, Alex and Mike gave a presentation on how they developed the journal club as an initiative for the library’s participation in the Diversity Council (a joint effort of Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine), and hosted a shortened session on the same topic as the June discussion, pronouns. Although the journal club is for Harrell Health Sciences Library employees, the presentation at Diversity Week encouraged participants to hold similar sessions at their own libraries, to increase awareness of DEIA issues and how they relate to their work in the libraries.
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