The Institute for Racial Equity Advancement in Libraries (iREAL) is an initiative developed by Binghamton University, the City University of New York and Rutgers University.
iREAL’s mission is to promote racial equity throughout librarianship by empowering library workers to acknowledge, address, and dismantle racism and reimagine and transform their libraries and the profession.
Participants will complete the Institute with the skills and expertise necessary to understand, recognize, intervene, and dismantle racism in academic libraries, thereby enabling them to effect organizational change by making their home libraries more welcoming and supportive as work sites for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) librarians and enhancing their capacity to provide services to BIPOC members of the community.
Why iREAL? — iREAL represents a new approach to increasing diversity within the profession. Rather than focusing solely on recruitment, iREAL seeks to increase the recruitment and retention of librarians of color by first changing the culture of our academic libraries to make them more inclusive and welcoming.
