May 12, 2011
Volunteer for a GSLIS Committee
Note: This post is for my Illinois readers.
If you’ve been following the GSLIS general forums for the last few weeks, you’ll know that the School had a town hall on April 20th. One of the issues raised was that the School needs to do a better job of creating an inclusive environment for students of color. As a follow-up, the School had moderator-led conversations and town halls on May 5th and 9th; as a result of those meetings, the School has formed multiple committees to work on areas such as curriculum, cultural competency, faculty recruitment, and support for students.
The committees are looking for volunteers – including students and alums! – to help with this work. I strongly urge you to consider volunteering. This is important work – you have an opportunity to improve the culture and curriculum of the School for future students. Although the conversation is currently focused on race, I also see an opportunity to increase awareness of other forms of diversity within our profession and our patrons – socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, etc.
In addition to making your voice heard, serving on a committee could be great professional experience. Some of the committees are dealing with issues of curriculum and pedagogy – if you are interested in instruction, this is a chance to get experience with curricular and pedagogical change. For those of you going into academic librarianship, this is a chance to get experience serving on a committee (you can put it on your vita! you can talk about it when you interview! you can learn important skills for effective committee service!).
If you have questions, I’d be happy to talk to you. If you’d like more information on the committees, please see the Town Hall forum available on the main LEEP Moodle page.
