Those present were Linda Bowles Adarkura, Susan Boyd, Mardi Chalmers, Joy Chase,     Lavonne Jacobsen and Y. Diana Wu.

The meeting started at 11:00AM with a brief tour of the new Library.

This was considered a planning meeting so there was no other program. We met from 11:30 AM-1:00 PM.

Mardi shared in an email and at the meeting that Susan Boyd and her had a good discussion with Kris Johnson, the new Coordinator of North Interest Groups within CARL at the CARL Regional Meeting on February 4^th. She also shared some programming ideas for discussion. CARL would like our programs to be revenue raising.

DIAL-N & S are both IGs of CARL. DIAL-S is revising their by-laws and will share their changes with us. They have different programs and interests and are not activist in style. Chris mentioned that a little controversy in a program sometimes brings in a bigger audience. She also suggested that we consider partnering with other groups and/or have the program in a place that attracts attendance.

One idea was mentoring of diverse librarians (whether they had the same cultural background as the mentors or not). Susan mentioned that the NMRT of ALA was doing a mentoring program by assignment. Diana suggested we start at home and copy a tenure track mentoring program. Mardi suggested we use this as a program. She and Susan will work out a plan to discuss this topic at a future meeting.

Another idea was reference service to diverse librarians. We could use this program to partner with other libraries. The CARL Spring conference was suggested (but this may be too soon). The JLCC (Joint Librarians of Color Conference) which will be held on October 12, 2006 in Houston, TX was also suggested. Questions could emerge from English Language speakers. Diana said that the home base has a changed population from 15 years ago. We could have panels and people from different backgrounds or a panel of what different campus’ do. LaVonne said that this should be interesting to people who don’t know this information.

Other suggestions were: Current diversity knowledge (Joy); Sensitivity and education (Mardi); Interaction (Susan); Physical challenges (Mardi); Commonality and basic principles (LaVonne). Diana Wu mentioned the CALA program on Virtual Reference in Different Languages which will be presented at ALA this June in Chicago.

Timeline: Mardi suggested we do a program at the CARL conference in April 2006 in Asilomar. We could do a workshop or a pre-conference. Or, we could give a mini-conference ourselves.

Rationale: programs will enlarge the DIAL-N group and make an awareness of us. In this vein, Joy was asked to start a Blog for DIAL-N. (This has since been created and is available at http://www.dial-n.blogspot.com.) The Blog is to be diverse, annotated and cultural. It can list places, archives, bookstores, giftshops, etc. The comments capability of the blog could be used to hear from others.

Title: Currency in Diversity. Library interaction with diverse populations; blogs; websites; libraries.

Timing: 11 AM-2 PM seems good for most librarians.  Keeping it midday seems to work with the later times not working as well.

The group adjourned at 1:00 and re-grouped at Pasta Pomodoro Italian Restaurant, near the college, for lunch together. 

The next meeting was scheduled for May 13^th  or 20^th on a Friday. It was suggested that we plan a program or a fieldtrip with a focus.  The Saki Factory in Berkeley was suggested by LaVonne with a 20 minute talk. Sherise will help with this program.

Submitted by Joy Chase, March 30, 2005

DIAL-N is an Interest Group and a member of CARL.

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