Task Force on Racial Justice: March 2021 report

Full report

Non-sensitive information briefing


March 4, 2021
 

The purpose of this briefing is to provide an overview of the work of the UC Berkeley Library Task Force on Racial Justice (RJTF) in preparation for its first meeting with the Library Cabinet during the spring 2021 semester. This briefing includes a list of proposed recommendations and actionable strategies for improving the ways in which racism and discrimination can be addressed within the campus library system.

Description of topic

Historical context

On July 9, 2020, the Library Cabinet created the charge for a UC Berkeley Library Racial Justice Task Force (RJTF) in response to a widespread national summer of uprisings following the deaths of multiple Black people by police forces, with the purpose of working with Library leadership “to develop specific and actionable recommendations that advance the Library’s mission and the campus’s operating principles in ways that emphasize our commitment to racial justice and work actively to defeat racism and discrimination both within our workplace and in our outreach to the external community we serve.”

Following a call for feedback on the initial charge of the RJTF on July 14, 2020 and an open invitation for those who wish to participate to apply, the task force membership and Co-chair positions were filled over the course of the next few months. Co-chairs were advised that task force members had been selected to “create a balanced team, taking into account the group distribution of multiple factors...: racial and ethnic diversity, job classification diversity, Library division diversity, gender diversity, and committee leadership experience.” Additionally, more applicants had applied than there were spaces available to serve on the task force.

On Sept. 1, 2020, RJTF Co-chairs were confirmed. The final charge and membership of the RJTF were publicly announced on Sept. 8, 2020. Co-chairs then began reaching out to task force members and consultants, and hosted the inaugural meeting of the RJTF on Sept. 22, 2020.

Charge

The charge of RJTF is to:

  • Develop a set of preliminary recommendations to the Library Cabinet by February 2021 which aligns with the stated mission and values of the Library, and
  • Develop a plan that outlines deliverables by August 2021 for the following:
    • Internal workplace: Issues that affect the Library’s workplace culture (for example, recruitment, retention, committee structures, and daily interactions)
    • External community: Issues that affect Library users (for example, access to collections, community curation, and physical space design)

The following ongoing “areas of work” have been identified by the RJTF:

  1. Strategic Plan
  2. Staffing Needs
  3. Staff Retention
  4. Staff Recruitment
  5. Standing Committee
  6. Library Collections

Accomplishments to date

  • 17 June 2020: The name, mission, and objectives of the RJTF are established.
  • 9 July 2020: The Library Cabinet sends an “Open Call” for nominations and applications to serve on the RJTF, which yielded more applicants (20) than spaces available on the task force (13).
  • 31 August 2020: The charge of the RJTF is finalized.
  • 1 September 2020*: RJTF members are selected by the Library Cabinet. Co-chairs begin to meet weekly, as well as reach out to DeEtta Jones and Associates who have been hired by the Library Cabinet to assist the RJTF in realizing its objectives. Co-chairs establish a shared Google Drive space to organize collaborative processes for the RJTF, including a “Big Ideas'' catchment document and a resource page for RJTF members about ongoing education opportunities and related project examples. Co-chairs reach out to RJTF members to identify viable recurring meeting dates going forward.
  • 8 September 2020: The final charge and membership of the RJTF is publicly announced by the Library Cabinet.
  • 22 September 2020*: RJTF hosts its first meeting, at which time its mission and objectives are reviewed, Community Agreements are established, and our hopes for the work are discussed. Monthly meetings also are scheduled.
  • 1 October 2020: RJTF Co-chairs host an “open house” meeting to follow-up on issues raised during its inaugural general meeting, as well as further discuss the direction and import of the RJTF and its organizational structure.
  • 13 October 2020*: RJTF holds its second meeting, at which time group composition concerns and campus outreach efforts are discussed, as well as provisional ideas for transformational organizational change.
  • 29 October 2020: RJTF Co-chairs host an optional “open house” meeting, during which such topics as the Library Strategic Plan and the consideration of affiliate library perspectives with respect to the work are discussed.
  • 10 November 2020*: RJTF holds its third meeting, at which time such topics as salary, assessment tools, and hiring and recruitment practices are discussed.
  • 3 December 2020*: Co-chairs meet with the Library Cabinet to provide an overview of the areas of work which have been identified by the RJTF to date.
  • 8 December 2020*: RJTF holds its final meeting for fall 2020, during which time the following was discussed: an update on the Dec. 3 meeting with the Library Cabinet and a timeline for completing the work of the RJTF. Task force agrees to utilize some of the consultants’ time to work with the Library Cabinet members to help contextualize the changes and be prepared to digest its outcomes.
  • 11 January 2021: Co-chairs meet with DeEtta Jones and Associates for a new year check-in on progress of the briefing.
  • 12 January 2021*: RJTF holds its fifth meeting, at which time working groups and leads are formed to further develop the long- and short-term initiatives/recommendations for the briefing to present to the University Librarian, Jeff MacKie-Mason, for his initial review.
  • 4 February 2021: Co-chairs share the initial version of the briefing with the University Librarian for his review.
  • 9 February 2021*: RJTF holds its sixth meeting with special guest, the University Librarian, at which time the initial version of the briefing is discussed and a Q&A session is held.
  • 17 February 2021: Co-chairs meet with DeEtta Jones and Associates to discuss ongoing developments within each working group’s initiatives/recommendations.
  • 26 February 2021: RJTF Co-chairs host an optional “open house” meeting, at which the updated briefing, questions for Library Cabinet, and presentation documents are discussed.
  • 3 March 2021: Co-chairs share the updated briefing and questions with the Library Cabinet for their review in preparation for the upcoming meeting with all task force members on March 11.
  • 9 March 2021*: RJTF holds its seventh meeting, at which the documentation from the working groups for each recommendation presented in the briefing will be discussed.
  • 11 March 2021*: RJTF meets with the Library Cabinet to discuss/present the briefing, questions from task force members, and confirm next steps.

