5 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