Welcome to "Your Voices", the newsletter for students, by students.
Every other month, San José State University students will receive our Your Voices newsletter in their inboxes. Your Voices combines content recommended by the School of Information IDEA Committee, the College of Professional and Global Education (CPGE) Academic EDI Committee, and student organizations with the voices of students themselves to build community, inclusion, and awareness.
iSchool and Applied Data Science students can share their perspectives, stories, and voices by visiting our Your Voices website.
Check out these events from the GLAM community.
Putting the “A” in DEIA: Accessibility as a Necessity in the Scholarly Communications Workflow (Recording)
Thursday, December 1, 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. PST
Accessibility is a topic of increasing prominence within the scholarly communications industry. This is a result both of the increased focus on equity, diversity and inclusion within the information sector, and also of lawsuits arising from legislation – like the Americans with Disabilities Act and European Accessibility Act – to compel digital content providers to make their content accessible. Where previously accessibility was ‘nice to have’, providing accessible materials is now a core part of every provider’s mission across the scholarly supply chain in order to reach the maximum possible audience and to make sure that students and researchers have access to the information they need to perform to their full potential.
This round table will focus on the entire scholarly communications workflow, considering the tools a researcher with a disability might use, from publisher, library, university, supplier and end-user perspectives.
Attendees will take away insights on why accessibility is necessary, what efforts the publishing industry is making to ensure scholarly communications are more accessible across the workflow, and how they can start to think about accessibility in organizations of all sizes.
A Public Poetry Reading: Identity: I Am...Who? (On-site)
Saturday, December 3, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PST at the West Hollywood Park Library Community Meeting Room
Who are you? Experience the power of poetry giving voices to our identities as individuals, family members, friends and citizens.
California Remix Mural Grand Opening (On-site)
Monday, December 5, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. PST at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building - Gillis Hall
This 24-panel mural features two dozen "everyday Californians," from Stearns' mailman to the State Librarian himself. It also shows multiple themes including California landscapes, history, diversity, styles, music, and much more. Join us for this special open house where Stearns and State Librarian Greg Lucas will be there to talk about this great collaboration. Some subjects in the mural will also be at the event. This event is sponsored in part by the California State Library Foundation. Light refreshments will be served.
Maskwacis Cultural College Microlearning Series Presents: Indigenous Library Spaces (Zoom)
Monday, December 5, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. PST
Join Ashley Edwards (Metis) and Rachel Chong (Metis-settler) as they share their experience Indigenizing Library spaces with both the Indigenous Curriculum Resource Center at Simon Fraser University and the χʷəχʷéy̓əm (hwa-ho-yem) Indigenous Collection at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Topics on space will range from art and design principles, to collections and classification. Following a virtual tour of the spaces, a period for dialogue will be provided.
Your Voices received permission to use this photo for non-commercial purposes by Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Recharge and Refresh with Wellness Educator Shayna Marmar (Zoom)
Tuesday, January 10, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PST
This webinar will complete the Social Emotional Learning series and focus on personal applications and benefits of SEL. Attendees will take away strategies and techniques for improving their own emotional wellness.
Shayna Marmar is a longtime educator in unconventional learning spaces and the co-founder of Nourishing Literacy, the Free Library of Philadelphia's youth-centered, culinary-based wellness program. Additionally, Shayna is a reiki practitioner, is studying to become a certified 200-hour yoga teacher, and is in the process of completing Rutgers' Social-Emotional Learning for Direct Instruction certification program.
Building Equity-Based Summers (BEBS) Interactive Webinar Series (Zoom)
Starts Tuesday, January 10, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PST
The webinars will help you (and your colleagues) build summer services for and with your communities.
Webinars are facilitated as a series and library staff interested in engaging in these learning opportunities are required to attend all four. Participants will also be asked to complete activities before and after each session (which we expect will take 3 to 5 hours per month). We encourage interested library staff to attend in pairs - a front-line staff member and an administrator - when possible. Those who attend the webinar series will be invited to join a national BEBS Community of Practice following the final session in April 2023.
To participate, register by Thursday, December 15, 2022.
Be a good ally.
Check out these resources on practicing allyship, IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility), and anti-racism in LIS and beyond.
