Meeting Minutes
Diversity Committee
Meeting, August 17, 2005
Present: Eleanor Block (Chair), Amanda Clark, Eboni Francis, Deidra Herring, Beverly McDonald, Duke Morgan, Cyndi Preston, Virginia Reynolds, Charles Smith
Absent: Linda Gonzalez
This year, the residents are based in two specific departments, FAE for Eboni Francis and MOD for Deidra Herring. Now that the new program has been operating for several months, we need to meet with the residents and their supervisors (Susan Logan from FAE and Marsha Hamilton from MOD) and see how the program is working out-- positives, negatives, changes needed, etc. This will be the topic of our August 30 meeting.
A. Someone to talk about GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) issues-- Duke Morgan will talk to Willa Young of Ohio State University's Student Gender and Sexuality Services. Virginia Reynolds will talk to her university contacts
B. Someone to talk about the Somali people and their situation-- Charles Smith has contacts and will look into possible programs
C. Someone to talk about Arab/Muslim issues-- Charles noted that there are Arab-American student groups and Islamic groups that can be contacted. He will look into this further
It was stressed that all of our events should be widely publicized-- OSU Libraries Quick Notes, the Diversity Committee web site, etc.
Absent: Linda Gonzalez
Committee membership and secretary
The new members of the committee are Amanda Clark, Duke Morgan and Virginia Reynolds. The two residents, Eboni Francis and Deidra Herring, have also joined the committee as ex officio members. Beverly McDonald has been appointed secretary.
Meeting times
After discussion, it was agreed that we would meet on every other Tuesday, 1:30-2:30 p.m. through the end of December 2005, beginning with August 30, 2005. Please see Eleanor Block's e-mail dated August 18, 2005 for the complete list of dates, times and meeting rooms. We may later decide to cancel some of these meetings, but for now they should be recorded in our calendars. The meetings will begin promptly at 1:30 p.m.; please try to be on time.
Residency program
The focus of the residency program changed in 2004. In earlier years, the residents were rotated through many library departments to give them an overall idea of how an academic library operates. The focus was changed last year to allow the resident to work in a designated area that offered hands-on experience. The program would also give the resident a broad overview of the entire library organization and support her/his professional development, both locally and at the national level.
This year, the residents are based in two specific departments, FAE for Eboni Francis and MOD for Deidra Herring. Now that the new program has been operating for several months, we need to meet with the residents and their supervisors (Susan Logan from FAE and Marsha Hamilton from MOD) and see how the program is working out-- positives, negatives, changes needed, etc. This will be the topic of our August 30 meeting.
Possible future programs
Eleanor sees this group as an activist committee, one that is frequently doing things that are challenging as well as interesting. Committee members then suggested the following possibilities for future programs:
A. Someone to talk about GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) issues-- Duke Morgan will talk to Willa Young of Ohio State University's Student Gender and Sexuality Services. Virginia Reynolds will talk to her university contacts
B. Someone to talk about the Somali people and their situation-- Charles Smith has contacts and will look into possible programs
C. Someone to talk about Arab/Muslim issues-- Charles noted that there are Arab-American student groups and Islamic groups that can be contacted. He will look into this further
It was stressed that all of our events should be widely publicized-- OSU Libraries Quick Notes, the Diversity Committee web site, etc.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be held Tuesday, August 30, 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Room 102, Main Library. The topic will be a discussion of OSUL's
residency program.