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RUSA Supports ALA, BCALA, and AP¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøStatements Condemning Violence and Racism

RUSA stands with the ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøBlack Caucus, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, and ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøin condemning violence and racism. We endorse the statement by the ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøBlack Caucus condemning increased violence and racism towards Black Americans and people of color and condemns the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers within the Minneapolis Police. We endorse the statement by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association condemning the rise in xenophobia and racism due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

We renew our commitment to our . We pledge working not only responsively, but also preemptively, to eradicate racism anywhere and everywhere it exists. We pledge to be an anti-racist, inclusive association that works against racial bias and prejudice within RUSA, the field of librarianship, and our communities as a whole.

¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøExecutive Board Statement Standing with BCALA

CHICAGO — The Executive Board of the ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍø (ALA) stands with the Black Caucus of the ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍø (BCALA) in condemning violence and racism towards Black people and all People of Color.

The ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøExecutive Board endorses BCALA’s May 28 statement, in which the caucus decries the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police Department officers and cites Floyd’s death as “the latest in a long line of recent and historical violence against Black people in the United States.”

The ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøExecutive Board stands in solidarity with BCALA, with library workers, with library users, and with members of the communities we serve and support who are susceptible to acts of prejudice, threats of violence, and even death based solely on their race or ethnicity. The pervasive racism present in our nation denies its residents equal rights and equal access and as such is a barrier to the goals of this association and to the wider profession.

Wherever it resides, racism leads to degradation. It weakens our institutions and destroys our communities and is one of the greatest obstacles to the ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍø’s mission “to enhance learning and ensure access to information to all.”

Diversity is one of ALA’s key commitments and guiding principles. For this reason, the Executive Board calls on library and information services leaders, staff, and advocates of all races and backgrounds to abolish racism against Black people and against all People of Color and to see to it that it has no place in our institutions, our policies, our practices, or our behaviors.

Just as the BC¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøstatement urged its members to take “proactive and preventative measures in the fight against racism” such as participating in protest and other forms of activism, promoting and creating anti-racist media content, becoming actively engaged in local policy development, exercising the right to vote, or “running for office to be a voice for historically disenfranchised groups,” the ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøExecutive Board similarly calls on the entire association to work against racial bias and prejudice actively and intentionally through one or more of these means.

The Executive Board therefore urges ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍømembers and member organizations, members of the wider LIS community, and library institutions everywhere to join it and BC¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøin condemning the systemic and systematic social injustices endured by Black people and People of Color and in working not only responsively, but also preemptively, to eradicate racism anywhere and everywhere it exists.

from ALA’s Office of Diversity and Literary Outreach Services

Association of College and Research Libraries’ Keeping up with… and

Public Library Association’s recorded webinar

from ALA’s Public Programming Office‘s Great Stories Club