[DCRM-L] Volunteer Recruitment for Rare Books and Manuscripts Bibliographic Standards Committee Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Group

[Tess Amram]

Hello,

The Rare Books and Manuscripts (RBMS) Bibliographic Standards Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Group (BSC DEI SG) seeks interested members to join our group. We are looking for individuals who are passionate about DEI initiatives in special collections, with a focus on technical services work, to join our group starting in Summer 2026. In keeping with the spirit of our mission and goals, membership to ALA, RBMS, or any other professional organization is not required to volunteer with our Steering Group. We welcome anyone with an interest in working with libraries, information, and cultural heritage, including early career professionals. The Steering Group currently includes 12 members, 5 of whom are not BSC members.

Our Steering Group has a unique structure. We function as an advisory board, identifying areas of work and then charging smaller groups to complete the projects. Steering Group members act as project leads. The idea is that the subgroups do the heavy lifting -- this allows us to invite underrepresented members of the community to serve on the Steering Group, while not adding to the overcommitment that many of our BIPOC colleagues often face. For an idea of the group's structure and the nature of our work, please see our charge<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DEZzKE_2-DbISL5EmfAKWpPeu-mmf6ZVWIgzC89T-1g/edit?usp=sharing>.

Steering Group members should expect to serve on BSC DEI SG for one year with the option to continue working with the group in the next volunteer cycle. Individual projects will have varying time commitments. The Steering Group is currently meeting every other month for an hour, with individual project groups setting their own schedules. Current projects include:

  *   Developing a funded BSC fellowship to create a leadership and networking opportunity for early career professionals and librarians who have experienced barriers to entry, advancement, and development in specialized metadata and rare book cataloging due to their race, gender, sexuality, disability, or socioeconomic status
  *   Creating a Discord server for informal peer mentorship and support among underrepresented cataloging and metadata workers
  *   Exploring ways to host structured conversations about inclusive cataloging endeavors

If you are interested, please fill out this form <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSev0-eTxEZpoh_8Ga401ZhDBSn1BPleMat6hqP6efCzqPZp0w/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=116531470287785960469> before March 13, 2026. As we are recruiting a small number of individuals, we will use responses from form submissions to make our final decisions. Please feel free to share with those who might be interested.


Tess Amram (they/them)
Special Materials and Continuing Resources Cataloging Librarian, Teaching Assistant Professor
Resource Description Services Team
N110J University Libraries
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado 80309
Email: Tess.Amram at colorado.edu<mailto:Tess.Amram at colorado.edu>

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