Welcome to fall everyone! I hope you all get to enjoy this special time of year that welcomes in the changing of the season. There is a lot in this month’s update, including many continuing education opportunities. Since next month’s update will be abbreviated because of the WLA Fall Conference, I wanted to highlight some inclusive offerings that the conference has in store:
- Wednesday – Keynote: Jason Reynolds; WI Libraries Talk About Race: What’s Next?; Building for One, Designing for Many: How One Organization Developed an Inclusive Design Framework
- Thursday – Keynote: Alison Macrina Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice: Library Values in Conflict; Holding Library Vendors Accountable to Privacy and Information Equity Values; Building Diverse Collections with TeachingBooks & Book Connections; Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Hidden History of Racism in American Librarianship
- Friday – Representation Matters: Storytime and Collection Diversity
Resources:
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W.J. Niederkorn Library Launches Accessibility App – the W.J. Niederkorn Library launched an accessibility app, Sensory WJN, to help children and families with children on the autism spectrum and/or other sensory needs to help prepare them for their visit, as well as help them navigate the library on their visit. The app, developed in partnership with Infiniteach, was funded by the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD) Sparks Building Connections Grant. The app includes an “Explore” section where users can read and/or listen to guides explaining what to expect when going to the library, during storytime and when leaving W.J. Niederkorn. The app also includes a “Communicate” section where users can tap on a picture to talk and ask for help. Additionally, there is a section where families can create a visual schedule on their visit. The app can be found and downloaded for free on the following platforms:
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The Civil Rights Digital Library Relaunches With A New Look And Fifteen Years Of Updated Content – This project brings together more than 200 libraries, archives, and museums to provide free online access to historical materials documenting the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
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Volume 1 of The Handbook of North American Indians – is now published online and available for free to all interested readers through this link.
Continuing Education:
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Public Library Staff and Diversity: Results from PLA’s 2021 Survey – 1pm on Tuesday, Oct 4
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9 Practices To Energize Belonging In Your Organization – 11am on Thursday, Oct 6
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Cultivating the Reading Identity of Black Boys – 3pm on Thursday, Oct 6
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Adaptive Umbrella Accessibility Workshop – Virtual, October 6, 9-2:30 : This workshop features interactive sessions about current accessibility topics, led by disability self-advocates and professionals working with the disability community. The day is geared to library staff, educators, and caregivers.
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Walking the Talk: A Practical Framework for Leading Toward Equity – 2pm on Tuesday, Oct 11
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Practicing Inclusion: Welcoming Transgender Customers and Colleagues – October 11, 2 pm : This interactive session will help participants reframe ideas around gender, give them best practices for serving trans customers, and end with developing strategies to make their libraries trans-inclusive.
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Accessibility In Your Library – October 12, 1 pm : Join JJ Pionke to learn about what disability and accessibility are. Learn how to do a walkthrough of your physical space to see how accessible it is and join us for a Q&A to answer your accessibility-related questions.
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Neurodiversity in Libraries Series:
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Updating Your Collection: Selecting & Deselecting Materials with Native Content – October 20, 1 pm : Providing the best possible service to the public means we must periodically update our collections. Do the materials in your library accurately reflect Indigenous peoples of Wisconsin and the United States? How do you know? In this session, you’ll have an opportunity to gain insights into selecting and deselecting materials with Native content. Presented by Dr. Debbie Reese!
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Wisconsin Open Education Symposium – Virtual, October 28: This Symposium is a space for inclusive and open sharing and conversation, and creating meaningful collaborations to advance open education. The theme this year is ‘Open for Equity.’ The Keynote speaker is Ursula Pike, Associate Director of the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas and a Creative Writing instructor for Austin Community College. She is a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee for the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) and completed SPARC’s Open Education Leadership Program in 2021. Ms. Pike earned her Master’s degree in Economics from Western Illinois University and her MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is an enrolled member of the Karuk Tribe and the author of the openly licensed book OERigin Stories: Pathways to Open Education and An Indian Among Los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir (2021) from Heyday Books.
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Toward One Wisconsin – UW-Superior, November 3-4: This year’s theme is ‘Where are we Going? How do we Continue?’ The Toward One Wisconsin Conference prioritizes the work of diversity, equity, inclusion and access throughout Wisconsin by encouraging community members to collaborate, share, and learn. Attendees will learn best practices, insights, and implementation tools to foster and sustain an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture across all sectors of business and life.
