2014 Diversity and Outreach Fair to celebrate successful family literacy initiatives, diversity in action ideas

CHICAGO — The ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) has selected 36 presentations for the 2014 Diversity and Outreach Fair, to be held from 3 p.m. – 5:30 p .m. on Saturday, June 28 in the Special Events area in Exhibits Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center during ALA’s Annual Conference in Las Vegas.  

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 family literacy.

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.

The 2014 Diversity & Outreach Fair presentations will include:

ALA Committee on Literacy, “The American Dream Starts @ your library”

ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table, “GLBTRT”

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

American Library Association, “Rebranding Librarianship – Building a Knowledge Alliance”

American Indian Library Association, “American Indian Library Association (AILA) Youth Literature Awards”

Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), “Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association: Sharing Stories, Sharing Culture”

Black Caucus of ALA, Inc., “Black Caucus of the American Library Association”

Boston Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library, “Library Services to Youth in Custody”

California State University Long Beach; North Carolina State University; Center for the Study of Political Graphics, “The Scope of Library Diversity Initiatives: Paving the Road from Student to Professional”

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, “Literacy Unlocked”

Chinese American Librarians Association, “CALA Family Literacy Focus Projects”

City of Santa Clarita Public Library, “Santa Clarita's Cultural Landscape Program – Outreach to English Language Learners”

College of Adaptive Arts, “Reading Initiatives at the Library and Media Resource Center”

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, “The Coretta Scott King Book Awards”

Eastern Connecticut State University, J. Eugene Smith Library, “Ella’s Library Nook-A Prescription for Early Literacy: A Special Place for Borrowing Books for Family Reading Time”

Filipino American Library  / Serve the People Institute, "Serving and Preserving Community Memory"

Henderson Libraries, “Family Storyteller”

Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, “LEARN (Lessons, Encouragement, and Reading in my Neighborhood)”

LIS Microaggressions Project, “Increasing the Diversity Dialogue: Sharing our Experiences with Microaggressions in Librarianship”

New Mexico State University Carlsbad, “Sharing the American Experience through Art”

New York University Shanghai, “WeChat, Library Chat: Best Practices to Connect with Students in China”

Oakland Public Library, “#WeNeedDiverseBooks: Patrons Have Their Say”

Oakland Public Library, “Diverse Identities: Serving Oakland’s Asian and Asian-American Teens”

Rod Library - University of Northern Iowa, “Extending Our Reach to International Students and English as a Second Language Learners”

St. Johns County Public Library System, “On the Road to Early Literacy”

Texas Tech University Library, “Reaching Out to Spanish-Speaking Students in Academic Libraries”

University of California: Diversity Committee of the Librarians Association of the University of California, “Beyond These Walls: Cultivating Diversity at the University of California Libraries”

University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, “Talk Story: Developing Indigenous Understanding in Library and Information Science”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Mix IT Up!: LIS students, Youth and Community Collaboration”

University of Redlands, Armacost Library, “Bridging Cultures, Muslim Journeys: Outreach & Awareness in Action”

University of Tennessee, Knoxville - Library Diversity Committee. “I hate it when….I would like it if….”: Exploring Stereotypes with Your Community” 

University of Wisconsin – Madison, “Convening Great Lakes Culture Keepers: Bringing Together LIS Students and Tribal Librarians, Archivists, and Museum Curators”

University of Wisconsin – Madison, “Design it! Developing a Graphic Design Process for Diversity Resources”

University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Library and Information Studies, “Bringing Families to the Library at the College of Menominee Nation”

Veterans Medical Center Library, Jackson, Mississippi, “Homeless, Poor  and Rural Area Veterans' Literacy”

Western Washington University, “What's in a Name? Developing Best Practices for Serving Transgendered Individuals at Multiple Library Service Points”

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.