Diversity Conversations: Enabling Libraries to Serve New Communities

In order to effectively serve diverse communities, an organization must first create an internal culture of empathy and acceptance. An organizational read can be an opportunity to create this culture as well as create times, spaces, and experiences to transfer knowledge and build community beyond an organization on a topic of importance that has an impact on the communities it serves. The University of Tennessee Libraries' 2019 organizational read program featured Robin DiAngelo's book White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, which helped create diversity conversations to enable personal changes that facilitated more effective engagement. This chapter provides an overview of the Libraries' organizational read, including its structure and evaluation, and discusses the success of the program in building community engagement and outreach. Examples are shared regarding how the program has impacted the Libraries' outreach efforts to three new communities, as well as details for future iterations and plans for the program to continue to expand beyond the Libraries. Ideas are provided for adapting the program to other types of communities that want to build bridges for change.