ARLIS Equity Steering Group
ARLIS/UK & Ireland is pleased to announce the appointment of Binni Brynolf, Jennifer Fearon, Tavian Hunter, Rose Roberto and Donna Rose to the ARLIS Equity Steering Group. The group will be working with Council to help the Society address systemic inequality and make practical recommendations for sustainable change across the range of activities that the society performs, which can then be embedded in an ongoing fashion. The work of the Equity Steering group will be important in helping the Society determine a more equitable and representative organisation in the future. We would like to thank Jennifer, Rose, Donna, Binni and Tavian for supporting ARLIS/UK & Ireland, and for the valuable skills and experience they bring to the Equity Steering group. Please see their biographies, for further information.
Binni Brynolf, BA
Binni (they/them) is Digital Resources Librarian at Chatham House, a policy institute based in London. They have previously worked in public and academic libraries in Sweden and the UK. Binni has been an activist for many years, and is particularly interested in the equality and diversity work that trade unions and professional organisations can do for and with LGBTQ+ communities. They are a union rep for Prospect and last year they won an award for equalities work. Binni is on the committee of CILIP’s LGBTQ+ Network and a CILIP trustee, where they are in the recently formed EDI sub-group. Binni has spoken on a panel on diversity at CILIP conference in 2019 and run several workshops on being an ally to trans and non-binary people.
Jennifer Fearon, MA, BA
Jennifer Fearon is an Education Consultant and Head of Skills (Library & Student and Academic Services) at Sheffield Hallam University. Jennifer has been working in the education, training and development sector since 1989 and has a Masters Degree in Education from The University of Nottingham. She has extensive experience of the Further and Higher Education Sector, Academic skills development, safeguarding, child protection and working with young people to ensure they can successfully achieve their ambitions and goals. She has a keen interest in well-being and support services and has extensive experience in leadership and management, coaching and mentoring. She is an advocate of developing students’ academic skills and is currently involved in PEER Learning and the training of students to become Peer Mentors, level 6 students, providing resources and guidance for student’s at level four developing academic excellence and student success. Jennifer is a Brief Solution Focused coach and is currently working on her advanced certificate. She has a certificate in NLP as well as qualifications in Leadership and Management and became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019. She is co-chair of Hallam Race Network, Director of ANetwoc, (Academic Network for Women of Colour) and a member of DILON. Her commitment to Equality and Diversity is intrinsic to her private and professional life.
Tavian Hunter, MLIS, BA
Tavian is Library and Archive Manager of the Stuart Hall Library at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts). She is responsible for developing resources on contemporary visual art and artists of African, Asian and Latin American descent born or based in the UK, alongside running a programme of talks and reading groups in Iniva’s Research Network. Tavian has a keen interest in developing diverse library collections, reframing identity and gender in cataloguing subject headings and archival approaches to social justice. She has worked in art libraries, museums, societies, higher education institutions and received her MA in Library and Information Studies from University College London (2015). Her article on ‘South Asian collection development at the British Museum’ was published in the Art Libraries Journal (2019) and she was recently a speaker at ARLIS and CILIP conference (2019). Tavian is a member of ARLIS and Chair of ARLIS Professional Development Committee (2021).
Rose Roberto, PhD, MLIS
Rose is the Teaching Resources Librarian and a part-time Lecturer at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in Lincoln. She is responsible for BGU’s Teaching Resources Collection, which houses specialist materials for trainee teachers, educators, and those studying children’s literature. She lectures on BGU undergraduate modules related to the Atlantic World and the history of collecting in British libraries, archives, and museums, as well as the MA course, Heritage Education. Her research documents the hidden histories related to class, gender, race, and personal identity embedded in visual culture, which intersect with larger narratives of empire, colonialism, and democratic ideas. She is also a founding member of TILIIs, a BGU interest group engaged in discussion, debate, and the sharing of useful library resources for teaching that address the long-standing corrosive effects of inequality on our contemporary society. While an art librarian and later a PhD student, Rose was series editor for the Art Researchers’ Guides to different cities in the UK and Ireland, published by ARLIS between 2010 and 2017.
Donna Rose, MA, BA
Donna is a Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Irish Art (CSIA) as part of the Library and Archives department of the National Gallery of Ireland. Her work includes assisting researchers in accessing the library and archival collections, maintenance of the collections, and the development and implementation of departmental policy, projects, and outreach programmes. She has recently established and facilitates a departmental Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Forum that provides a regular space for staff to reconsider prior practices and examine more equitable policies and procedures. As a researcher, she explores the remaining material culture of Ireland’s institutional history and the ethical questions surrounding its documentation, management, and interpretation as sensitive heritage.