APL - DIVERSITY PLAN AWARENESS

2. Agenda  Introduction of Speakers  Discuss the 3 Phases of Diversity Development  Diversity Exercise  APL Mission & Diversity Statements  Review APL Diversity Awareness Plan  Conclude with Interactive Quiz APL - DIVERSITY PLAN AWARENESS

3. 3 Phases of Diversity Awareness • Phase I – Update Plan • Diana Adams • Cheryl Anthony • Joe Bond • Eyna Canales-Zarate • Sharon Edwards • Patricia Fraga • Ruth Jiu • Gustavo Soto. • Phase ll: Communicate Plan • Cheryl Anthony • Joe Bond • Carlos Rodriguez-Brondo, • Eyna Canales-Zarate • Sandra Cannon • Sharon Edwards • Patricia Fraga • Katherine Leftwich • Gustavo Soto • Phase llI: Celebrations • Soon to come

4. Diversity Exercise • What is your birth order? • a. first born (yellow) • b. middle child (lime green) • c. last born (blue) • 2. Where were you born? • a. Texas (Texas flag) • b. Another State (red) • c. Outside the United States (purple) • d. Another universe (white) • 3. Communicates in more than one language • a. one (orange) • b. two (tan) • c. three or more (pink) • 4. Which ancestry point of origin do you have in your background that no one knows? • a. Asia (brown) • b. Europe (green) • d. Africa (lilac) • c. Middle East (gray) • d. The Americas (blue & white) • e. Australia (white & red)

5. Mission To create an organizational culture that welcomes and respects all members of the staff and the community, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual preference, degree of physical ability, or gender.

6. The Austin Public Library values diversity and is dedicated to creating an organizational culture that respects, understands, honors and welcomes all members of the staff and community. Diversity is found in the variety and richness that is part of every human being. Diversity is reflected in the emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual life experiences of every person. Diversity Statement

7. APL’s 5 Goals to Diversity ►Recruiting, Hiring and Retention ►Staff Training and Education ►Acknowledge and Respect Special Needs ►Provide and Promote Diverse Programming ►Develop Accessible Collections

8. Objective A Encourage management staff at all levels to actively recruit and hire a diverse staff. ACTION STEPS: Hiring supervisors and mangers will develop recruiting and hiring plans based on diversity information provided by Central HR. Library HR Manger will actively recruit at local colleges and universities to bring in a larger pool of applicants. Library HR Manager will review referrals and interview selections to ensure that the City of Austin practices regarding hiring a diverse workforce are followed. The hiring of bilingual staff will be a priority in hiring decisions. Managers and Supervisors will prepare development plans for all staff members ensuring a diverse staff. Library HR Manger and selected Library mangers will develop a list of key skill requirements for potential staff candidates to advance to the next level for all positions. HR Manager will provide department wide diversity representation statistics to all division manages for them to develop goals. Goal 1: Develop Employee Recruiting, Hiring and Retention Practices to Promote Diversity at all Levels

9. Objective B Train supervisors in diversity issues to promote equal and fair treatment of all staff. ACTION STEPS: APL Organizational Development will develop and provide diversity training course for all APL supervisors and managers. Managers will monitor their staff’s adherence to the Library’s Diversity Plan through such measurements tools as upward review and SSPR. Supervisors will implement the SSPR process in a consistent and equitable fashion. Supervisors will clarify job expectations as part of the SSPR process, so that each person has the opportunity to succeed. Supervisors will provide opportunities for staff in al job classifications to provide input and participate in library and citywide activities. Supervisors will develop and implement work unit recognition program to recognize employees who exhibit outstanding contributions to the APL goals Goal I: Develop Employee Recruiting, Hiring and Retention Practices to Promote Diversity at all Levels

10. Objective A Establish an ongoing Diversity Committee, chaired by an Assistant Director, to oversee implementation of the Diversity Plan. ACTION STEPS: The Library will create online access for staff to the Library Diversity Plan. The Library will include diversity mission statement on the library website. (LIBRO) The Diversity Committee will encourage staff to bring any concerns and ideas regarding diversity issues and training to the committee by creating suggestion forms and distributing forms to all Library divisions. The Committee will establish procedures to resolve and track diversity issues. The Committee will revise the Diversity Plan after consideration of safety suggestions and will submit the final plan to the Management Team for approval. Goal II Promote Acceptance of all Individuals, Staff and Community Groups, through Staff Training and Education

11. Objective B Create and offer ongoing Diversity training each fiscal year. ACTION STEPS: The Library Administration will require all staff to attend at least one diversity training class and one cultural diversity workshop as recommended by the Organizational Development coordinator. The Diversity Committee will coordinate with other Library Committees and City Departments to create and offer additional diversity training opportunities for staff. The Diversity committee will offer and promote a variety of celebrations and opportunities, including community cultural activities, Library sponsored programs and staff events, to broaden appreciation of diverse groups. The Committee will obtain feedback from APL staff to measure the effectiveness of each program and make revisions as necessary. Goal II Promote Acceptance of all Individuals, Staff and Community Groups, through Staff Training and Education

12. Goal III Acknowledge and Respect Special Needs of APL Staff and Customers Objective A • Reasonably accommodate special needs of individual employees and customers. ACTION STEPS: • Individual employees will be responsible for informing their supervisors of any needs for special accommodation. • The Human Resource Manager will identify resources to accommodate special needs and will work with supervisors to implement solutions that will enable employees to perform essential job functions. • APL will strive to provide reasonable accommodations to all customers with disabilities. • APL will identify funding from ADA office and other federal, state and private sources. Budget funds allocation to the Library will be used to purchase adaptive technologies for vision, hearing and mobile-impaired customers. APL will provide a list of training opportunities so that employees can better understand customer with special needs.