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Classes from UW Madison’s iSchool:
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Trans-Inclusive Librarianship, Nov 14 – Dec 11
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Consumables:
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Enhanced library cards allow some Texas patrons to establish identification
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A Carrel and a Corral: Easing access to library computers for caregivers of small children
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Boiling Point: Jackson, Mississippi, libraries support their community during water crisis
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How One College Is Diversifying the Rural Teaching Workforce, and Why It Matters Our very own Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College is featured!
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Libraries must stop pretending they can be neutral about human rights
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Open access to research can close gaps for people with disabilities
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New FYI Podcast – Hosting an Expungement Clinic at the Public Library
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Three Lessons for Launching Successful Multilingual Programs at Your Library
Diverse Holidays in October:
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This observance was launched in 1945 when Congress declared the first week in October as “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.” In 1998, the week was extended to a month and renamed. The annual event draws attention to employment barriers that still need to be addressed.
October is LGBT History Month, a U.S. observance started in 1994 to recognize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history and the history of the gay-rights movement.
October is Global Diversity Awareness Month, a month to celebrate and increase awareness about the diversity of cultures and ethnicities and the positive impact diversity can have on society.
October is Blind Equality Achievement Month Formerly known as Meet the Blind Month, the National Federation of the Blind celebrates the organized blind movement during October. Throughout the month, our members conduct a variety of outreach activities in their local communities. Many of these activities center on White Cane Awareness Day which is October 15.
October 4: St. Francis Day, feast day for St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment, celebrated by many Catholic denominations.
September 26-October 5: Navaratri, the nine-day Hindu festival celebrating the triumph of good over evil. It worships God in the form of the universal mother commonly referred to as Durga, Devi or Shakti, and marks the start of fall.
October 5: Yom Kippur: Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day’s observances consist of full fasting and ascetic behavior accompanied by intensive prayer as well as sin confessions.
October 8: Mawlid Al-Nabi, the observance of the birthday of Islam founder Prophet Muhammad, celebrated during the month of Rabiulawal, the third month of the Muslim calendar. Shi’a Muslims celebrate it five days later than Sunni Muslims.
October 9: Eid Milad un-Nabi, an Islamic holiday commemorating the birthday of the prophet Muhammad. During this celebration, homes and mosques are decorated, large parades take place, and those observing the holiday participate in charity events.
October 10: World Mental Health Day. First celebrated in 1993, this day is meant to increase public awareness about the importance of mental health, mental health services, and mental health workers worldwide.
October 10: Canadian Thanksgiving, a chance for people to give thanks for a good harvest and other fortunes in the past year.
October 10: National Indigenous Peoples Day, gives recognition to the indigenous populations affected by colonization.
October 10-16: Sukkot is a Torah-commanded holiday celebrated for seven days from the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which those Israelites who could were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.
October 11: National Coming Out Day (U.S.). For those who identify in the LGBTQ+ spectrum, this day celebrates coming out and the recognition of the 1987 march on Washington for gay and lesbian equality.
October 13: Karaka Chaturthi, is a festival celebrated by Hindu women of Northern and Western India on the fourth day after Purnima (a full moon) in the month of Kartika. Karaka Chaturthi is a social time to celebrate after the harvest. It started out as a time to honor friendships with brides and their god-friends or god-sisters.
October 15: White Cane Safety Day, a day the Council uses to advocate for pedestrian safety and educate the public about the White Cane Law. Since 1964, the day has promoted safe, welcoming communities for people with vision loss or blindness. The Governor and city leaders across Wisconsin are issuing proclamations recognizing White Cane Safety Day. You can find more information and a list of proclamations on the Council website.
October 19: International Pronouns Day seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Each year it is held on the third Wednesday of October.
October 21-26: Diwali is a festival of lights and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs. The festival usually lasts five days and is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika.
October 26: Bhai Duj is a festival which is celebrated among Hindus of India, Nepal and other countries. Sisters invite their brothers to visit their place and prepare the beloved dishes for them. Sisters also pray to God for the well-being and longevity of their brothers against all the evils and bad fortune. In return, brothers follow their responsibilities of caring and loving their sisters.
October 26-27: Birth of Bahá’u’lláh is a holy day celebrates the birth of Baháʼu’lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith.
October 30: Chhath Puja is a Hindu Vedic festival It is dedicated to the Sun God (Surya Dev) and Chhathi (Shashti) Devi or Maiya (Mother) and celebrated twice every year.
October 31: All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween), a celebration observed in a number of countries on the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs and all the faithful departed.
October 31: Reformation Day, a Protestant Christian religious holiday celebrated alongside All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) during the triduum of Allhallowtide in remembrance of the onset of the Reformation.
October 31-November 1 (sundown to sundown): Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year.