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#Code4LibProgramSoWhite

This is the Program Committee – 2016!

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“maybe caring isn’t good enough”

C4L 2016 speakers (rough numbers):

~55% men

~53% Academic Libraries

~90% US, ~8% Canada

~<1% non-white (best guess from photo visual)

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Quote from Andromeda Yelton

Reading for thought:

Andromeda Yelton: When you walk into a room, count: diversity and LITA Forum. http://andromedayelton.com/2013/08/20/when-you-walk-into-a-room-count-diversity-and-lita-forum/

C4L 2015 speakers (rough numbers):

~43% men

~38% Academic Libraries

~97% US

~<1% non-white (best guess from photo visual)

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As a profession, and as a conference, we’re not doing a very good job to foster diversity

  • Discipline (student perspective, archives, mgmt, etc)
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Background (education, field of work, profession)
  • Age/Experience

Reading for thought: Chris Bourg: The Unbearable Whiteness of Librarianship

https://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-librarianship/

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Code4Lib has a bug. How do we fix it?

  • Take action now.
  • Outreach
  • Recruitment
  • Funding
  • Submission process

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Things to think about….

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Start recruitment now, while in Philly

How can we change the way we pursue projects right now at #c4l16, at our places of work, to recruit new speakers for 2017?

How can we encourage projects right now that might produce 2017 submissions?

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Outreach: Don’t let it be a missed opportunity.

  • Look for outlets where groups of people who don’t usually present or submit proposals to post (and repost) the call.
  • Submitters -- invite others to submit a proposal with you or on their own.
  • Program committee: judiciously weigh importance of uniquely valuable talk proposals outside of the top 10.
    • It’s easy to let the numbers decide for you.

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Creating partnerships to increase diversity

  1. METRO Fellowships
  2. BGC (school age), FlatIron School (non-professional), and projects around NYPL/DPLA APIs?
  3. Translation/i18n grants for OSS projects?
  4. MLS and DH grad efforts
  5. Could we pitch digital libraries projects as MLS internships?
  6. GOLD at Penn - http://guides.library.upenn.edu/gold

… can we target programs that run in the Summer to recruit/mentor proposals (and for that matter job candidates) for C4L17?

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Ideas for in house changes: submission process

  • Anonymize proposals
  • Hide voting tallies
  • Randomize proposal listing during voting process (instead of alphabetical)
  • Add fields for submitter raw input of subject tags, intended audience, length of talk preference,etc.

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Short term and Long term -- what can we do?

What can we do in a year?

What can we do long-term to foster a welcoming & inclusive environment and encourage continuous participation in the librar*s community?

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Join us in the discussion.

-Breakout Session at #C4L16

-Google Group -- open to join https://groups.google.com/d/forum/c4l-fostering-diversity

-Form the 2017 Program Committee now