GSLIS faculty, staff present at JCLC

GSLIS faculty and staff will be presenting at the 2012 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) this September in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme of this year’s conference is Gathering at the Waters: Celebrating Stories, Embracing Communities.

Jon Gant, research associate professor and director of the proposed Center for Digital Inclusion, will participate in the panel “All Things Digital,” an interactive session that will provide an opportunity to explore the future of library services through a discussion of current digital projects in the field of LIS. This panel is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Gant also will discuss “Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action,” drawing on his experience as director of the Urbana Champaign Big Broadband project (UC2B). He will be joined by Dr. Charles Henry, president of the Council on Library and Information Resources, who will speak about new developments in the Digital Public Library of America; Jake Cowan, senior program manager, Urban Libraries Council, who will discuss “Edge Initiative & Benchmarks”; and Anthony D. Smith, senior program officer, Institute of Museum and Library Services, who will discuss “Connect to Compete” and moderate the session.

Participation by GSLIS faculty and staff also will include the following sessions:

Building Bridges to Fill Voids: Partnering with LIS Schools (Roy Brooks, GSLIS career specialist)

Charting a Course for the Recruitment & Retention of a Diverse Library Workforce (Amani Ayad, program coordinator, LAMP)

Mentoring For Us, By US in the Field of LIS (Regina Carter and Raquel Flores-Clemons, GSLIS students)

Mix IT Up! Expanding Youth Advocacy in LIS (Jeanie Austin, project coordinator, Mix IT Up! and PhD student; Rae-Anne Montague, assistant dean for student affairs)

Surveying Spectrum: Successes and Opportunities for the Spectrum Scholarship Program (Nicole A. Cooke, assistant professor)

The Information Specialist Internship Program: Increasing LIS Diversity through Undergraduate Engagement (Roy Brooks, GSLIS career specialist)

What are YOU doing here? Non-ethnic minorities in the diversity movement (Rae-Anne Montague, assistant dean for student affairs)

JCLC brings together a diverse group of librarians, library staff, library supporters, and community participants to explore issues of diversity in libraries and how they affect the ethnic communities who use library services. The conference includes speakers, skills building workshops, research based panels, networking opportunities and exhibits.

The Joint Conference of Librarians of Color is sponsored by the five ethnic caucuses: the American Indian Library Association (AILA), Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. The first Joint Conference was held in Dallas, Texas in 2006.