What a couple of weeks it’s been! The Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians (LIAL) at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education was a learning experience the likes of which I’ve not encountered in some time. Gallos & Bolman’s Four Frames of Leadership, Immunity Mapping, Stakeholder Mapping, case studies galore, deep discussions on authentic leadership, organizational cultures that foster inclusion and engagement, culturally responsive leadership, decoding bias… and so much more. I had an amazing discussion group throughout the week that helped me work through my case study that I brought with me. I met colleagues from all over the world. I had instructors with such passion for teaching. It was such an amazing time. I left feeling more energized and enthusiastic for my work than I can remember.
THEN I had three fantastic days this week attending a workshop at FSCI 2023 on logic models. I came away from this experience with the beginnings of a plan for my department to help the university be prepared for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy 2022 memorandum “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research”, aka The Nelson Memo. And I learned about the cool tool Easy Retro. I think my team is going to love using it in our department planning!
And today I returned to my normal programming and spent a good part of the day engaged in a very interesting request from our Vice Provost for Research. I was stumped on part of it, but thanks to the community brain trust that is the Medical Library Association Scholarly Communications Caucus, I got a few great tips – one in particular that proved very helpful. So I learned something new today even without taking a class. Hah!
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, inclusion was a big theme at LIAL. It’s a big theme in libraries, in academia, in society right now, as it should be. We are very much focused on purposefully creating places and organizations where everyone feels a part, where everyone feels valued. I like to think I operate in this manner most of the time, but I learned tools and tricks to help me continue the work to be better here, because we all can always be better.
But here is where I’m frustrated. In a couple of my work roles (meaning my job roles and professional organization roles), I continue to hear the call for inclusion. People are still feeling left out. And so changes are made in how we do things and how we engage others. We reduce the barriers to make it easier for voices to be heard. We communicate in lots of different ways so that people won’t miss out. We say, “Please be a part of ___.” And crickets. Crickets, I tell you. I’m frustrated when we work so hard to be inclusive and yet no one seems to want to participate. Not even those who have been (again, rightly) calling for us to be inclusive. I am stumped by this.
And so I’ve come to believe that inclusion is a verb. It requires action by everyone. It requires accountability by all. If you want a seat at the table, a voice in the conversation, recognition for your work, or acknowledgement of your history, you need to take ownership of it and bring it on. When the welcoming table is set, it’s an invitation to join in. Please do.
A Librarian by Any Other Name 