- Harvard Business Review: Seven Ways to Practice Active Allyship
- Make the Library Loud: Removing Communication Barriers for Library Workers with Hearing Loss
- Oregon Library Association (OLA) EDI and Antiracism Toolkit
- Facilitating Racial Equity Collaborative (FREC): Stages of Racial Identity Development
- Simple Ways to Be More Inclusive of Autistic Families
- Pepperdine: Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others
- Society of American Archivists (SAA): Steering Share: A Reading List for Practicing Allyship in Archives
Are you someone interested in self-care and wellness?
Sign up for our second community learning space (CLS) group on Tuesday, December 6, at 5 p.m. PST for students who are interested in self-care and wellness. Share your experiences and recommendations for balancing your mental, physical, and emotional health ahead of the winter break and what the iSchool and Applied Data Science programs can do to support Spartans.
The purpose of CLS is for students to gather, learn, listen, and share experiences related to their identity in a safe space, foster innovation, and create an environment of belonging. As this is a student-focused and student-led CLS, only current iSchool and Applied Data Science students are allowed to participate.
Breathe in, breathe out.
This time of year can be draining. Check out these resources on navigating the holidays and academia before ringing in the new year.
- Bustle: A Therapist's Guide to Staying Calm During Family Holidays
- The Chronicle: Winter Break and Productivity Pressure
- The Chronicle: Beating Yourself Up is Labor, but it's Not Work: Extinguishing Self-Defeating Talk
- Kesheena Doctor (SJSU): Self-Care Tips to Succeed During Finals Week
- Resource: YOU@SJSU
Are there additional CLS groups you would like to see or participate in?
Send us your suggestions for our next CLS group. Your Voices is open to all suggestions, and the most popular selection will be chosen for our next group meeting, scheduled for February 2023.
This year's theme is: "Transformative Solutions for Inclusive Development: The Role of Innovation in Fueling an Accessible and Equitable World".
Since 1992, the observance of IDPD is to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities.
On Friday, November 18, Your Voices hosted its first Community Learning Space (CLS) group session for neurodivergent folx and people with disabilities.
Of those who participated, most students expressed their satisfaction with the session and how comfortable it felt to meet other students who share their identity and experiences. Some students felt it was validating and offered ways to navigate the iSchool, while others students felt relief in not having to mask among peers. Having an intimate and unrecorded session allowed conversation to flow naturally without creating anxiety around how students presented themselves (body language, speech patterns, and more).
In the session, participants talked among themselves to identify three issues that neurodivergent folx and people with disabilities face at the iSchool.
- Some professors do not provide closed captioning (CC) or subtitles for their lectures. Participants would like to see CC made a requirement for professors' lectures.
- The lack of publicity of the services that the Accessible Education Center (AEC) provides to graduate students.
- The inability to connect with students from other classes with similar conditions to create accountability partners.
Per SJSU policy, all audio materials used in any iSchool course "must be captioned or have transcripts provided. Captions, transcripts, or alternative readings are provided to deaf/hard-of-hearing students if students are provided a choice on what to select. Captions (or at least transcripts) must be obtained for any required videos".
Click to learn more about the policy and best practices at the iSchool.
Current iSchool and Applied Data Science students can complete an online application on the AEC website to register for accommodations and services. Check out the AEC's online registration flowchart to learn more about the process and turnaround time for processing applications.
We would like to thank the participants from our first session in providing their feedback on their experiences at the iSchool and within the CLS group session.
Want to contribute to the Your Voices newsletter?
Submit your work, events, feedback, commentary, and more through our submission form. To encourage a safe and inclusive space, we do not require names and accept anonymous submissions. We accept rolling submissions throughout the project. The form to submit your original work will be available throughout the semester.
Photo credits: David Hurley (Unsplash); Vonecia Carswell (Unsplash); Markus Spiske (Unsplash); Carolina (Unsplash); Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Flickr, with written permission); and Haneen Krimly (Unsplash)
You may direct any comments, questions, or concerns to yourvoices.sjsu@gmail.com.
Credits:
Created with images by tristanbnz - "Avenue of the Giants" • rawpixel.com - "Group stretching class" • carballo - "young girl with book in the city outdoors on the terrace" • Yakobchuk Olena - "Young woman is practicing advanced yoga at home" • Prostock-studio - "Handicapped black guy in wheelchair working online from home, using laptop, looking for job opportunities on internet"