Sample DEI Language Used in Collection Development Policies

Date: April 2022

As part of the Collection Management Committee's charge to embed CARLI’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in its work, the CMC is sharing this resource to assist CARLI members who wish to review and update their Collection Development Policy to incorporate DEI language and priorities.

Libraries have traditionally identified the parameters of their collection within a collection development policy. Some institutions have updated their collection development policy to emphasize their collections are inclusive of their entire community. This has been a practice in libraries but is now being codified in collection development language. Crafting good policies include using inclusive and plain language.

The following are examples only and is not an exhaustive list of policies available.

CARLI Institutions

Wilbur Wright College Library Collection Development Policy (City College of Chicago)

Diversity in our collection

In order to successfully fulfill our service and stewardship mission, those who are charged with developing collections employ strategies for acquiring, describing, and managing resources that go beyond normative structures, collections types, and established canons. Our decisions are informed by new curricula developed to meet the needs of a more diverse student body, new and emerging areas of research being conducted by a broad spectrum of researchers, including graduate students and newly-hired faculty, as well as by perspectives from the diminished or entirely lost voices of historically oppressed, marginalized, and under-served populations and communities.

Illinois Institution A, Private Research - Draft Language Not Yet Finalized

In selecting materials for our collections, our actions are informed by a belief in the essential importance of intellectual curiosity, knowledge acquisition, and the human desire to create, and we endeavor to fully support the pursuit of those ends. We affirm the value of academic freedom and the free pursuit of knowledge, consistent with the liberal arts foundations of Jesuit educational practices. We strive to build collections that support research and learning both within and across disciplinary structures, and that represent a multitude of perspectives. Informed by the University’s commitment to social justice, we take special care to include voices, communities, histories, and perspectives that have been historically diminished, marginalized and/or underrepresented in library collections. Consistent with the characteristics of Jesuit education, our collecting practices are informed by a commitment to a person-centered approach to educating. As such, we collect materials with both groups and the individual in mind, always with an eye toward offering a breadth and depth of materials that can sustain a wide variety of intellectual inquiries and pursuits.

In order to successfully fulfill our service and stewardship mission, we endeavor to be responsible participants in the information marketplace. To that end, we pursue relationships that can sustain a diversity of publishers, we support the open distribution of research and academic learning, and we prioritize engagement with organizations that promote responsible publishing practices.

Illinois Institution B, Public Institution - Digital Collection Policy - Priority Areas - Draft Language Not Yet Finalized

Historically Marginalized Groups: Collections that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended. These groups include, but are not limited to, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Color; Women; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-binary, and other Genderqueer people and communities; Immigrants, including undocumented immigrants; Displaced populations; Blind, Deaf, and Disabled people and communities; and Colonized, Disenfranchised, Enslaved, and Incarcerated people.

Non-CARLI Institutions

ALA’s Diverse Collections: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

Collection development should reflect the philosophy inherent in Article I of the Library Bill of Rights: “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.” A diverse collection should contain content by and about a wide array of people and cultures to authentically reflect a variety of ideas, information, stories, and experiences.

Library workers have an obligation to select, maintain, and support access to content on subjects by diverse authors and creators that meets—as closely as possible—the needs, interests, and abilities of all the people the library serves. This means acquiring materials to address popular demand and direct community input, as well as addressing collection gaps and unexpressed information needs. Library workers have a professional and ethical responsibility to be proactively inclusive in collection development and in the provision of interlibrary loan where offered.

A well-balanced collection does not require a one-to-one equivalence for each viewpoint but should strive for equity in content and ideas that takes both structural inequalities and the availability of timely, accurate materials into account. A diverse collection should contain a variety of works chosen pursuant to the library’s selection policy and subject to periodic review.

Collection development, as well as cataloging and classification, should be done according to professional standards and established procedures. Developing a diverse collection requires:

* selecting content in multiple formats;
* considering resources from self-published, independent, small, and local producers;
* seeking content created by and representative of marginalized and underrepresented groups;
* evaluating how diverse collection resources are cataloged, labeled, and displayed;
* including content in all of the languages used in the community that the library serves, when possible; and
* providing resources in formats that meet the needs of users with disabilities.¹

Best practices in collection development assert that materials should not be excluded from a collection solely because the content or its creator may be considered offensive or controversial. Refusing to select resources due to potential controversy is considered censorship, as is withdrawing resources for that reason. Libraries have a responsibility to defend against challenges that limit a collection’s diversity of content. Challenges commonly cite content viewed as inappropriate, offensive, or controversial, which may include but is not limited to prejudicial language and ideas, political content, economic theory, social philosophies, religious beliefs, scientific research, sexual content, and representation of diverse sexual orientations, expressions, and gender identities.

