Approved 12 August 2020

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is committed to providing a professional environment that is free from harassment and discrimination and in which all individuals, including members, staff, industry partners, volunteers, and non-members, are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to be in a professional atmosphere free from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. This commitment extends to SLA virtual programming, including meetings, events, award and honor celebrations, conferences, professional development sessions, roundtables, discussions, networking gatherings, panels, and any other activity held virtually (“events”) on any private or public platform. All participants, including but not limited to attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, SLA staff members, and service providers, are expected to abide by this Virtual Events Code of Conduct.

This policy applies to all SLA virtual events, including those organized by SLA communities (formerly known as units, chapters, divisions, and caucuses) and industry partners and those sponsored by organizations other than SLA and held in conjunction with SLA events, on public or private platforms.

SLA has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination or harassment as set forth in the SLA Anti-Harassment Policy. Please contact SLA’s executive director, and/or SLA’s president, to report any perceived incidents of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. If you would prefer to make an anonymous report, you can do so via this form. For SLA’s online community, SLA Connect, the Code of Conduct guides the interaction and etiquette.

Conduct that is prohibited includes but is not limited to:

• Harassment, intimidation, or discrimination in any form.
• Verbal abuse of any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, SLA staff member, service provider, or other meeting guest. Examples of verbal abuse include, but are not limited to, verbal comments related to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, physical appearance, body size, or any additional characteristic protected by law; inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces or in presentations; or threatening or stalking any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, SLA staff member, service provider, or other event participant.
• Disruption of presentations during sessions, in the exhibit hall, or at other events organized by SLA throughout the virtual event. All participants must comply with the instructions of the moderator and SLA staff.
• Presentations, postings, and messages (except from event sponsors, exhibitors, or invited vendor representatives) should not contain promotional materials, special offers, job offers, product announcements, or solicitation for services. SLA reserves the right to remove such messages and potentially ban sources of those solicitations.

SLA reserves the right to take any action deemed necessary and appropriate, including immediate removal from the event without warning or refund, in response to any incident of unacceptable behavior, and SLA reserves the right to prohibit attendance at any future event, whether held virtually or in-person.