Please Follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Gettr, Truth Social, Twitter
The Institute of Museum and Library Services ("IMLS"), an independent federal agency that supports libraries, archives and museums, awarded a $2.2M grant to the Connecticut State Library to support the goals of the Library's five-year plan.
The grant starts on October 1, 2023, and runs through September 30, 2025.
The number one goal detailed in the State Library's grant description was "supporting the library workforce as they integrate social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (SJDEIA) into their daily work and their approach to patrons."
Workforce training will cover, for example, "cultural competency, cultural humility, and systemic inequalities as they tie to library services."
The other two stated goals in the grant application include providing diverse populations more services and ensuring "equitable access" to information and library resources.
This is the second grant the State Library received for SJDEIA.
A previous grant started on October 1, 2022, and ended on September 30, 2024, also for supporting the library workforce as they integrate SJDEIA "into their daily work and their approach to patrons."
To show its commitment to equity and social justice, the Connecticut State Library maintains a page on "Equity in Youth Services" which features online equity training, case studies on how to advance equity in the library, and a long list of racist "anti-racism" resources, including free resources for educators from the Southern Poverty Law Center's radical Learning for Justice program.
As part of its strategic initiatives, the State Library offers a workshop series called "GELS" - Growing Equitable Library Services - that further helps libraries become "strength-based, trauma informed, antiracist, social and emotionally conscious community institutions."
Toward that end, GELS offers training, information sessions and workshops on various alleged "marginalized or invisible community groups."
GELS also awards subgrants to libraries to cover activities like diversity/inclusion audits, equity training, creating or modifying content for a specific targeted community, and so forth. The application specifically asks how the library will "disrupt or dismantle" systemic barriers faced by certain groups in the community.
The GELS grant application further refers libraries to professional development opportunities from Library Journal, which, coincidentally, is holding an upcoming training on "Censorship and Book Banning" that advises librarians on how to "defend" against book bans.
Additionally, GELS shares DataHaven's "Town Equity Reports" which are intended to "inform local- and state-level efforts to improve community well-being and racial equity."
According to the Library's five-year plan, IMLS funds would be used to cover instructor and contractor fees, the cost of circulating library materials, travel and training fees for library staff, the cost of subgrants, and other potential fees (e.g., software licensing, subscriptions).
It's worth mentioning the Connecticut State Library refers members to the left-wing American Library Association ("ALA") for DEI materials. The ALA also advises members on how to "defend against book bans" via its Unite Against Book Bans website.
It's also worth mentioning that the State Librarian, Deborah Schander, offered written testimony at last week's Committee on Children hearing in support of the controversial library bill (Raised Bill 1271) which would stifle a parent's ability to challenge inappropriate library books, and give librarians a cause of action to sue parents over emotional distress.
Her testimony made no mention of the pornographic images found in library books and instead focused on making distinctions between school and public library policies, posting library policies online and differentiating between library-created and community-created displays.