13. Goal III Acknowledge and Respect Special Needs of APL Staff and Customers Objective B • Provide important printed communications from APL and the City to all employees and customers. These documents (memos, polices or signs) should be designed to be easy to read and understandable, regardless of person’s language skills and provide an alternate form when print is not appropriate. ACTION STEPS: • Management and supervisors will provide easy-to-read texts, when written communication is provided to staff, and will provide translations to Spanish or other languages when needed. • Supervisors will encourage staff to participate in City of Austin training programs on TRAIN and will make every effort to schedule accommodations for them to attend sessions and meet minimum hour requirements. • City of Austin will provide ADA training to staff to enhance customer services for people with disabilities.

14. Goal IV Provide and Promote Diverse Programs and Information to the Austin Community Objective A • Increase the use and awareness of the Library throughout the community. ACTION STEPS: • Austin Public Library will seek input from front-line public service staff to identify under-served and unserved populations and to assess their needs. • Library Assistant Director will work with Library staff to strengthen bilingual public relations efforts to increase awareness of Library services. • Library staff will work with educational institutions at all levels to publicize available program and resources. • Austin Public Library will seek formation of a community services division and/or committee to coordinate the promotion of library programs. • Library staff will identify and collaborate with appropriate organizations and individuals to build information conduits into the community.

15. Goal IV Provide and Promote Diverse Programs and Information to the Austin Community Objective B • Develop educational and cultural programming to reflect the diversity of the Austin community. ACTION STEPS: • Library staff will continue development of the Immigrant Center’s programming and services • Library staff work with appropriate Social Service agencies to develop and promote program offered by all parties. • Library staff will offer bilingual programs throughout the system and develop and conduct other special program and services as needs are identified. • Library staff will promote library program and library card registrations at targeted community events. • Library staff will develop and support literacy, Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language programs. • Library Managers will work with members of the community and other Library staff to offer educational and cultural programming of interest to their respective service areas. • Austin History Center will continue to forge links with minority communities in collecting materials for preservation.

16. Goal V Develop Accessible Collections that Reflect our Community’s Social and Cultural Diversity Objective A • Facilitate acquisitions of diverse materials by improving the Library’s processes for materials selection and purchasing. ACTION STEPS: • The Director will continue to pursue increases in Library’s materials budget. • Staff will identify and pursue materials grants from other sources. • Branch Services and Faulk Central Library Services will require yearly collection development plans that describes how services to diverse populations has been maintained or improved for specific branch locations and for each Faulk Central library fund. • Cataloging and Acquisitions staff will continue to identify, develop and support procedures for adding non-English materials to the collection. • To determine service area needs, front-line staff will record customer request for multicultural materials and materials in language other than English, gather circulation statistics for non-English language materials, and survey library users. • Librarians at each location will purchase materials dealing with all minority cultures in society and non-English language materials representing the major languages spoken in their service areas.

17. Goal V Develop Accessible Collections that Reflect our Community’s Social and Cultural Diversity Objective B • Improve access to APL collections for non-English speaking customers. ACTION STEPS: • Managers at all facilities will post multilingual signs and/or international symbols as the need is identified. • Managers will increase the number of front-line bilingual staff based on their community’s needs. • Library staff will produce written materials for the public in both English and Spanish and in other languages as the need is identified. • Collections of non-English language books and audiovisual materials will be prominently placed in all Library locations. • The Volunteer Coordinator and Cataloging Manager will explore different opportunities with local universities, colleges, international programs and community groups to obtain volunteers to assist with the cataloging and classification of foreign language materials. • The Library Director will appoint a Library taskforce to research foreign language materials accessibility software for the Library catalog.

18. QUIZ • Which library has the largest Spanish language collection? • Terrazas • 2. Which are the 3 most prominent languages spoken in Austin? • a. English 69% • b. Spanish 24.5% • c. Asian Languages (Chinese and Vietnamese) less than 1% • 3. Which library has the largest Vietnamese collection? • Little Walnut • 4. Which is the oldest branch library? • Carver • 5. Which library has the highest population of African Americans in its service area? • University Hills • 6. Which library serves the school for the Deaf? • Twin Oaks • 7. Which library serves the school for the Blind? • Yarborough • 8. Which library has the highest number of large print materials? • Yarborough • 9. Which library serves the most senior population? • Old Quarry • 10. Which library has the highest population under 17 years? • Oak Hill • 11. Which library serves the highest Anglo population? • Spicewood Springs

19. APL - DIVERSITY AWARENESS • Review  Diversity Exercise  Discuss the 3 Phases of Diversity Development  APL Mission & Diversity Statements  Review APL Diversity Awareness Plan  Conclude with Interactive Quiz • Q & A

20. Diversity Committee Members Phase I – Update Plan • Diana Adams • Cheryl Anthony • Joe Bond • Eyna Canales-Zarate • Sharon Edwards • Patricia Fraga • Ruth Jiu • Gustavo Soto. Phase ll: Communicate Plan • Cheryl Anthony • Joe Bond • Carlos Rodriguez-Brondo, • Eyna Canales-Zarate • Sandra Cannon • Sharon Edwards • Patricia Fraga • Katherine Leftwich • Gustavo Soto • Phase llI: Celebrations • Soon to come