The Windsor Public Library board has endorsed an Anti-Racism Action Plan.
The plan was created by library CEO Kitty Pope and includes a Statement Against Racism and Social Inequity. It also looks at library resources and programs as well as asking the city to review its policies and procedures for board appointments, to help diversify citizen appointments on boards and committees.
Board Chair Rino Bortolin supported the plan and says parts of it are already in motion.
"We're currently increasing the amount of resources that we have with respect to race and discrimination, indigenous themed books and then programming as well," says Bortolin. "What are we doing to increase programs at book club, focusing on culturally diverse authors."
He says he's proud the board endorsed the plan.
“I think in a lot of ways the Windsor Public Library does have a good track record but what can we do better and we can we put into action to do better," says Bortolin. "I think that was the push as a result of a couple conversations between Kitty and I and saying okay, we need to look at the board make-up, we need to look at what our staff does and how they're trained."
He believes the library has a good track record but asked itself, what it can do better.
"We didn't want this to be a fluff statement where we just want to put out a statement and then walk away," says Bortolin. "We want to put out a statement and then we want to back it up with a lot of work to make sure that with services that we render every single day are fair, equitable and completely free from active racism."
The plan, which can be found on the Windsor Public Library’s website, also includes staff training, which started last week.