Ensuring that our standards and recommended practices are developed for, and used by, the information community means that we need to engage with a broad range of stakeholders. We will only be successful if we listen to, and account for, the requirements of libraries, publishers, and the vendors that support them — from all around the world and across every discipline.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is, therefore, a core element of NISO’s 2020-23 strategic plan, and we are delighted to be a signatory of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) Joint Statement of Principles, which commit us to:
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Eliminating barriers to participation, extending equitable opportunities across all stakeholders, and ensuring that our practices and policies promote equitable treatment and do not allow, condone, or result in discrimination
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Creating and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences
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Promoting diversity in all staff, volunteers, and audiences, including full participation in programs, policy formulation, and decision-making
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Raising awareness about career opportunities in our industries to groups who are currently underrepresented in the workforce
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Supporting our members in achieving diversity and inclusion within their organizations
As an organization, we are supporting these principles through our strategic objectives, which include:
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Increasing participation of early career professionals — our NISO Plus scholarship program this year enabled us to support and learn from 12 talented young information professionals from five countries, at the conference and beyond; the 2021 program will be announced shortly
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Developing and implementing a DEI policy — in progress, and will be published later this year
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Increasing international engagement with NISO, and the worldwide impact of our work — we are making our events more accessible to everyone working in the information community and actively inviting global working group and committee participation, including in the NISO Plus 2021 planning committee
Our Director of Community Engagement, Alice Meadows, is closely involved with C4DISC through her participation in the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), one of the founding members. Following its official launch in September, C4DISC is currently seeking an Administrative Coordinator, so please do help spread the word about this opportunity!