Lucy Flamm Awarded ATLA’s 2018 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship

The ATLA Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2018 ATLA Diversity Scholarship, Ms. Lucy Flamm.

During ATLA’s 2018 Annual Conference, the DEI Committee met to review the thirty-one applications received for the DEI scholarship. The significant increase from last year is due to the fact that the committee emailed all sixty-one ALA-accredited programs informing them of the scholarship. The committee was impressed by the quality of applications received, and after reading through the exceptional essays, they arrived at their conclusion to recommend Lucy as the recipient of this year’s award.

Lucy is currently pursuing dual Master’s degrees in Information Science and in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin with the hopes of working as a designated Islamic law librarian. As an early-career information professional, Lucy aims to be an actor in the documentation and accessibility efforts concerning historical materials from and relating to the Middle East.

On what diversity means to her, Ms. Flamm shared:

To me, diversity means the existence of differing backgrounds, opinions, and perspectives. Diversity is something that ought to be celebrated, for it promotes understanding of varied experience. Difference presents an opportunity for comprehending dissimilar outlooks through dialogue and discussion. However, diversity does not equate inclusion. In the field of Middle East studies and the university academy generally where I seek to work as a specialized Middle East librarian, men dominate the workforce. In both of these ways I find myself excluded from established communities and find myself diversifying the arch-types of those currently in the profession and contributing my unique perspective as a result of my background.

In the fall of 2017, Lucy worked as a Teaching Assistant for an upper-division undergraduate Islamic Law course. In this role, she provided one-on-one support for fifty students in deconstructing primary source materials key to understanding religious law and jurisprudence. In the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, Lucy will be assisting an undergraduate course dealing with all religions in the Middle East. The Committee is thrilled to award Ms. Lucy Flamm ATLA’s 2018 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion scholarship, and we are looking forward to working with her in the upcoming months!

We would like to thank the generous ATLA Members who donated to the ATLA Scholarships and Grants Annual Fund and made this scholarship possible.