*Note: RJTF general meetings are monthly and two hours in length. In addition to these meetings, RJTF working groups led by and composed of RJTF members have been meeting every other week for at least one hour in 2021. RJTF Co-chairs meet weekly with each other, Library leadership, and DeEtta Jones and Associates to plan, organize, and lead the work of the RJTF when needed.

Recommendations

Please note that all recommendations listed below, both “long-term” and “short-term,” are not intended to be considered mutually exclusive. Each should be considered interdependently linked in order to realize a holistic vision and strategy of racial justice for both the Library and the campus community at large.

Long-term recommendations

1. Revisit the current Library Strategic Plan and planning process for the future to ensure that:

  • Principles of racial justice, including the recommendations of the RJTF, are integrated throughout the plan;
  • All Library stakeholders — including the RJTF, are involved in the conceptualization and realization of its development, and
  • All Library staff, including the Library Cabinet, are held accountable to the values and strategies outlined in the Library Strategic Plan.

Proposed revisions (bolded) to the current Library Mission and Vision include:

  • “We will strategically curate, collect, share, preserve and digitize scholarly content, and develop user-centered tools that connect people with resources at any time and from anywhere, driven by a commitment to racial justice.”
  • “We will support new research lifecycles, champion new forms of scholarship and transform the practice of scholarly communication at UC Berkeley, informed by our commitment to addressing issues of systemic racism.”
  • “We will build and sustain a culture grounded in principles of racial justice that enables a skilled and engaged workforce to thrive in an ever-changing environment, with an increased emphasis on assessment, efficiency and continuous improvement.”
  • “We will develop communications and outreach globally to improve our service delivery, strengthen our contributions to the university’s mission — particularly with respect to eradicating systemic racism, and attract financial support to tackle our priorities.”

2. Create a full-time AUL and/or staff leadership position dedicated to Anti-Racism/Racial Justice to ensure that an institutional commitment to addressing systemic racial inequities in library public services, staffing, resource allocation, collections development, professional development, etc. is realized both within the Library system and for the campus community. Responsibilities for this position could include:

  • Develop new and champion existing library-focused DEIB and anti-racism initiatives, programs, and trainings;
  • Develop a Diversity Strategic Plan for the Library in collaboration with the RJTF, which includes short-term and long-term goals for increasing, retaining, and supporting staff diversity within the Library system;
  • Head LHRD and work with the UL, CAPA, and other library bodies to ensure library accountability to DEIB and anti-racism work at all levels of the library;
  • Lead Area Studies, providing dedicated leadership and addressing the unique challenges and needs of area studies librarians, patrons, and collections, and
  • Participate in and contribute to campus-wide initiatives and student-led efforts to advance equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

3. Review, assess and correct salary inequities among library staff and librarians; identify advancement impasse and create structures to ensure marginalized communities are offered a path to success in the Library system. Suggested actions in support of this initiative:

  • Review of existing staff and librarian salaries with a commitment to achieve at least midpoint in salary ranges for all existing employees;
  • Review of salary assignment practices at the hiring phase;
  • Succession mapping/planning program to establish and support formalized training sequences and expand mentorship programs to provide a clearer way forward in organization for underrepresented groups;
  • Create a rubric to guide in decision-making for a common, transparent equity increase process;
  • Establish novel ways of tracking demographic data across the organization to create DEIB data sets for future reform; especially, tracking intersection of demographics with pay and career advancement.

