Bulletin of the Office for Diversity American Library Association ISSN 1554-494X

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2006 ISSUE
SPECIAL MIDWINTER MEETING 2006 ISSUE

FROM THE FIELD

ALA Ethnic Caucuses without Borders
Loida Garcia-Febo

Librarians are thinking outside the box and finding ways to better serve customers and develop their careers.  REFORMA Northeast chapter and BCALA chapters on the Northeast have concocted a winning formula to host joint programs to meet the needs of their members. They have gone beyond the borders of their caucuses and are hosting events where both associations participate. 

As a way of reuniting librarians from various states who were members of different ethnic causes within the Northeast, REFORMA invited BCALA to host a joint conference. The first-ever REFORMA Northeast and BCALA joint conference, “Equity of Access: Services to Multicultural Communities” took place in May of 2005 in New York. A concerted effort from both caucuses led to a day where sessions on addressing the needs of traditionally underserved populations were presented by members of both associations. 

Why is it important for ALA ethnic caucuses to work beyond their borders? As Andrew Jackson, BCALA President mentioned when interviewed about the topic, “Our users represent the cultures of the world.  As we serve them, the ethnic caucuses should work in conjunction to discuss and design methods and ideas to those concerns to better provide our service to our publics.” Partnering with other caucuses will expand the possibilities of providing membership with tools to serve multicultural and multilingual populations. It is proactive to believe that a concerted effort to host joint programs will have a positive impact on recruiting ‘minorities.’ As Atkins and Espinal state it “will result in more knowledgeable librarians to serve these other American communities,” (LJ 4/15/04, p.52-54).
 
What are the benefits of working in conjunction? Some benefits of working across affinity groups for common goals are: Networking opportunities brought by the interaction of members from different caucuses which can be maximized by subscription to ethnic caucuses’ list-serves; mutual support and friendship which can evolve from said meetings in which librarians work together finding new ideas, services and programs; job opportunities and career advancement that might come via presentations, publishing or web site development by caucuses’ members active within the joint programs; scholarship opportunities which open up avenues of educations; recruitment opportunities increased by events where information on the caucuses and LIS are widely disseminated.

How can ALA ethnic caucuses work without borders? It all starts with librarians serving on professional association committees, round tables and boards reaching out to effectively serve underserved multilingual and multicultural populations. Librarians with an unlimited desire to better their professional possibilities won’t be stopped at the border of their ethnic caucus.

After that first program in May of 2005, there had been other events in which REFORMA Northeast and BCALA have teamed up such as The BCALA-CT Diversity Conference.  Hosted by the Connecticut chapter of BCALA, the conference featured “Services to Spanish-speaking people,” a program presented by REFORMA. Aspects of the joint work included the mailing of a news release prepared by BCALA-CT which was sent by REFORMA members to their list-serve to publicize the conference. On the day of the conference, REFORMA membership forms were distributed to the attendees and displayed on the registration table along with BCALA’s. REFORMA Northeast has also participated in other activities hosted by BCALA like the launching of Cornucopia, the Rhode Island chapter of BCALA. Currently, both caucuses have an ongoing commitment to continue strong teamwork.

Breaking through pre-conceived schemes of what ethnic caucuses should or not do will have a positive impact on the membership of the associations working in conjunction. As Andrew Jackson mentioned, “Individually, our cultures share many of the same access, service concerns, and problems.” We do share common ground which helps align our work and motivate working with one another. It is an all around win-win situation: librarians, libraries and customers will benefit from ALA ethnic caucuses work without borders.  

Loida Garcia-Febo is the President of REFORMA Northeast Chapter and the Spanish Language Collections/Cultural Arts Manager of Queens Library’s New Americans Program.

 ©The American Library Association, 2006.  All material in Versed subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement. 

Versed, the official publication of the American Library Association’s Office for Diversity, is published 5 times per year online with paper printings available twice yearly at ALA midwinter meetings and annual conferences.

True to its meaning: practiced, skilled, or knowledgeable; Versed will bring together the most progressive practitioners and the best practices in current library-based diversity work.

Please consider submitting an article or editorial; sharing a successful program or initiative; reviewing and recommending diversity-related books and videos of interest to library service (whole bibliographies and videographies are especially welcome); tackling pressing social or professional issues; and publicizing diversity related events or conferences.  Review the Submission Guidelines and Editorial Calendar for more information.

For questions about information appearing on this web page or for more information on any of the Office for Diversity programs, please direct comments to diversity@ala.org!