Anti-Harassment Policy

The aim for this Community of Practice (CoP) is to be a welcoming, supportive, and comfortable space for all participants, and leaders and participants will work to make it a harassment-free environment. Harassment of conference participants is not tolerated in any form. By participating in this CoP, it is agreed upon that participants believe the narratives of marginalized communities and an education 101-style session (e.g., on explaining why something is racist or a microaggression or whether white supremacy or systemic racism exists) will not be provided. If participants want to become more educated on these narratives, they are encouraged to do their own research rather than putting the burden of expectation and education on others in the CoP, especially those from oppressed groups sharing their lived experience and research.

Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, country of origin, age, disability, physical appearance, body size, religion, veteran status or other protected class status; discriminatory or offensive images in public spaces; intimidation; stalking; harassing or unwanted photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact; and unwelcome sexual attention. Participants violating the anti-harassment policy may be warned or asked to leave by COPALI leaders.

Participants may discuss sensitive, discriminatory, offensive, or triggering topics in sessions if they are the subject of the session itself (e.g., a discussions focusing on the silencing of trans* history in libraries, or about workplace microaggressions experienced by librarians of color).

Recording/Social Media Policy

This CoP is a place to share information, not only with other participants, but also with those who may not be able to attend. As a courtesy, please always ask prior to creating sound or video recordings of any sessions. Please be thoughtful and respectful with your photographs, recording, and sharing.

During each weekly session, members within the three tracks can decide to adopt different rules at the beginning of the session (e.g., completely private, or no attribution without asking first) as long as all participants who join the session are informed.

Question-Comments and Dominating Q&A

A participant should never overtake discussions or Q&A periods of a session to push their own agenda, hide comments in the guise of questions, or dominate this time to speak, especially if the respresentation comes from a privileged group.

Reporting Harassment or Violations

If at any point, a participant feels uncomfortable or harassed, or if any violations of these policies are witnessed, they are encouraged to reach out to any one of the COPALI leaders:

Kim Hoffman (khoffman@library.rochester.edu)
Logan Rath (lrath@brockport.edu)
Justina Elmore (jelmore@library.rochester.edu)

Code of Conduct Acknowledgements and Licensing

This policy is based the Critical Librarianship & Pedagogy Symposium (CLAPS) Code of conduct, which was in turn, built from the critlib unconference code, which has been adapted from the NYC Archives Unconference Code of Conduct, which is based on the SAA Code of Conduct and the AdaCamp event policies.