RAILS Events & Presentations
Upcoming Events
For upcoming events on equity, diversity, and inclusion issues, see the calendar on the Library Directory & Learning Calendar website.
- July 11, 2024, 10:30-12:00 pm, Digital Equity Grant Co-Design for Libraries. Library staff with experience facilitating or participating in community programs that serve vulnerable residents are invited to contribute to the Illinois Office of Broadband’s Digital Equity Grant Program. Illinois will receive over $30 million to fund technology programs like device distribution, digital skill building, digital navigation, digital equity coalition building, and more! Register for this event.
- July 24, 2024, 10-11:00 am, Making Your Website More Accessible. Discuss the legal landscape of website accessibility and how you can make your website’s content more accessible. Register for this event.
- Aug 28, 2024, 2-3:00 pm, Creating Accessible PDFs. Even if a library has been focusing on making its website more accessible, PDF files that patrons download are often overlooked. PDF documents are not inherently accessible and require specific effort to make them accessible. In this session, learn concrete actions you can take to make your library’s PDF content accessible. Register for this event.
RAILS Board EDI Committee
RAILS Board Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Meetings - includes agendas and other documents for upcoming and past meetings.
Recordings of Webinars and Other Presentations
Social Justice in Public Libraries from Freedom Lifted
Inclusive Cataloging: Maintaining Your Momentum
Inclusive Cataloging: Maintaining Your Momentum
Equity in Collections: Audits, Weeding, Purchasing, & More!
Diversity Audits for Library Collections
Building Accessible Library Collections for Individuals with Disabilities presented by Renee Grassi
Developing Responsive Collections for LGBTQ+ Patrons of All Ages
Auditing Your Collection for Diversity and Inclusion
Building African American, African, and Caribbean Collections
Authentic Voices in Children’s and Teen Literature: What’s Socioeconomics Got to Do with It?
Facilitating Gender-Inclusive Librarianship through Centering Queer Communities
You Belong @ Your Library: Welcoming and Serving the LGBTQIA Community
Other Events & Initiatives
Upcoming Opportunities
- National Survey for Libraries Leadership Development. iLead is an IMLS-funded planning grant focused on developing free online LIS leadership training with an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) lens. iLead designed a survey to help identify what the diverse members of the field feel are the most important core competencies required of future leaders in our field. The survey on leadership development for library staff can be completed in 10 minutes.
- Friday, July 26, 12:00-3:45 pm, Inclusive Classroom Libraries. This free workshop is for educators and librarians who work with preschoolers – 8th grade and will focus on diversity in youth literature, book lists with culturally relevant texts, and resources for locating diverse literature—CPDUs through DuPage ROE. Registration is required, use QR code.
- For upcoming events on equity, diversity, and inclusion issues, see the calendar on the Library Directory & Learning Calendar website.
- EDI and Social Justice Opportunities (maintained by ALA's Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services) Check here for upcoming opportunities.
- ILA Noon Network: Balancing Equity and Freedom in Collection Development Policies - Recording
- ILA Noon Network: Breaking Canons and Building Community: Zines, DEI, and the Academic Library - Recording
- ILA Noon Network: Are You Ready to Celebrate Rainbow Book Month? - Recording
- Webinar Series on Collection Development to Support EDI
- ALA's Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services EDI & Social Justice Opportunities
- Radical Cataloging: Using alternative subject headings locally to promote inclusiveness and diversity (View Recording)
- Combating Racism in Libraries: Creating Spaces to Educate and Inform Our Communities, New York Library Association webinar series recorded.
- Strengthen Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Practice Through Self-Paced Learning (View recording) Will need to log into WebJunction
- Receptive to Race: Normalizing the Discussion of Race with Children in Libraries (View recording)
- ILA Noon Network: We Can Walk Together: Creating Meaningful Dialogue on Race in our Communities (View recording)
- Project READY: Reimagining Equity & Access for Diverse Youth. A free online professional development curriculum.
- LibraryReads in Conversations: Actively Anti-Racist Reader's Advisory. View recording.
- Race Forward – Race Forward works with communities, organizations, and sectors to build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture.
- ALA's Office for Diversity, Literary, and Outreach Services Webinar Archives
- Luna Jiminez Institute Upcoming Events
- Public Library Association On Demand Webinar: Understanding Power, Identity, and Oppression in the Public Library