Since 2007 the Alice Hagar Curriculum Resource Center at Murphy Library has hosted annual programs on children’s literature and its integration into the PK-middle school curriculum. These programs highlight literature that respectfully and accurately portrays current and historic ethnicity and culture.

On April 16 and 17, 2012, Muslim children's literature expert Seemi Aziz, Ph.D., presented “Issues within Children’s Literature that Represent Muslims” in the Alice Hagar Curriculum Center on the 2nd floor of Murphy Library at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.

Dr. Seemi Aziz, originally from Pakistan, is assistant professor of literacy and reading education at Oklahoma State University's School of Teaching and Curriculum Leadership/College of Education. She has written, presented and published numerous times on subjects such as “Issues of Authenticity within Multicultural Literature of the Youth,” “Literature as a Tool for Intercultural Acceptance,” “Volatile Global Regions through Literature of the Youth,” “Introducing Children to the World Through Literature and the Arabic Language,” “Invisible ideologies in Children's Literature: Koreans, Muslims, & Jews dealing with the ‘Other’,” and “War Zones or Peace Zones: Border Rhetoric Beyond the Intifada in Young Adult Literature.”
 
Her research interests include adolescent and children's literature, language arts, reading, colonial and postcolonial discourse, critical content analysis, critical pedagogy, diversity issues within education, literacy, teacher education curriculum development, semiotics and visual culture.

The program was sponsored by Murphy Library, Campus Climate and Diversity, and the
School of Education.