Wisconsin Libraries Talk About Race Webinars and Workshops

Guest post by The IDEA Team

Wisconsin Libraries Talk About Race begins year two – next month! This spring, participants will learn about what it takes to be an active ally. All Wisconsin public library workers are invited to continue talking about and taking action toward racial equity in our workplaces, communities, and personal relationships. Thank you to the Libraries Talk About Race Advisory Group for their guidance and input this session!

REGISTER for one or all three free webinars and save the date for an in-person workshop (registration for these will be made available soon)! More information about these excellent opportunities is below:

April 18, 11-12pm; Beyond Diversity 101: Micro-inequities, Implicit Bias, and Moving Toward Equity

• REGISTER
• Many of us have been involved with diversity training that focuses on cultural difference and respecting all perspectives. While this is a good start, we cannot move toward true equity in our workplaces, organizations, and personal relationships until we address historical and institutional inequality. In order to address the myriad ways that certain people are marginalized based on social identities such as race, gender, disability, religion, class, sexual orientation, etc., every one of us needs to understand our own identities, how we all demonstrate bias that is often unconscious, and how we are all capable of moving toward equity.

May 4, 1-2pm; How to Move Past Midwest Nice Towards Safety and Belonging

• REGISTER
• Creating a culture of belonging for a diverse library staff and patron population takes more than being “Midwest nice.” It requires the confidence and skill to manage conflict directly, either at the moment or later, with attention to power dynamics. In this webinar, you will learn principles and concrete strategies to guide your intervention when faced with hate speech or bigotry of any kind in the library, whether from patrons, board members, community stakeholders, or staff. You will also learn strategies to address harm during and after an incident.

May 17, 1-2pm; Build Skills & Take Action to Stand Up for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• REGISTER
• So far, this series has helped you understand implicit bias, historical and institutional barriers to equality, and how your own beliefs and identity impact how you behave in diverse places. Now we can give you practical tools that will allow you to be an active ally, an Upstander. Here's how you can use emotional intelligence and skilled communication to recognize and respond to micro-aggressions and bullying. In this skill-building workshop, we'll practice applying what we've learned, and use best practices to proactively recognize bias, assess situations for safety risks, and interrupt marginalization in its tracks.

2 Workshops, "Becoming an Active Ally"

• Registration coming soon!

• June 15, 2023; 10am-3pm; Waunakee Public Library (201 N. Madison St., Waunakee, WI 53597)
• June 16, 2023, 10am-3pm, L.E. Phillips Memorial Library in Eau Claire (400 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire, WI 54701)

• The training will begin with a general discussion of allyship practices within organizations and wider communities. Next moving into a specific focus of allyship practices that are supportive of BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ people. Finally, this training will highlight the role of allyship in racial and LGBTQIA2S+ justice movements. This training will give participants of all identities opportunities to reflect and learn how to enact allyship to create change personally and professionally. This is an engaging and interactive training that will incorporate contextualized examples that allow participants to see themselves professionally and personally in the materials. Participants will leave with tips and tools to more fully understand and enact allyship.
  
  As part of the 2023 LSTA-funded project, WI Libraries Talk About Race is a team of system consultants from across Wisconsin named “The IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Action) Team.” The purpose of this team is to facilitate and organize statewide professional learning on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for Wisconsin library staff members. In 2021/2022, the primary focus for the team was on race and racial equity. 

Learn more at www.wislibidea.com.