Are you working to re-imagine your collection practices to create a more inclusive future of libraries? If so, we’d love you to submit a proposal to participate in the pre-coordinated panel at the 2024 ARLIS/NA conference: Beyond the Diversity Audit: Anti-racist collection practices.

 

As librarians in the United States strive to build collections that reflect a wide range of knowledge and lived experiences, their task is made difficult by the systemic racism and monocultural thinking ingrained in all parts of knowledge production, scholarly publishing, and library practices. As a profession we must reckon with a legacy of collection building dominated by whiteness and identify systemic changes that can create a more equitable future. 

 

We are looking for case studies of changes to collection development that are more systemic than one-off in nature. We seek projects that look critically at why we are missing voices in our collections, and then seek to change practices or policies to close those gaps.

 

Possible topics could include:

• Building more equitable acquisitions and procurement policies
• Increasing inclusion in selection and approval profiles
• Identifying and actively collecting small press publications
• Weeding & deaccessioning for diversity
• Engaging communities in building relevant collections

 

If you are interested in participating in our panel discussion, email a brief abstract and title to [log in to unmask] by Dec 8, 2023. Any questions are welcome as well!