2012 Diversity and Outreach Fair celebrates building community connections

CHICAGO — The ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) has selected presentations for the 2012 Diversity and Outreach Fair, to be held from 3 p.m. - 5 p .m. on Saturday, June 23 in the Special Events area of Hall A at the Anaheim Convention Center.  

The selected presentations will highlight innovative and successful library outreach initiatives and programs during a poster session open to all ALA attendees at Annual Conference. The theme of this year’s fair will be Building Community Connections and will feature examples of the many ways libraries forge relationships with a wide variety of organizations – including local schools, government agencies and non-profits–to deliver vital services to their communities.  

Presentations at the fair will also highlight library services to underserved or underrepresented communities, including people with disabilities; poor and homeless populations; people of color; English-language learners; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people; new Americans, new and non-readers; older adults; people living in rural areas; incarcerated people and ex-offenders; and mobile library services and bookmobiles.

For the first time, the Diversity and Outreach Fair will be held in conjunction with the Parade of Bookmobiles, where attendees can explore bookmobiles from California and speak with bookmobile staff.

The 2012 Diversity and Outreach Fair will feature:

ALA Committee on Literacy and ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, “Literacy for All: Adult Literacy @ your library - Tips, Tools and Resources to Serve Your Adult Learners”            

ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table, “GLBTRT Promotes GLBTQ Rights and Library Services”

American Indian Library Association, “AILA Book Awards”

Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, “Building APA Community Connections”

Association for Rural & Small Libraries, “Rural and Small Libraries Build and Connect Communities”

Atlanta University Center - Robert W. Woodruff Library, “Just As I Am”

Black Caucus of ALA, “Authors of a Different Color”

California State Library, “Libraries Help CA Get Back to Work”

Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee,  “Building Community Connections Wherever We Happen to Be”

CSULB: California State University, Long Beach, “Professional Associations' Roles in Developing Teacher Librarians in Developing Countries”

Filipino American Library, “Filipino American Library”

Free Library of Philadelphia, “Free Library Hot Spots: The Power of Partnership!”

University of North Carolina – Greensboro Department of Library and Information Studies, “Through the Eyes of Refugee:  The “Other” Speaks”

University of North Carolina – Greensboro, “Retention” What diversity got to do with it?”

University of North Carolina – Greensboro, “Understanding Issues of Equity and Inclusion”

University of North Carolina – Greensboro and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, “Reaching Diverse Audiences”

Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC), “Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) 2012”

LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund, “The Merritt Fund: Providing assistance to librarians facing discrimination or defending intellectual freedom”

Loyola Marymount University, “The William H. Hannon Library: Bringing All Staff Online at Loyola Marymount University (LMU)”

Queens Library, “Financial Literacy in the Community”

Queen's University (Canada), “From Access to Success”

Sacramento Public Library, “You Belong @ Your Library”

School of Information Resources and Library Science, University of Arizona,  “10 Years of Knowledge River at the University of Arizona: Graduates Reflect on Latino and Native American Library Services in LIS”

Spectrum Scholarship Program, “Technology Transforms Communities”

SRRT - Martin Luther King Jr. Task Force, “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Sunrise Celebration”

The New York Public Library, “Doing History: A Teaching Collaboration between St. John's University and The New York Public Library”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Champaign County: An Historical LGBTQ Safe Haven in Rural Illinois”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Institutionalizing and Sustaining Diversity Recruitment in Library Information Technology”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Mix IT Up!”

University of Louisiana at Lafayette, “The Ernest J. Gaines Center: Bridging the Gap and Exploring the Racial Divide in Louisiana”

University of San Diego, “Reaching Out and Beyond: Making Library Centered Connections”

University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Library and Information Studies, “Convening Culture Keepers: Building Connections Between Library Students and American Indian Communities”

Western Washington University, “The Digital Divide: Connecting University Students to Their Community through Service-Learning”

The Diversity and Outreach fair is free and open to all Annual Conference attendees. To learn more, please visit www.ala.org/divfair.

Generously sponsored by DEMCO, the ALA Diversity and Outreach Fair is an opportunity for libraries and member groups to share their successful diversity and outreach initiatives with ALA Annual Conference attendees, celebrate diversity in America’s libraries and exhibit “diversity in action” ideas.

To learn more about the Diversity and Outreach Fair, please visit www.ala.org/divfair.  

For over 100 years DEMCO (www.demco.com) has supported the valuable work of librarians—taking pride in providing the best service possible. DEMCO’s mission is to continue to anticipate future needs, to supply products and services that support the activities of library professionals and improve library environments by making them more attractive and user-friendly. The people of DEMCO demonstrate their continuing commitment to library professionals through their support of the Library Champions Program and participation at ALA’s conferences.

The Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) serves the Association by identifying and promoting library services that support equitable access to the knowledge and information stored in our libraries. OLOS focuses attention on services that are inclusive of traditionally underserved populations, including new and non-readers, people geographically isolated, people with disabilities, rural and urban poor people, and people generally discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, language and social class.