CHICAGO – The ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) has selected presentations for the 2011 Diversity and Outreach Fair, to be held from 3 p.m. - 5 p .m. on Saturday, June 25 in the Special Events Area in Hall J at the Morial New Orleans Convention Center.  

The chosen presentations will highlight innovative and successful library outreach initiatives and programs during a poster session open to all ALA attendees at Annual Conference.

Topics for this year’s fair include library-based family literacy programs and library services to underserved or underrepresented communities, including people with disabilities; poor and homeless populations; people of color; English-language learners; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people; new Americans; new and non-readers; older adults; people living in rural areas; incarcerated people and ex-offenders; and mobile library services and bookmobiles.  The theme of this year’s Fair is family literacy.

The 2011 Diversity and Outreach Fair will feature:

“ACRL Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee,” ACRL Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee Members

“The American Dream Starts @ your library,” ALA Office for Literacy & Outreach Services

“The ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce and Career Enhancement Program: Inclusive Recruitment Leading to Literacies in Research Libraries,” Association of Research Libraries

“Bookmobiles: An American Icon for Over 100 Years,” Association for Bookmobile and Outreach Services

“Catch Them While They Are Young!/Create, Share, and Listen:  Recount your New American Experience through Digital Storytelling,” Woodruff Library - University of Atlanta

“Celebrating Cultural, Reading, & Family Literacy with Día and Noche de Cuentos,” REFORMA

“Circle of Learning Program,” San Jose State University SLIS

“The Consumer Health Education Center: A Decade of Service to the Community,” University of Mississippi Rowland Medical Library

“Cooking, Blogging, and Gaming Our Way to Family Literacy,” Anythink Libraries, Huron Street Branch, Thornton, Colo.

”The Fair Housing Five:  Building Partnerships Between School Libraries and Non-Profits to Conduct Outreach to Underserved Communities,” Audubon Charter Library

“Family Cultural Exchange,” First Regional Library, M.R. Dye Branch

“Family Literacy for New Americans,” Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT)

“Filipino American Library (FAL),” Filipino American Library

“Financial Literacy @ Your Library,” Prairie View A&M University

“Financial Literacy in the Community,” Queens Library & FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)

“Focus on Immigration: Developing Library Staff Cultural Competencies,” University of Michigan Library

“Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) 2012,” Joint Conference of Librarians of Color

“Kid Stuff at GLBT Round Table,” Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT)

“Library Advocacy, Family Literacy, and Global Outreach,” Chinese American Librarians Association

“2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunrise Celebration,” SRRT Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Task Force

“More than Money: the Benefits of a Comprehensive Recruitment Program for Underrepresented Students,” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign GSLIS

“Merritt Fund: Providing Assistance to Librarians Facing Discrimination for Defending Intellectual Freedom ,“ LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund

“Multiple Literacies of the Native American and Latino Communities, An Asset-Based Approach,” Knowledge River, University of Arizona

“Reaching Out with Words and Images,” Asian Pacific American Library Association

“Spectrum Scholarship Program,” ALA Office for Diversity, Spectrum Scholars and Alumni

“Talk Story: Sharing Stories, Sharing Culture,” American Indian Library Association/Asian Pacific American Librarians Association

“Ten Libraries, One Goal: Progress Report on Recruiting Future Librarians with Diverse Backgrounds through a Collaborative Project ,” North Carolina Library Association

“Turn the Page: Library Services for Incarcerated Youth, “University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign GSLIS

“UCSB Invites Enthusiastic, Energetic, Highly Motivated Librarians to Apply,” University of California, Santa Barbara

Generously sponsored by DEMCO, the ALA Diversity and Outreach Fair is an opportunity for libraries and member groups to share their successful diversity and outreach initiatives with ALA Annual Conference attendees, celebrate diversity in America’s libraries and exhibit “diversity in action” ideas.

To learn more about the Diversity and Outreach Fair, please visit www.ala.org/divfair.  

For over 100 years DEMCO (www.demco.com) has supported the valuable work of librarians—taking pride in providing the best service possible. DEMCO’s mission is to continue to anticipate future needs, to supply products and services that support the activities of library professionals and improve library environments by making them more attractive and user-friendly. The people of DEMCO demonstrate their continuing commitment to library professionals through their support of the Library Champions Program and participation at ALA’s conferences.

The Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) serves the Association by identifying and promoting library services that support equitable access to the knowledge and information stored in our libraries. OLOS focuses attention on services that are inclusive of traditionally underserved populations, including new and non-readers, people geographically isolated, people with disabilities, rural and urban poor people, and people generally discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, language and social class.

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