Photo provided IU Columbus Library Executive Director and Associate Professor Emily Dill, shown with Vice Chancellor and Dean of IU Columbus Reinhold Hill, was honored with the campus award.
Indiana University Columbus honored recipients of the Excellence in Diversity Awards at an awards ceremony Jan. 12, recognizing those who have helped make local libraries more inclusive.
The awards are presented each January during IU Columbus’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, and highlight one campus initiative and one community initiative.
IU Columbus Library Executive Director and Associate Professor Emily Dill was honored with the campus award and the Bartholomew County Public Library was chosen for the community award.
The IU Columbus Diversity Council solicited nominations and recommended the recipients.
Dill was honored in part due to a presentation and conversation she led on Oct. 2 about book banning. She also created displays of library materials “to further educate, build empathy, and foster community, including their inclusion of LBGTQ+, immigrant, women, African American, and Latino stories,” according to an IU Columbus press release.
Executive Director of the Bartholomew County Public Library Jason Hatton accepted the community award on behalf of the library. Vice Chancellor and Dean of IU Columbus Reinhold Hill said during the ceremony that the library “has shown incredible leadership in supporting and highlighting diversity within our community.”
This past year, the library has held or took part in diversity-promoting events including Teen DIY, Black History Month Collage, Columbus Pride and Freedom to Read-In. Hatton also recently served on a panel at Indiana University Columbus to talk about the BCPL’s book audit and the libraries role in preventing censorship.
“The importance of Dr. King’s messages championing systemic equality resonate as strongly today as when he first spoke them,” said Hill.
