Join us for our second session of our virtual Leaders Circle series for What Will DEAI Look Like in the Current and Post-Pandemic Library Landscape on June 4, noon ET.

The current pandemic is changing the way libraries and other GLAM institutions function, both for their users and for their staff. As libraries adjust to reopening, traditional initiatives to foster diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion, both internally and externally, must be reassessed – how do you evaluate policies and initiatives while incorporating concerns for safety and access? How do you maintain a DEAI directive while trying to stay afloat in uncertain times? Oberlin College Director of Libraries Alexia Hudson-Ward will discuss how to re-focus on DEAI initiatives right now, and how to evaluate DEAI initiatives as we consider life post-pandemic.

Our speaker will be Alexia Hudson-Ward. Alexia is the Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries for Oberlin College and Conservatory. In less than three years she has re-envisioned one of the nation’s oldest liberal arts college library systems into an agile and creative organization through role recasting and strategic positioning of public and technical services as central to pedagogical mission of the institution. This shift has resulted in the Oberlin College Libraries being ranked as the institution’s top administrative unit and achieving high marks for trans-unit collaboration on campus in recent surveys.

Her transition into Oberlin follows a career of distinction as a tenured associate librarian, an award winning entertainment editor for The Philadelphia Tribune(the nation’s oldest continuing African American newspaper), a promotions coordinator for WRTI-FM/Temple University Public Radio where she led a diabetes awareness program that was nominated for a “Best Public Awareness Campaign” industry award, and a marketing manager within The Coca-Cola Company’s Foodservice Division where she was a nominee for the Performance Always regional award.

Alexia is the recipient of several honors including named as one of fifty “Mover and Shakers” by Library Journal in 2008 and the “Outstanding Young Alumni” awardee by the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information in 2013. A former member of the Executive Board of the American Library Association (2012-2015) and the current Vice-Chair/Chair Elect of ACRL’s College Libraries Section, she holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh, a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and African American Studies from Temple University, and is currently a doctoral student in the Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions program at Simmons University.

The event will have an abbreviated format of 45 mins with a focus on discussions. To register, contact Jennifer.Bielewski@lyrasis.org