Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee Meeting: February 21, 2025

CONFERENCE CALL

Members attending representing these CARLI member institutions: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Erikson Institute, Triton College, Aurora University, Illinois State University, Moraine Valley Community College, University of Illinois Springfield, and Chicago Botanic Garden

CARLI Staff Attending: Margaret Chambers, Nicole Swanson, Marisa Tolbert

Announcements   

• CARLI Announcements
  • Due to budget cuts the Building Diversity Graduate Assistantship Program will not be offered this year.  It was noted that it’s not a reflection on the program, which has been highly successful by every metric.  The program is not eliminated permanently but is on hiatus for this year.
  • The CARLI budget as a whole is being affected by the current uncertainty over whether grants from federal agencies will be honored.  CARLI has two federal grants currently providing funding.  There may be opportunities for corporate assistance, similar to the corporate sponsorship of the annual meeting that is used to fund CARLI scholarships for iSchool students.
  • Welcome to CARLI’s newest library services coordinator.
  • Reminder about two upcoming electronic resources management committee presentations – the March session on e-resources trouble shooting has registration open, and the April session on usage statistics has issued a save-the-date.

Updates:

AI Symposium

• panelists from the committee briefly talked about what would be covered in spring panel on AI

Discussion

• DEI Current Events Discussion and Reflection
  • The committee had a discussion of current events and how they impact the committee’s work going forward.
  • There is uncertainty about what shape the committee’s work might take this year.  Flexibility is needed as events continue to unfold.
  • CARLI staff noted that the University of Illinois system continues to be supportive of CARLI’s work, and there has been no pressure to “comply in advance.”
• AI Symposium Update
  • Committee members are working on the CARLI AI Symposium that will take place on April 15th.
  • It was noted that this was originally going to be an event only for CARLI members but now is being opened to the CARLI Professional Development Alliance.  Guidance was requested about how to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion within the presentation.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not explicitly mentioned in the program’s agenda, but the event will contain discussions about how AI tools include implicit bias.
  • A committee member proposed an opening message or disclaimer about DEI/diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the proposed language was met with general approval by the committee.
• PADLET Update
  • At previous meetings we discussed how there were other places on the CARLI website where we might create space to share diversity, equity, and inclusivity relevant resources.
  • Resources should be shared on the PADLET link.

Decisions

• Minutes of the January 2025 meeting approved.

Tasks Assigned

• Member recorded the meeting minutes.
• Member is scheduled to record the March meeting minutes.
• Everyone submit resources to the PADLET.

Meeting Dates

• Next Meeting: Friday, March 28, 2025 8:30 am

ADJOURNED: 9:38 am