Editor’s Note: The Medical Library Association hired two members of the Doody team, Dan Doody and Tim Butzen-Cahill, to facilitate the MLA InSight Initiative Summit held May 4-6, 2021 on the theme of Moving Toward Equitable Health Sciences Knowledge Sharing. This virtual conference opened with a 2.5-hour anti-bias/anti-racism training session conducted by Dr. Audra Davis and Latham Williams of The Exeter Group. This article provides a brief recap of the training and information about the trainers.

Early in the conception of the Moving Toward Equitable Health Sciences Knowledge Sharing Summit, the MLA InSight Steering Committee (scroll to the bottom of this page to see members of the Steering Committee) decided it was important to provide participants with common ground for discussing racism, bias, and the ways individuals manifest and perpetuate them, especially in their work contexts. Coming to a shared understanding was important for two reasons.

First, as organizations, health sciences libraries and publishers vary in their experience with examining and deconstructing the pervasive biases in their structures and cultures. Hailing from such organizations, Summit participants may have had different levels of awareness or knowledge necessary to proceed in the collaborative effort to disrupt inequities in health sciences knowledge sharing.

Second, an introductory session levels the interpersonal expectations for the emotional labor involved in discussing racism and bias. The respect, validation, patience, and self-care that comprised the “rules of engagement” for tough introductory conversations became essential components of the subsequent collaborative work. Bringing in professional, expert facilitators with experience in health sciences publishing organizations to conduct this session was critical to the success of the Summit.

The trainers from The Exeter Group who conducted the session, Audra Davis, PsyD and Latham Williams, JD, expertly tailored their program to the unique time demands of the Summit (just 2.5 hours devoted to training) and to the unique nature of the audience (24 librarian and information providers coming from 18 different institutions/companies). They moved the participants from large-group to small-group breakouts to enable participants to interact with each other about perceptions and issues their presentation surfaced. The session achieved its goal of giving participants a common awareness of unconscious biases and common techniques and terminology to confront the emotionally charged issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion that were the focus of the rest of the Summit. Participants expressed appreciation for the value the training session had to the overall success of the Summit.

If you are in either a decision-making position or situated well to influence the decision maker in your organization about the need for DEI training, you might want to learn more about The Exeter Group. This flyer presents a concise description of the value and expertise The Exeter Group brings to this critically timely topic. Should you want a personal reference about the trainers and The Exeter Group from either a librarian or a publisher who participated in the session, write Tim Butzen-Cahill and he will connect you with one or more of the participants.

DCT Featured Article - May 11, 2021