December ALA Liaison Report

December’s ALA Liaison Report includes opportunities for research-sharing and professional development.

Committee on Legislation (COL)

• • • Committee member Alan Inouye is working on materials to advocate with NTIA about the Digital Equity Act. They are looking for good examples from school libraries about digital literacy and inclusion.  Topic examples include basic digital literacy skill development or outcome-oriented activities (i.e. STEM learning or college readiness).  Please email ainouye@alawash.org with suggestions.

Conference Committee

• • Registration for LibLearnX Virtual is still open.  The Advanced Registration Rate is only open through November 30.
  • Some authors of children’s and young adult literature speaking at LibLearnX include Mariko Tamaki, Kelly Yang, Jacqueline Woodson, and Angeline Boulley.
  • There will be many educational sessions of interest to YALSA members. Some recommendations include:
    • • All Learners Welcome: Serving at Home Learners and Homeschoolers at Your Library
      • And Your Name Is…What?: Eliminating Name-Based Microaggressions in a Library Environment
      • Build Student Agency with Self-Selected Research Topics
      • Foundation & Formation: Literacy Outreach to Black Boys & Young Black Men
      • Making Our Spaces Accessible: Makerspaces That Include Patrons with Disabilities
      • Let Teens Lead: Strategies to Build Programs Developed By Teens, For Teens
      • Sort It Out! In-House Classification Systems for Comics and Graphic Novels
      • Adding “Kid Voice” Into your Reader’s Advisory Practices
      • A Virtual Place of Their Own: Providing Radical Teen Services on Discord
      • Ensuring Equity When Program Planning

Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE)

• • • • Following ALA adopting the 9^th principle to the Code of Ethics at the end of ALA Annual 2021, COPE will lead a program at LibLearnX to support better understanding and interpreting the newly adopted principle through a principle and presentation.
      • ALA’s Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) is working on a Q&A document which will provide guidance to ethical issues on sexism through the ALA Code of Ethics. You are invited to complete a quick survey to provide input that will help them identify issues to address in the document.  The survey will close on January 14th.

Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC)

• • ALA has released a statement regarding censorship

EDI Assembly

• • • Graduates of the University of Texas at Austin School of Information have started a grassroots fundraising campaign to create an endowed scholarship to help more BIPOC scholars entire the profession.  More information about the scholarship can be found here.  Donations can be made here.
    • There is an open call for applications for the 2022 IDEA (Innovation, Disruption, Enquiry, Access) Institute on Artificial Intelligence.  Details can be found here.  Applications are due February 1, 2022.  There will be a virtual information session on January 7 from 12-1 PM CT.  The registration link can be found here.