Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee Meeting: Feburary 3, 2026

CONFERENCE CALL

Members attending representing these CARLI member institutions: Illinois Central College, Illinois State Library, Depaul University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Erikson Institute, Bradley University, Dominican University

CARLI Staff Attending:  Laurie Blandino, Margaret Chambers, Nicole Swanson, Wyn Schell

Announcements   

• CARLI Announcements
  • Laurie Blandino, new Director for CARLI, joined the meeting to introduce themselves and observe how the DEI Committee is going.
  • Nicole reminded the group of upcoming programming that centers around DEI topics:
    • March 5: Community Chat: Students within Reach--Academic Libraries and Belonging
    • April 16: Save the Date! Free Speech Needs Free Libraries: Censorship in Libraries and Academic Spaces
• Member Announcements
  • Member from Bradley University is joining the CARLI DEI Committee to fill the previously vacant spot. Member introduced themself to the committee. 

Discussion

• CARLI liason heard back from the ILA diversity committee and will have the following members join for the March meeting: Jason Katsion, Anjelica Rufus, Tamara Jenkins. 
• The committee came up with questions to ask for the March “lunch and learn”.
• The committee went back and forth on whether to have all members ask questions but decided to stick to one to two members as we only have 30 minutes to hear from ILA. 
• Strategic planning discussion: The committee will be focusing solely on Goal A, Action 1 and 3 for the strategic plan proposal, with April 30, 2026 set deadline for finidhing stategic plan proposal draft, and May 5th meeting tentative deadline for solidifying porposal document for submission.

Meeting Dates

• Next Meeting: March 3, 2026 1pm

ADJOURNED: 2:30pm