Building a Culture of Collaboration and Shared Responsibility for Educational Equity Work through an Inclusive Teaching Community of Practice

Authors

Francesca Marineo, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Chelsea Heinbach, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Rosan Mitola, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Abstract

For libraries to be equitable spaces as educational institutions and places of employment, it is necessary that educational equity be a shared, collaborative goal. Unfortunately, equity and inclusion work in libraries has historically been an individual pursuit that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) library workers. Communities of practice employ social learning principles to facilitate praxis and offer opportunities to develop shared goals, language, and responsibility. This article explores how we developed and implemented an inclusive teaching community of practice with members of our instruction department in order to foster a culture of discussing inequity in higher education, develop and implement inclusive teaching practices, and cultivate a shared responsibility to be equitable instructors and colleagues. We highlight the importance of library workers from majority groups, especially white library workers, to engage meaningfully in educational equity work to lessen the burdens faced by those with marginalized identities, particularly BIPOC library workers, and to ultimately foster educational equity for all by creating inclusive workspaces, libraries, and learning experiences.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Marineo, Francesca; Heinbach, Chelsea; and Mitola, Rosan (2022) "Building a Culture of Collaboration and Shared Responsibility for Educational Equity Work through an Inclusive Teaching Community of Practice," Collaborative Librarianship: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/collaborativelibrarianship/vol13/iss1/8