Intellectual freedom, the essence of equitable library services, provides for free access to varying expressions of ideas through which a question, cause, or movement may be explored. Library workers have a professional and ethical responsibility to be fair and just in defending the library user’s right to read, view, or listen to content protected by the First Amendment, regardless of the creator’s viewpoint or personal history. Library workers must not permit their personal biases, opinions, or preferences to unduly influence collection development decisions.²

¹ “Services to People with Disabilities: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights,” adopted January 28, 2009, by the ALA Council under the title "Services to Persons with Disabilities"; amended June 26, 2018.

² ALA Code of Ethics, Article VII, adopted at the 1939 Midwinter Meeting by the ALA Council; amended June 30, 1981; June 28, 1995; and January 22, 2008.

Adopted July 14, 1982, by the ALA Council; amended January 10, 1990; July 2, 2008; July 1, 2014 under previous name "Diversity in Collection Development"; and June 24, 2019.

ACRL Diversity Standards: Cultural Competency for Academic Libraries (2012)

Standard 4. Development of collections, programs, and services

Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.

Explanation of the Standard

Standard 4. Development of collections, programs, and services

Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.

Interpretation

Widespread changes in the linguistic and cultural fabric of library populations, coupled with the increasing sophistication of information technology, both require and make possible new approaches to the development of library collections and the provision of inclusive community-wide services. Upholding a commitment to cultural competence requires ensuring equitable access to collections and library services that is mindful of these changes.

Librarians and library staff need to learn how to detect and prevent exclusion of diverse constituents from service opportunities and seek to create opportunities for constituents, matching their needs with culturally competent services or adapting services to better meet the culturally unique needs of constituents. Furthermore, they need to foster policies and procedures that help ensure access to collections that reflect varying cultural beliefs.

For those responsible for the development and management of library collections and/or the provision of library programs and services, this specifically involves:

* Providing an equitable basis for purchasing materials and providing programs and services.
* Ensuring that consideration of the needs of historically oppressed, underrepresented, and underserved groups is integral to collection development and management and the provision of programs and services. Regularly assessing the adequacy of existing collections, programs, and services to ensure they are reflective of the diversity of the library’s constituent populations.
* Regularly reviewing the current and emergent demographic trends for the library’s constituent populations to inform collection development and management and the provision of programs and services.
* Providing increased accessibility through cataloging by allowing natural language words and advocating for changes in the LOC headings.
* Creating and advocating for the creation of programs and services that are reflective of the cultural heritage, cultural backgrounds, and social identities of the library’s constituent populations.
* Including constituents as major stakeholders in decision-making and advisory entities and the planning, development, and evaluation of collections, programs, and services.

Example of an Institution That Includes both ALA and ACRL Language

Bemidji State University Collection Development Policy

Diversity, equity, and inclusion statement

The A.C. Clark Library fully supports BSU’s Mission and Vision for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and selects resources for the library that uphold these values:

Mission:  To foster a safe, welcoming and inclusive campus and community culture that respects difference and ensures equitable opportunities for every person.

Vision:  At BSU, we celebrate and embrace diversity, and steadfastly seek to ensure equitable and inclusive environments for every person who learns, teaches, works, and visits our campus. People are valued for their differences, and we strive to reflect that variation. We combat injustices, demonstrate kindness and encourage every individual to seek and be true to their own identities. We clearly demonstrate our commitment to the Ojibwe and to other Indigenous peoples in this country. https://www.bemidjistate.edu/offices/diversity-equity-inclusion/diversity-and-inclusion/

We also strive to incorporate the values and guidelines for diverse collections provided by the ALA Interpretation of the Bill of Rights, and ACRL Standards for Diversity:

Diverse Collections: Collection development should reflect the philosophy inherent in Article I of the Library Bill of Rights: “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.” A diverse collection should contain content by and about a wide array of people and cultures to authentically reflect a variety of ideas, information, stories, and experiences. ALA, Amended 2019

ACRL Diversity Standard 4: Development of collections, programs, and services: Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.

While these guidelines provide a good foundation, we are committed to striving further. The library faculty are currently working on projects to assess the content of the collections and actively seek resources and formats to reflect diverse and underrepresented voices, and more importantly, unheard voices. Our work on this will be ongoing, as we continue to learn and apply this knowledge to developing our collections. We are learning from other institutions who have been pioneering these efforts and will be investigating their strategies as well as planning our own.