Daily Operations
Scheduling
Scheduling is always tricky. Please know: there is no such thing as the one time that will work for everyone you want to reach. Choose a time that reaches the broadest audience, but be ready to adapt the following term depending on feedback.
A few questions to think on:
- Are there times on campus dedicated to extracurricular activities, such as a lunch hour?
- Are there days of the week (e.g., Fridays?) when fewer students and/or faculty members are on campus?
- Are you able to schedule more than one session for the book club to account for people’s varying schedules?
Land Acknowledgment
As our case study modeled, there is work being done in the area of land acknowledgment, and libraries are playing a role in advancing this paradigm. This practice is becoming more and more current in the library world, a way to recognize the history of colonialism and to create more equitable spaces. Please refer to the work by Laurier Students Public Interest Group (LSPIRG, “Know the land”), for more information.
In short:
- Educate yourself on what indigenous lands you are on. A good tool for this is https://native-land.ca/
- If you can, work with your local tribe or tribes to generate the language for your land acknowledgement. As an example: We noted that “we are on the traditional territories of the Puyallup and the Puget Sound Salish” and expressed thanks for being able to carry out our work on their lands.
Facilitating the Discussion
In order to effectively facilitate a conversation that touches on tough topics, such as social justice and equity issues, you will want to have a guiding philosophy or theoretical foundation.
Questions to consider:
- Is there a guiding philosophy about facilitation that you’ve previously used and that would work well in this setting
- What is the purpose of your book group? Is there a philosophy that best supports this purpose?
- Who is going to lead your sessions? Does the leader set the questions, or will the questions be generated from elsewhere?
- Do you want there to be student/participant leadership? How do you scaffold towards this model?
- How will you determine what is “on task” and how will you manage this?
- What about disruptions, violations of community standards, or other issues, who will deal with these, and how will you approach them?
