DEIA Projects and Initiatives
GOALS
Expanding on the Library's Commitment to Anti-Racism and action plan, these goals were developed to support our efforts to achieve sustained impact on our practices in regard to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access:
- Incorporate DEIA goals intentionally into the library's administrative practices.
- Provide and support staff learning and engagement opportunities to increase awareness of the ways in which structural racism permeates all aspects of our society and, in regard to libraries, longstanding professional practices.
- Incorporate best practices for diversity recruiting into library position searches and work to create an inclusive climate for all staff.
- Increase accessibility in all aspects of the library's work.
- Ensure that the library's policies and services are equitable.
- Increase the representation of marginalized communities and BIPOC voices among the library's collections.
- Identify, acknowledge, and address intentional and unintentional biases that permeate the ways we describe our holdings.
- Deepen the integration of inclusive teaching strategies into the library's educational program to create a sense of belonging for all students.
- Conceptualize and deliver public programs, exhibits, and outreach utilizing an antiracist lens while seeking opportunities for actions that intersect with the ongoing work of the library.
- Work towards removing barriers to inclusion and access and ensuring the libraries are welcoming and safe for all members of the Bowdoin community.
Projects and Initiatives
The information below is representative of the library's ongoing work and is updated periodically.
Project/Task/Activity | Lead Department/Team Responsible | Additional Department/Team Participation | Primary Goal Addressed | Secondary Goal Addressed | Status | Accomplishments |
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Review the library's collection development policies and guidelines to reflect our goal to develop and steward inclusive and diverse collections | Collections | SC&A | 6 | In Progress | SC&A staff attended the Bibliographical Society of America's New Directions in Indigenous Book History online conference. Outcomes include improved understanding of indigenous contributions within our rare book holdings and plans for an exhibition about indigeneity and print, followed by reassessment of our holdings in this area. (6/23) | |
Staff participation in a CBB-appointed Subject Heading working group, identifying problematic and outdated subject headings and recommending replacement terms and preferred language | Tech Services | Liaison Team | 7 | In Progress |
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Create an Accessibility webpage | Admin | Access Services | 4 | Complete | Page launched (7/21) | |
Seek opportunities to support/patronize diverse businesses and suppliers | Admin | 1 | In Progress | |||
Integrate DEIA goals intentionally within the library's Strategic Priorities | Admin | 1 | Complete |
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Add provenance notes to catalog records for those items that were originally a part of the Russwurm African American Center Library and subsequently transferred to the collections of the College Library | Tech Services | 9 | Complete | Completed (9/20) | ||
Develop a student-curated BIPOC Collections Display program to directly engage students and focus on deepening the collections | Liaison Team | Collections | 9 | 6 | Complete |
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Library Liaison readings and discussions addressing research and instruction through a racial justice lens | Liaison Team | 2 | 8 | Ongoing |
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Provide information and tools for staff to create accessible documents | Admin | 4 | 2 | Complete | AT&C Digital Content & Accessibility Specialist, Juli Haugen, facilitated sessions for staff on creating accessible PDFs and Word documents and on digital accessibility of images (Fall 2021) | |
Review of the website to achieve compliance with WCAG 2.0 guidelines | DIG | 4 | In Progress | 95% AAA accessibility compliance with SiteImprove's automated evaluation/assessment. (6/22) | ||
Deepen existing ties with college programs such as Mellon Mays, Thrive, and Upward Bound and collaborations with other academic support programs, including CLT, BSE, and BASE | Liaison Team | SC&A | 9 | In Progress |
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Expand the archival record of BIPOC student groups in the College Archives | SC&A | 9 | 6 | Ongoing | Accessioned the historical records of the Women's Resource Center and more recent records of the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (SWAG). (6/23) | |
Determine and implement a systematic approach to reviewing the library's collections with a focus on inclusivity, specifically in regard to representation of the voices and experiences of BIPOC and other marginalized voices | Collections | 6 | In Progress |
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Review fine policies for overdue materials | Access Services | 5 | In Progress | No longer charge for fines with the exception of reserves, which are mostly waived, and materials that do not belong to Bowdoin (6/22) | ||
Increase focus on DEIA-related topics for HL book displays | Collections | 9 | Ongoing |
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Research, develop, and apply critical cataloging methodologies to our descriptive workflows | Tech Services | 7 | Ongoing |
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Address the non-neutrality of archives and rare book collections | SC&A | 7 | 9 | Ongoing |
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Provide transcriptions of oral histories that are part of digital collections | SC&A | 4 | In Progress |
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Untold Project | SC&A | 9 | In Progress |
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Determine options for accessibility conversion workflows for documents provided via ILL | Access Services | 4 | In Progress | Developed workflows to enable delivery of searchable PDFs via Bowdoin Digital Delivery. (6/22) | ||
Library-wide staff learning | Admin | 2 | Ongoing |
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Recruitment | Admin | 3 | Ongoing |
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Outreach to faculty and students for input regarding the composition of the collections | Collections | Liaison Team | 6 | 9 | Ongoing |
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With participation from staff, students, and faculty, review points of user engagement with the library including Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, and Special Collections & Archives | Admin | Access Services | 5 | 10 | Not Started | |
Work towards removing barriers to inclusion and access and ensuring the libraries are welcoming and safe for all members of the Bowdoin community | Admin | 10 | 5 | Ongoing |
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