Five UCR librarians presented at the National Diversity in Libraries Conference (NDLC) this August, including Judy Lee, Kent LaCombe, Stephanie Milner, Melissa Cardenas-Dow, and Julie Mason.

“Bridges of Inclusion” was the theme of the 2016 NDLC conference, which was presented by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and UCLA Library. UCR Library was also one of the conference sponsors, among other libraries and organizations.

NCLC 2016 highlighted issues related to diversity and inclusion that affect staff, users, and institutions in the library, archive, and museum (LAM) fields.  UC Riverside's team of librarians presented throughout the 3-day event.

An emotional keynote address by Lakota Harden opened the conference. Speaking from the heart, she moved the audience to tears while sharing about her struggles as a Native American woman and her efforts to see that Native American histories and lives are portrayed honestly in literature. 

Melissa Cardenas-Dow, UCR Research and Instructional Services Librarian and member of the ALA Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, presented in a panel session on the first day discussing lessons learned by the task force. On the second day, Melissa presented “Diversity Standards in Action: How Do We Practice & Value Cultural Competencies?”  Melissa also played a role in planning the conference.

Judy Lee and Julie Mason served on a panel discussing successful Library and Information Science (LIS) Diversity Initiatives, exploring a new follow-up study on recruitment and retention with IE LEADS fellows.

Kent LaCombe and Stephanie Milner followed up with a poster presentation, exploring the impact of the IE LEADS program on institutional partners and affiliates. This project was led through the LAUC-R Diversity Committee. Patricia Smith-Hunt, Christina Cicchetti, and former UCR librarian Denise Kane are also part of the IE LEADS follow-up study research team.

The conference concluded with a lively discussion on “whiteness” and ARL Library Leadership between Director of Libraries at MIT and Chair of the ARL Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, Chris Bourg and April Hathcock, Scholarly Communications Librarian at NYU.

The next NDLC is slated for 2020.