Cultural intelligence is a competency that is a journey encompassing drive, knowledge, strategy, and action. It is a form of intelligence that draws upon the ability to reformulate one's concept of self and others. It can be integrated with other forms of intelligence and applies to any cultural context (i.e., diversity initiatives, organizational culture, generational culture, gender culture, etc.). Relevant to all library staff, librarians and leadership, this session focuses on concepts and actions which shape personal and organizational cultural competencies. In this session, attendees will learn how we can use cultural intelligence in order to ensure our biases and interactions do not influence judgments about others, as this directly affects a library’s inclusive work environment and the strength of the organizational culture.

Attendees will consider:

1) What cultural opportunities or challenges are present with our patrons and underserved populations?

2) How does our cultural intelligence impact our interactions at work? 

Dr. Villagran will share with us how we can use cultural intelligence to address these concerns and become more effective library professionals.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Michele A. L. Villagran is an accomplished educator, innovative speaker, entrepreneur, consultant, cultural intelligence and diversity & inclusion expert with over 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors. Dr. Villagran serves as CEO of CulturalCo, LLC consulting in areas of cultural competency, diversity & inclusion, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence. She is also an assistant profession with San José State University School of Information where her research focuses on diversity and social justice in library and information science and cultural intelligence phenomena within libraries. Dr. Villagran is an advanced certified cultural intelligence and unconscious bias facilitator through the Cultural Intelligence Center, and Conflicts Dynamic Profile consultant. She earned her Doctorate of Education in Organizational Leadership, her Masters of Dispute Resolution and Certificate of Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University. At the University of North Texas, Dr. Villagran completed her M.L.S. degree in Legal Informatics and her M.B.A. in Strategic Management.