1:00pm

Welcome and Introduction.

1:15pm

AI Empire and Library Work. DUX Community Engagement Standing Group (Diane Prorak, University of Idaho; Lorena O’English, Washington State University; Michelle Desilets, Portland State University; Leslie Gascon, UW Health Sciences Library; Pamela Martin, Washington State University; Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, Portland Community College)
We will begin by streaming a recording of a thought-provoking presentation about AI empire and algorithmic bias by Sarah Appedu. The presentation outlines how library work is part of the oppressive AI empire and how we as library workers can work to resist, including imagining and helping to create a better future.  Following the video, we will facilitate a discussion of the many frameworks, concepts, and questions raised.

2:30pm

AI and DEIA: A Starting Point. Laura Nagel and Marisol Moreno Ortiz (Clark College)
You’ve probably been talking or hearing about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but has it been through a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism (DEIA) lens? Come learn and explore where DEIA intersects with AI, how this impacts your work, and what you can do to minimize risk and use AI in ethical and effective ways.

3:30pm

How Do Our Users Feel, and How Do We Know? UX (User Experience) Research in Physical Spaces. User Experience Standing Group (Andy Peterson, Western Washington University; Leah Cover, The Evergreen State College; Lily De La Fuente, Reed College; Tom Dodson, Southern Oregon University; Emily Pearson, Whitman College; Amanda Pirog, UW Tacoma; Kathleen Veldhuisen, Chemeketa Community College)
UX research has become fairly common in libraries for evaluating the user experience with online content, but UX research can be equally powerful in improving the effectiveness and sense of belonging in our physical spaces.  This session will provide a brief overview of some UX techniques that can be useful in evaluating library spaces, an introduction to the new UX in physical spaces resource (toolkit?) created by the UXSG this year, and will provide an opportunity to try out one technique during this interactive session.

1:00pm

Taking Action: Creating Actionable Recruitment and Hiring Practices at OHSU Library. Roman Block (Oregon Health & Science University)
In 2023, OHSU Library’s Diversity Committee completed a project to create an actionable list of recruitment and hiring practices and recommendations aimed at making our hiring processes more accessible and further diversifying candidate pools for open positions. This session would discuss our process, results, and outcomes while broadly outlining how other libraries could implement something similar.

1:15pm

DEI Activities, Programs, and Events: Nailed It or Failed It? Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Standing Group (Emily Moxley, Central Oregon Community College; Lizzie Aubrey, Southern Oregon University; Galin Brown, Willamette University; Nicole Gustavsen, Gonzaga University;  Bing Li, University of Oregon;  Kael Moffat, Saint Martin’s University; Julia Stone, Portland State University; Kelly Walker, Portland Community College)
What DEI activities or programs are your libraries sponsoring, co-sponsoring, facilitating, etc.? Or, what are some activities from the past? How do you develop or help shape these initiatives? What is working, what has been a struggle, and what have you learned?  Please join us for a facilitated conversation reflecting on this critical topic and these crucial efforts. This is an opportunity to learn from each other (both successes and failures) and to think about how we might amplify DEI work in our libraries.

2:30pm

Putting the ‘Inclusion’ in Neuroinclusion: Creating a Toolkit for Supporting Neurodiverse Library Patrons and Workers. Accessibility Standing Group (Joanna Bailey, Western Washington University; Michele Burke, Chemeketa Community College; Emily Cukier, Washington State University; Zachary Grant, Clark College)
Join the Accessibility Standing Group (ASG) as they informally discuss how they selected the Cognitive Diversity and Neuroinclusion project, and how they created the toolkit. The ASG will talk about their goal to amplify neurodivergent voices along with describing some of the challenges they encountered and the knowledge they acquired.

3:00pm

CDL is Dead! Long Live CDL. Sagan Wallace (Oregon State University)
Some say CDL is on legally shaky ground, and others say CDL will continue to revolutionize how libraries provide materials. I believe these questions are a distraction from a significant issue in many CDL collections – inadequate accessibility. My institution heavily uses CDL, so we formed a task force to identify the best methods to make our CDL collection more accessible. We found that creating screen reader accessible materials takes more labor and expense than expected. Because of this, we have significantly changed the way our institution processes scanned course reserves. In this presentation, I will demonstrate the barriers people who use screen readers face when trying to access materials, and strategies we took to resolve these issues. I will explain the impact of upcoming legislation on our CDL collections. Finally, I will examine the difficult decisions librarians must make when choosing to make a few materials accessible to all, or many materials accessible to a few.

1:00pm

Great Expectations: Chasing Perfection in Cooperative Chat. Jen Saulnier Lange, Erin Hvizdak, and Pamela Martin (Washington State University)
Three current and former reference coordinators at Washington State University recently conducted a survey of librarians across the country regarding their participation in cooperative chat services. While primarily intended to gauge the level of anxiety experienced when answering certain types of chats, the 361 responses revealed much more. For those of you that missed our talk at the Washington Library Association Conference (and for those looking for an update on our data analysis) this lightning talk will cover primary takeaways from our survey, particularly related to expectations of ourselves, our colleagues, and patron needs.

1:15pm

Building Equity and Access into Student Employee Public Services Training. Leah Cover and Ren Thomas (The Evergreen State College)
During the summer of 2023, library staff at The Evergreen State College identified a need to provide additional public services training for students employed at two of our public-facing service points, the Circulation Desk and Research Desk. Supervisors at these service points collaborated to develop and deliver a three-part training series focused on providing equitable access and trauma-informed service to all library users. Presenters will describe their process of developing this series and will share training materials for others to use and adapt.

2:30pm

Cultural Library Programming Through a Community-Centered Approach. Bridgette Flamenco, Janet Calderon, and Andreina Delgado (Central Washington University)
Can libraries do more to involve their communities in the programming of culturally based events? Learn how one academic library collaborated with student organizations and their campus’ Diversity and Equity Center to create and lead culturally focused library events. By centering the voices and experiences of the communities highlighted in such events, libraries can create inclusive and empowering cultural programming. This program will discuss how three different cultural events came to be from this community-centered approach, how to find balance in the development of such events, potential pitfalls, and how this approach can serve as a community building tool.

3:30pm

Bodies & Display: Reflections on Centering Fat Activist Voices. Joanne Chern (University of Washington) and Je Salvador (UW Bothell and Cascadia College)
Anti-fat bias is a pervasive yet under-discussed part of our modern society, one that affects the lives of both patrons and library workers every day. Our display on Fat Activism sought to spotlight and amplify the voices of fat folks. This session synthesizes our reflections on the roles that self-reflexivity and embodiment play in display creation and collection development, how to better prepare front-line staff for patron questions regarding challenging subject material, and lessons learned from interactions with both staff and patrons.

3:45pm

Wrap-Up and Closing.