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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Yasmine Abou-El-Kheir, Chicago Theologica Seminary, Chair 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

• Yasmine Abou-El-Kheir, Chicago Theological Seminary, Chair 
• Daniel (Bonggun) Baek, Vancouver School of Theology 
• Kenneth Litwak, Gateway Seminary 
• David Kriegh, Saint Mary’s College of California 
• Alice Song, Huntington Library 
• Alexis Weiss, Loyola Marymount University 
• Gillian Harrison Cain, Staff Liaison
• Race MoChridhe, Staff Liaison

YEAR IN REVIEW

The 2020–21 year for the Atla Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commit-
tee was spent building and expanding upon the groundwork from 
previous years. We should acknowledge and celebrate how DEI 
concerns this past year were not just the preserve of the DEI commit-
tee but were explored broadly across Atla as an institution. We view 
this as a positive marker of how Atla is raising awareness and work-
ing towards building a culture of inclusion among its members. 
 
Here are the highlights of the DEI Committee’s work this past year: 

DEI  Series: The committee continued to contribute to the DEI Series 
on the Atla blog. Six blog posts were written this year highlighting 
different diversity, equity, and inclusion themes and how members 
can bolster their collection and meet the needs of various constitu-
encies in their institutions. Below is a listing of the blog posts this 
past year.  

• Meet Atla Diversity Scholarship Winner Marian Ekweogwu! 
(September) 

• Meet Atla Diversity Scholarship Winner Ezra Choe! (September) 
• Introducing the new DEI Committee LibGuide (November) 



6  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

• Potential New Interest Group for LGBTQ+ Inclusivity – A Call for 
Interest (January) 

• Celebrating the Holy Buddhist Holiday Vesak (April) 
• Making Your Library Website More Accessible (March) 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship: There were 14 candi-
dates who applied for the scholarship. All but one of the candidates 
were eligible for the scholarship. The Committee voted on the remain-
ing 13 applicants.  A shortlist of three promising candidates was devel-
oped.  After consulting with the Executive Director, permission was 
granted to award all three candidates on our shortlist.  Each appli-
cant brings a different set of strengths, and the generous availability 
of scholarship funds from EBSCO made it possible for Atla to extend 
additional scholarships. The Summer 2021 recipients of the Diversity, 
Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship of Atla are: Laurier Lynette Cress 
(University of Denver), Yahm Shelly Reichart (University of Alabama), 
and Ryan Zohar (Long Island University). 
 
This year, the DEI Committee did receive a number of inquiries on 
whether neurodiversity can be included among the eligible catego-
ries for the scholarship. The DEI Committee decided that it would not 
be possible this year to consider neurodiverse candidates given the 
broad spectrum that encompasses neurodiversity. The DEI Committee 
recommends that Atla consult and identify which types of neurodi-
versity can be included as eligible for the Atla Diversity Scholarship 
for the next cycle in 2022.   
 
DEI LibGuide: The DEI LibGuide was published in Fall 2020 on the 
Atla LibGuides platform. 
 
Library Journal’s Anti-Racism Training: Members of the DEI 
committee attended the Library Journal’s Anti-Racism Training in 
March.  
 
Atla Annual 2021: DEI Committee member Kenneth Litwak presented 
a workshop at the conference entitled, “Accessibility is in the Eye of 
the Beholder: Creating a More Accessible Library.”  
 
Code of Conduct: The DEI Committee is also discussing the develop-
ment of a code of conduct for participants at Atla conferences, online 



Committee & Task Force Reports  7

webinars, etc. The code of conduct will outline the norms, rules and 
responsibilities, as well as the grievance process in the event of a 
breach. Individual members have inquired on numerous occasions 
whether Atla will develop such a policy and process. The DEI Commit-
tee recommended that a working group comprised of members from 
different Atla committees to work on a draft code of conduct rather 
than delegating the task to the DEI Committee alone. Work on this is 
just starting. 
 
Job Postings: The DEI Committee is working with Atla’s Member 
Programs to reach out to ALA ethnic caucuses to post jobs from the 
Atla job board as a strategy to diversify applicants for library jobs. 

2020-2021 GROUP: [pictured, left to right] Daniel Baek, Gillian Harrison Cain, Yasmine 
Abou-El-Kheir, Race MoChridhe, Alice Song, David Kriegh, Kenneth Litwak, Alexis Weiss


