From Committees of RUSA: RUSA Adopts Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Abstract

The American Library Association’s (ALA) fourth strategic direction—equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI)—is timely for many reasons given the current political environment in the United States and our country’s difficult history around issues of bias, discrimination, racism, and privilege. These issues have deeply impacted library users and library workers. The pursuit of this strategic initiative provides RUSA members with an opportunity for conversation about how considerations of diversity, equity, and inclusion impact reference and user services in libraries and how we can try to effect positive change. To frame the conversation, RUSA formed a working group to draft an aspirational statement of RUSA values pertaining to EDI in service to library users and RUSA members. The RUSA Board approved this statement at the 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA. Working group members were Robin Bradford, Alesia McManus, Amber Prentiss, and Chella Vaidyanathan.