The 2018 ALSC Institute in Cincinnati will have a clear Statement of Appropriate Conduct/Community Guidelines including procedures for members and attendees to report behaviors in violation of those guidelines.
The ALSC Board discussed a piece of new business at the tail end of our Board II meeting today. We’ve been following conversations regarding sexual harassment within the children’s literature community–specifically at professional conferences and within professional associations–that have been taking place online and in the comments of a recent School Library Journal article over the past 48 hours or so. Harassment of any kind conflicts with ALSC’s core values, and ALSC events and spaces are subject to the codes of conduct and ethics of the American Library Association; yet this position had not yet been made explicit in the context of the upcoming ALSC National Institute.
The Board approved a motion to make clear our position and our expectations of participant conduct at ALSC events. In coming days, the ALSC National Institute webpage will be updated to reflect our Statement of Appropriate Conduct/Community Guidelines as well as to provide clear procedures for reporting behavior contrary to those guidelines for any who may need to do so. Until the site has been updated, you can take a look at the statement for the 2018 Midwinter Meeting for a sense of what the ALSC statement will entail.