The Diversity Committee, which was appointed in February 2015 by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC)/MLA Executive Board, has been tasked to investigate ways that MAC/MLA, can encourage, develop, and promote diversity within the MAC/MLA membership and medical librarianship.
In 2017, the committee developed and sent a follow-up survey to the membership requesting feedback on more in-depth questions. Preliminary results were presented and discussed with participants at table groups at the MAC/MLA 2017 Annual Meeting in Staunton, VA. After summarizing membership feedback, implicit bias emerged as the top action item for the committee to educate its members on.
To address this issue, the committee will sponsor an interactive session on implicit bias at the upcoming MAC/MLA 2018 Annual Meeting, October 28–30, 2018, in Ocean City, MD. The guest speaker, Leah Cox, vice president for inclusion and institutional equity at Towson University, will present “In Plain Sight: The Impact of Implicit Bias on Performance and Decision Making.”
The Diversity Committee is continuing to analyze the survey results and will make additional recommendations for continuing the important conversations on diversity and creating a plan of action to be implemented soon.