Hi Kathy, This is a great idea and I would be very interested in volunteering. Let me know if there is anything that can be done to start helping with the process :)
Thanks! Melissa Melissa Ceraso Evergreen Systems Specialist Bibliomation, Inc. 24 Wooster Ave. Waterbury, CT 06708 203-577-4070 ext. 116 On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 6:45 PM, Kathy Lussier <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Last March, the Evergreen Oversight Board approved a Code of Conduct for > Evergreen events - http://evergreen-ils.org/code-of-conduct/. > > Since that time, the Board has been working on developing procedures for > handling potential Code of Conduct reports if they should occur. These > procedures are still a work in progress, but the procedures do call for > trained safety staffers to be available at conferences to handle incident > reports. > > The role of the safety staffers is to meet with the reporter of the > incident to gather all relevant details, meet with the alleged harasser, > work with a team that includes somebody from the conference planning team > as well as a rep from the Board to determine what action should be taken, > and to communicate those final actions to the people involved in the > incident. > > The Oversight Board is committed to providing training to volunteers, to > developing a clear set of procedures on how such incidents should be > handled, and to assisting these volunteers in any way they can. > > The qualities we are looking for in volunteers are people who listen well, > are approachable and are non-judgmental. Discretion is also an important > quality for any volunteer. We would be particularly interested in finding > people who have a background in counseling or something similar. It also is > important that volunteers are people who are regular Evergreen conference > attendees. > > If you are interested in helping out or just have questions about the > role, feel free to contact me. Also, if you know somebody in the community > who possesses the above qualities, please encourage them to get in touch > with me. Sometimes, it's easier to see those qualities in others than it is > to see them in yourself. :) > > I think the Code of Conduct is important for creating a welcoming > environment for all people in the community, regardless of gender, sexual > orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. > However, if we don't have strong procedures for Code of Conduct complaints > and volunteers dedicated to ensuring that complaints are handled fairly and > quickly, the Code of Conduct will have no meaning. My hope is that we never > have an incident that warrants putting the procedures into action, but if > there is an incident, we want trained people to respond to it appropriately. > > I know we have a great community out there, so I hope to hear from some of > you that you are interested in helping to maintain a safe and welcoming > community. > > Thank you! > Kathy > > -- > Kathy Lussier > Project Coordinator > Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative > (508) 343-0128 > [email protected] > Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier > >
