How to Start Training Your Staff to Be More Culturally Competent
Saturday, March 24, 2018, 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM
Pennsylvania Convention Center, 113 ABC
Jumpstart your library’s journey towards cultural competence and gain practical and realistic ideas to train staff in respectful speech to advance cultural competency at your library. Learn how one library taught their staff to demonstrate cultural self-awareness, define cultural competency in a library context, and identify microaggressions in order to provide excellent customer service for a diversifying community. Attendees will walk away with an adaptable lesson plan and lesson materials used in staff training.
At the end of this session, participants will:
1: Assess where staff members fall on the cultural competence spectrum 2: Design and implement staff training on cultural competency 3: Create activities that build cultural competence and raise awareness of microaggressions
The session organizer(s) identified this session as appropriate for:
Level 1: People with no previous knowledge of the topic.
This session will have: Medium interaction (example: single speaker/panel with questions or discussion throughout)
Handouts: Download 1 Download 2 Download 3 Download 4 Download 5 Download 6
Track: Challenge
Tags: Leadership, Diversity, Hot Topics, Inclusion, Leadership, Organizational Change, Training
Presenters
Izabel Gronski, Young Adult Librarian
Oak Lawn Public Library , Oak Lawn , IL
Izabel Gronski is the Young Adult Librarian at the Oak Lawn Public Library. She has experience founding and leading multicultural student groups at Northwestern University, including the International Students Association and the Polish American Student Alliance. She is passionate about expanding teens' horizons by offering intercultural experiences. As a Unit Head in the Adult and Young Adult Services Department, Izabel supervises staff and contributes to staff development, particularly related to cultural competence and diversity programming.
Angela Romano, Fiction Librarian
Oak Lawn Public Library , Oak Lawn , IL
Ang Romano is the Fiction Unit Head at Oak Lawn Public Library, in the Adult Services department. She's committed to serving the fiction needs of Oak Lawn's diverse population, while also reading a good bit of fiction herself. Ang is also interested in furthering staff customer service skills, especially in relation to diverse populations.