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Category: Anti-racism

Rita_Soenksen
Jun 23 2021

Libraries appoints Soenksen as interim director of DEAI

Posted on June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 by The University of Iowa Libraries

Rita_Soenksen The University of Iowa Libraries has appointed Rita Soenksen as Interim Director of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) effective June 7, 2021.

During the pandemic, the Libraries established a shared governance structure, including plans to create a DEAI Council. Based on urgent recommendations from its staff-led DEAI action plan team, the Libraries created this interim position to guide the formation of the council and engage immediate needs to integrate the Libraries’ DEAI priorities into its campus service operations.

Over the next 12 months as interim director, Soenksen will lead the launch of the Libraries’ DEAI Council, and she will help shape the DEAI director role in advance of a national search to fill the permanent, full-time position. Soenksen and the DEAI Council will advance the Libraries’ DEAI action plan in collaboration with all Libraries staff members, campus DEI initiatives, and other university stakeholders and units. Their work will examine local, national, and global events that affect the experience of students, faculty, and staff from historically marginalized groups and populations.

In her role, Soenksen will represent the DEAI Council with a seat on the Libraries’ Leadership Team, providing a voice to enact meaningful change through evidence-based decision making that will influence Libraries-wide strategic planning, policy development, and resource allocation.

Soenksen holds an MA in Afro-American Studies and an MLIS, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA in English from the University of Northern Iowa. Her professional experience includes work in human resources and Equal Opportunity and Diversity at Iowa State University and other business organizations.

At the University of Iowa Libraries, Soenksen created an anti-racism subject guide as a resource for campus and the wider community and is currently collaborating with the UI’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to raise awareness of additional resources on campus.

The University of Iowa Libraries welcomes and serves all, including people of color from all nations, immigrants, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, gender diverse people, people of all faiths and beliefs, and the most vulnerable in our community. The Libraries expects all members of its staff to contribute to building this environment, both within the Libraries and throughout the campus community.

Posted in Anti-racism, News, University Librarian
Jun 17 2020

In support of eliminating racism – the ongoing work

Posted on June 17, 2020June 22, 2020 by The University of Iowa Libraries

Anti-racism subject guide

As a research library, we have a responsibility to share and promote public access to important information about anti-racism, which we’ve made available in this anti-racism subject guide. Libraries staff update this guide continually.

Anti-racism resources for action

The University Libraries at Iowa offers anti-racism resources that can be accessed by the entire campus community, including students, faculty, staff, and members of our community. Check this page for anti-racism resources and staff development opportunities designed to aid our organization in making substantial progress toward dismantling and unlearning racism. These resources can supplement the resources offered by the UI’s Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Libraries staff update this page continually.

Statement issued June 1, 2020

This is not news: a deep divide continues to tear at this country. Injustices widen the gap. COVID-19 has affected more black, Latinx, and Native Americans than any others. People of Asian descent are experiencing heightened racism. The tragic deaths of George Floyd in Minnesota, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky made the news. And yet, this is not news. This is the daily reality of racism for many in this country. 

Most of us live with racism, many suffer because of racism, some die because of racism. A deep divide continues to tear at this country, leaving gaps in the availability of healthcare, housing, jobs, and education. This is unacceptable. Rather than complacently living with racism, those of us who also live with privilege can empower ourselves to stop racism and work to erase its effects. 

As a public institution of higher education, one of our many responsibilities is to create effective tools to examine and change injustices in society. We are a research library planted in the heartland, and we are not immune to racism. We are not free of the responsibility to stop it. We have a mission to feed society with open access to information that exposes truth. Free flowing information allows our scholars and community members to shine light on these fractures within our country, these injustices, these deaths. With information, we have opportunities to cultivate justice, advocacy, and right action as allies on behalf of our colleagues who suffer just because they happen to be different in skin color, faith tradition, or sexual orientation.

We are uniquely positioned in the Libraries to be allies and to support anti-racism efforts with resources and expertise on critical thinking that can guide our learning and our grounding in the histories that have fed racism. Our job is to amplify the voices of marginalized people.

At the University Libraries, we must take action. Let’s continue to equip researchers. Let’s continue to create ways for diversity, equity, and inclusion to thrive and grow in our libraries and on this campus. Let’s start small with individual efforts and think big with institutional change. We harvest the information, craft the words, inspire the actions. Most of all, as individuals, we must roll up our sleeves and do the difficult work of anti-racism in every field of study. It’s the Iowa way.

John Culshaw, Jack B. King University Librarian
Paul Soderdahl, Associate University Librarian
Linda Walton, Associate University Librarian

This statement was written by Jennifer Masada and John Culshaw, with input from the Admin Group and other Libraries staff involved in DEI efforts. This statement is an open invitation for dialog, recognizing that the difficult conversations we have and actions we take must happen and must never stop.

Posted in Anti-racism, University Librarian

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