My Projects!
We’re Still Here at Mid-Career: The Retention of Academic Libarians of COlor and Our Lived Experiences
In 2020, Brittani Sterling, James Cheng, and myself were awarded an American Library Association (ALA) Diversity Research Grant to collect oral history interviews of at least twenty people - including those who left academic librarianship when they considered themselves mid-career. Its main research questions are 1) What factors influence mid-career librarians of color to stay or leave academic librarianship? and 2) What does mid-career mean to librarians of color? The primary outcomes of this research will be to have more definitive answers about who is mid-career and what efforts, such as mentorship programs or anti-microaggression trainings, affect the retention of academic librarians.
Due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still in the interview stage. (September, 2021).
Wikipedia Edit-a-thons
I am proud to be a part of the team that organizes UNLV University Libraries Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons! You can find the edit-a-thon materials including the directions we give participants, the background slideshows, and the lists of people whose Wikipedia pages need some work at bit.ly/unlvwikipedia
All materials are shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license. Please attribute materials to: UNLV University Libraries, Chelsea Heinbach, Brittany Paloma Fiedler, and Rosan Mitola.
Bibliography
Folks have been requesting my working bibliography about the experiences of academic librarians of color. This is a work in progress - please feel free to reach out if you’d like me to add additional sources or if you have any corrections.
If you’re just looking for a few resources, here is the Recommended Reading slide from my ACRL 2019 presentation “Reclaiming Our Time: A Conversation with Tenure-Track Academic Librarians of Color.”
UNLV Inclusion and Equity Committee Recommendations for Diverse Recruitment REport
In March 2019 the UNLV University Libraries Inclusion and Equity Committee was charged by the Library Leadership Team to lead three task forces for improving recruitment, representation, and retention of historically underrepresented groups. Task Force 1 conducted a literature review, Task Force 2 examined UNLV and University Libraries practices, and Task Force 3 gathered data based on employee experiences shared at town hall meetings. I worked on Task Force 2 and the Final Report.
ala emerging Leaders project
The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS) transitioned to a fully online environment. However, they were concerned about losing important community connections. In 2018 the ACRL-IS charged a team of Emerging Leaders to create a strategic plan for virtual engagement. You can read our report here.
