[Apologies for cross-posting. The full text of this statement is available here: https://www.diglib.org/archives/13044/ and you can go directly to the DLF Organizers’ Toolkit at: https://wiki.diglib.org/.]
For the Digital Library Federation, November 10th saw the close of a joyful and self-consciously more inclusive<https://www.diglib.org/archives/11814/> 2016 DLF Forum<https://www.diglib.org/forums/2016forum/>, characterized by deeper critical introspection, the clarion leadership of our keynote speakers<https://www.diglib.org/forums/2016forum/keynotes/>, broad sharing of best practices and the fruits of community-spirited labor, and increasing resolve to support our collective mission<https://www.diglib.org/about/> to advance research, learning, social justice, and the public good through the creative design and wise application of digital library technologies. It also saw the close of a bitterly contentious and divisive US national presidential election and the opening of a fortnight of violence, fear, and emboldened hate. I addressed the community on November 10th with an “Open Invitation<https://www.diglib.org/archives/12979/>” to use the Digital Library Federation as a counter-platform to forces like these: “Use this federation, this DLF. It is yours. Its whole purpose is to be a framework for what you need. [Use it] to create—or resist.” It is in that spirit that we re-affirm the DLF’s longstanding commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice. Now more than ever, organizations like the Digital Library Federation, the institutions that make up our membership<https://www.diglib.org/members/>, and the countless individual people who so generously volunteer their time through DLF channels, to work toward the most noble purposes and possibilities for library tech, must stand up for our professional values—values like intellectual freedom and the open exchange of ideas, privacy and security, the honoring of cultural understanding and scientific expertise, and an unwavering commitment to equitable access to information in safe and welcoming digital and physical environments. We must also stand for our shared humanity, and the protection and liberation of the most vulnerable and least free among us. It is in the spirit of community-based platforms for creation and resistance that we offer a new DLF Organizers’ Toolkit<https://wiki.diglib.org/Main_Page>. The Digital Library Federation enthusiastically invites you to use this toolkit (as a guide to using us better!), and we welcome your help in improving the resources gathered there. * Visit the DLF Organizers’ Toolkit<https://wiki.diglib.org/Main_Page> * Review our recently-updated Digital Library Federation Code of Conduct<https://www.diglib.org/about/code-of-conduct/> * Contact DLF leadership<mailto:[email protected]> or all staff<mailto:[email protected]> with questions and comments Bethany Nowviskie Director of the Digital Library Federation (DLF) at CLIR Research Associate Professor of Digital Humanities, UVa diglib.org<http://diglib.org> | clir.org<http://clir.org> | ndsa.org<http://ndsa.org> | nowviskie.org<http://nowviskie.org> | she/her/hers
