The Film & Media Round Table upholds Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as foundational to our mission as an organization within the American Library Association. We recognize the marginalization, underrepresentation, and misrepresentation of many communities in a variety of organizations and institutions, in our film and media collections, and how mass-media has often played a damaging role. To this end, we resolve to
- Ensure that patrons can find video and media resources representing their communities and in their primary spoken languages.
- Respect that representation of marginalized peoples in film can have an affirmative and transformative power over the viewer; as librarians we will strive to build collections that are representative, edifying, and critical of crucial social issues.
- Advocate within the industry for adequate film and media accessibility (closed and open captions, audio description).
- Strive toward equity in our group practices by providing mentorship for newcomers to the profession, and provide members opportunities to directly participate in executive committees and shape the direction of the group.
- Foster open discussion surrounding pertinent issues.
- Correct against hiriing biases by actively working with other ALA organizations representing marginalized communities to promote career development opportunities and cross-post job opportunities that are shared with our group.
- Recognize that platitudes about diversity and inclusion must be matched by direct action to correct against inherent hiring biases.
Version 1.2 Updated October 26, 2018