4. Reassess current outreach and recruitment policies to ensure that principles of racial equity are consistently applied and maintained. Areas of assessment could include:

  • Ensuring that inclusive language is used in job descriptions/postings to encourage more diverse pools of applicants;
  • Broadening outreach for job postings in communities and organizations dedicated to communities of color;
  • Creating institutional processes to ensure that library search committee compositions reflect a diversity of experiences, perspectives, and expertise;
  • Requiring that members of library search committees are trained in principles of implicit bias; The Library has already started implementing this goal;
  • Ensuring that library development efforts include outreach to donors of color and outreach efforts to support internships, scholarships, and programs for students and staff of color.

5. Create a standing committee (SC) dedicated to addressing issues of systemic racism in the Library — a permanent advisory body to the Library Cabinet under the executive sponsorship of the University Librarian. This SC could be composed of current RJTF members, and will be charged with developing its name, mission, objectives, and structure; its membership; and its priority areas of work.

The RJTF believes that the following commitments from the Library Cabinet would be critical in order to ensure the success of this SC:

  • Semesterly meetings with the SC to allow for ongoing updates and dialogues about its work and the resolution of identified issues;
  • An assigned staff member who will serve as an “administrative liaison” between the standing committee and the University Librarian and Cabinet — for example attending and scheduling meetings between members of the SC and the Cabinet, etc.; and
  • A preliminary budget of $25K which possibly could be used to support the following: SC member attendance at relevant DEIB conferences, library-wide educational programs organized by the SC, and stipends for all SC members.

6. Ensure collecting practices reflect DEI, using Area Studies as an initial starting point. This initiative would include investigating and suggesting various models the Library can incorporate in order to address issues of equity with respect to collections, including budgeting, positions, technical processing, and workflow inequities.

  • Use DJA consultants to conduct an environmental scan of institutions utilizing different Area Studies models to determine a model that works best for Berkeley;
  • Review and incorporate DEI concepts into selector competencies and practices;
  • Ensure the collection reflects diversity of formats and languages of California and Berkeley’s many diverse communities;
  • Incorporate smaller, independent publishers, vendors, and service providers into Library workflows in order to increase diversity of perspectives and collections:
    • Relying solely on large vendors can result in homogamous collections, potentially reducing our distinctiveness.
    • Smaller publishers can provide different, sometimes radical, perspectives which are of interest to current campus researchers

Short-term recommendations

In addition to the above long-term recommendations the RJTF has developed to address the six ongoing areas of work identified and presented by the RJTF co-chairs to the Cabinet on December 3rd, 2020, the RJTF requests immediate support for both the following “best practices” that we have developed and suggestions for improvement we have received through the course of our work to date:

1. Create a library-wide “space” (for example, Library-run website) for sharing announcements about past and upcoming webinars, conferences, workshops, educational events, activism, etc. related to issues of racial justice; as well as the creation of a permanent fund to support staff participation and attendance at these events. Events and activities which have been sourced, created, and attended by RJTF members thus far include:

2. Host a monthly forum on the topic of anti-racism initiatives, equity, and inclusion, and use the feedback elicited in these forums to develop new staff learning and support initiatives for the Library.

3. Provide a response to the recommendations of the LAUC-B Diversity Librarian Task Force Report.

4. Update and move the AR/DEIB statement from the News blog (posted Sept. 2020) to the Library Home Page.

5. Revise/update the Statement of Values page (circa 2000) linked directly from the Home Page.

6. Host a Library Town Hall to introduce and share the work of the RJTF after our recommendations have been finalized, which would include members of RJTF and the Cabinet.

7. Critically examine who is represented in library spaces (for example, images, named buildings, etc.) and create a process to make our spaces more welcoming and inclusive.

8. Charge a group to determine how we can provide curricular support for faculty interested in bringing diverse scholarship to their courses, syllabi, reading materials, and assigned datasets.

Conclusion

It is our sincerest hope that the work of the RJTF will continue to serve as an important foundation for addressing issues of systemic racism within the campus library system. We look forward to working in partnership with you and other campus leaders to operationalize the above proposed recommendations.