ALA’s Committee on Diversity Announces Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Scorecard for Library and Information Organizations

CHICAGO – Today, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Committee on Diversity has released its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Scorecard for Library and Information Organizations. 

ALA’s Committee on Diversity is charged with providing a forum to research, monitor, discuss, and address national diversity issues and trends. Upon seeing the need for library and information organizations to evaluate their efforts in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, members of the committee created the template to assist administrators and other decision-makers with gathering actionable data for strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion in their institutions.

Drafted in 2021 by Natisha Harper, Kimberly Franklin, and Jamia Williams under the auspices of the ALA Committee on Diversity, the DEI Scorecard promotes accountability and transparency in gauging institutional performance on five measures of DEI presented in rubric format along with supplemental reflection questions: Embeddedness of DEI into the Culture and Climate of the Organization; Training and Education; Recruitment, Hiring, Retention, and Promotion; Budget Priorities for DEI; and Data Practices. Development of the DEI Scorecard was informed by ALA’s Core Values of Librarianship, ACRL Diversity Standards: Cultural Competency for Academic Libraries, and other report card/scorecard measures of DEI performance. The DEI Scorecard can be used as-is or adapted to accommodate local context.

“The DEI scorecard is another step in libraries confirming their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” says Committee on Diversity chair Valerie Bell. “We hope libraries use this template and make thoughtful changes to their organizational culture.” 

The PDF template can easily be downloaded and shared. The committee encourages users to provide feedback on how the template has had an impact at their library. All comments can be sent to [email protected].