You are here

University Libraries DEIA Statement Update

Update for Fall 2020

In the two months since Penn State University Libraries issued an expanded Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility statement, with a clear, emphatic focus on anti-racism, our community has responded by identifying, initiating, or continuing several initiatives and actions centered on understanding, empathy, respect, and transformation within and beyond our organization.

While we believe we are working in the right direction and with the right intentions within our University community, we must first pause to acknowledge the continued acts of heinous, senseless violence toward people of color across our nation. We also must acknowledge the resulting deep emotions felt within our Unive​rsity community, among our students, our colleagues, our friends, and alumni. We offer our support and our resolve to continue our work unabated, in the hope that one day no one will perpetrate or experience acts of hate.

Many of our departments have developed their own DEIA statements and unit-level and individual goals. They are listed at the end of this update.

Assessment:

  • Identifying records with outdated and pejorative terminology within descriptive notes. A formal departmental project will launch later in September 2020.

Collections:

  • An Annual Giving initiative was identified to fund the acquisition of ProQuest’s African Diaspora: 1860–present, a full-text database that will support several courses and faculty members with teaching and research interests in the African Diaspora. This database is a global collection essential for an international understanding of Black history and culture. It would support the work of Penn State’s Center for Black Digital Research and complement the Libraries’ Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora.
  • The e-book version of Stay Woke: A People's Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter by Tehema Lopez Bunyasi was purchased in advance of Bunyasi’s talk at the 8th Annual Penn State Entrepreneurship Educators Gathering on Sept. 11, 2020.
  • A portion of Humanities and Social Sciences collection funds have been set aside to acquire works that increase and showcase the diversity of within the disciplines, by 6/30/2021.
  • Acquisitions team plans to collaborate with the Special Collections team and investigate options to acquire materials from Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) dealers/artists in FY20/21.
  • Despite a 2 percent Collections budget cut during FY20/21, content that supports underrepresented groups in STEM, such as the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering and related journal and electronic content, was retained, moved to the Physical and Mathematical Sciences subscription list.

Discussion forums:

  • Employees were encouraged to attend a Penn State Town Hall Sept. 8 entitled “What will be the new normal? A conversation with Penn State students, faculty, and staff of color.”
  • Nineteen University Libraries faculty and staff are registered to participate in the ARL Fall Forum on Oct. 8, which will focus on “Leading Libraries toward Anti-racism in a Changing World.”
  • Several employees have participated in DEIA-related book club and film discussion groups.

Financial Equity:

  • One librarian added several links to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation LibGuide subject guide that feature resources for minority entrepreneurs, including a link to the Minority Business Development Agency and The Enterprise Center in Philadelphia; conducting additional research to identify quality resources related to mentorship and financing for specific populations.

Instructional and Research Support:

  • Library Learning Services initiatives based in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility have been integrated for the past few years, so work is both evolving and ongoing. Examples include:
    • Focus on distinctive populations with outreach and instructional strategies for first-generation students, students of color, and veteran students, among others.
    • Collaborating with Strategic Technologies and other departments to advance Libraries accessibility efforts, specifically accessibility of electronic resources and physical classroom spaces.
    • University-level leadership on initiatives related to open and affordable educational resources (OAER), which comes directly from the goal of reducing barriers to access and promoting equity in education.
  • Carmen Cole’s book chapter “Disrupting the Business Writing Course: Critical Pedagogy to Frame Business Information Literacy Instruction” was accepted for a forthcoming book entitled Teaching Business Information Literacy. The chapter is about using social justice concepts in business information literacy instruction.
  • One librarian taught research session and created a course guide for COMM 411: Cultural Aspects of the Mass Media.
  • One librarian is expanding the Economics: Classic Works LibGuide to acknowledge the contributions of women and people of color, as well as economic works that address issues of race, gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion by December 2020.

Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Librarianship:

Recruitment and Retention:

  • At the University Libraries organizational level, a Peer Cohort for Actions for Equity and Justice has been convened, bringing together 17 campus library and department heads to meet regularly for the purpose of sharing and generating ideas to support equity and justice, developing shared commitments and principles for actions, and collaborating to take action within and across units.
  • A new full-time, tenure-track faculty position, African American curator, has been submitted for consideration by the Provost. This is a new strategic position within Special Collections to support the University Libraries’ commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The person holding this position also will collaborate with colleagues in Penn State’s Center for Black Digital Research. It is the top priority among faculty positions within the University Libraries, and we are very hopeful it will be approved.
  • Two positions were recently added and filled, both in support of the new enter for Digital Black Research:
    • Center for Digital Black Research Librarian
    • Colored Conventions Project Post-doctoral Fellow

Technological Solutions and Enhancements:

Cataloging and Metadata Services team changed “Aliens” and “Illegal aliens” subject headings in the library catalog, totaling 7,000 uses of 16 individual headings. Subject headings for “Aliens” and “Illegal aliens” have been changed to “Noncitizens” and the subject “Unauthorized immigration” will be added to records formerly containing the subject “Illegal aliens” and its derivatives.

  • By the end of September 2020, a call for membership will be made for a task force to implement the recommendations in the Diversity in Our Web Presence Task Force Report. Interim Associate Dean Dace Freivalds will sponsor the task force.
  • Strategic Technologies drafted a proposal for a departmental DEIA intern, currently in an internal University Libraries review stage to compare internship outcomes.

Training and Performance Evaluation:

  • Several of our faculty and staff have committed to professional development through education and training initiatives.
  • More than 30 University Libraries employees participated in the University's Summer Online Diversity Series.
  • Also, during the summer, Human Resources strategic partners shared a list of recommended Learning Resource Network programs that included many DEIA topics.
  • Two University Libraries employees are enrolled in the fall 2020 higher education graduate-level course titled “Diversity and Equity in Higher Education.”
  • One faculty member is serving as a yearlong ARL Leadership and Career Development Program Fellow, with support from three University Libraries faculty mentors, who in turn are participating in webinars and training titled “ARL LCDP Equity Toolkit.”

We acknowledge that we still have much work to do and much to learn — individually, as an organization, as a society, even within this very effort of soliciting, documenting, and committing to goals in a timely let inclusive, respectful, and transparent manner. Our initial statement is far from perfect or complete. We endeavor to plan, discuss, listen, learn, then act and iterate thoughtfully and with deliberate intention toward creating positive, systemic change in our communities and our society.

Unit-Level Updates:

Acquisitions

  • Meet monthly to discuss and commit to DEIA in acquisitions work from July 2020 through May 2021, separately from regular departmental meetings. Assign readings and webinars in advance. Notes will be taken. All Acquisitions staff are invited.
  • Collaborate with the Special Collections and Investigate options to acquire materials from Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) dealers/artists in FY20/21.

Business

  • Each full-time staff member: set and achieve at least one DEIA goal by 4/1/2021. Examples include facilitation of discussions, book groups, and participation in diversity events
  • Each faculty member: establish and complete at least three DEIA goals by 4/1/2021. Examples include participation in events, committees, leadership roles, collection development, instruction, outreach, research, and service to the profession.
  • Carmen Cole’s book chapter “Disrupting the Business Writing Course: Critical Pedagogy to Frame Business Information Literacy Instruction” was accepted for a forthcoming book entitled Teaching Business Information Literacy. The chapter is about using social justice concepts in business information literacy instruction.
  • Among individuals:
    • Several have attended webinars, workshops, and Learning Resource Network training on DEIA topics.
    • One has served on the University Libraries DEIA Shared Goals Task Force. This group’s mission was to create a diversity mindset among full-time staff through the inclusion of DEIA goals in performance goals and review. Individual has since taken steps to consider instituting a similar goal among part-time staff.
    • One helped facilitate and another participated in a book discussion on One Person, No Vote at the PaLA CRD Workshop on July 22. One of the main topics is how African Americans have been historically disenfranchised in the American voting process.
    • One served as a University Libraries Diversity Day Committee member and event facilitator.
    • One participated in six-week staff training pilot Interrogating Bias Workshop initiated within Penn State Finance and Business Office of Diversity and Inclusion; its goal is to test design and content for larger impact anti-racist and implicit bias staff training; event continues partnership between FBODI and Libraries Diversity Committee.
    • One helped to organize the University Libraries employee virtual discussion of the book The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South.
    • One is participant in Libraries Community of Practice: Race and Racism pilot program.
    • One is participating in an Anti-Racism Working Group film discussion.
  • All employees:
    • participate in the Shared Diversity Goal Task Force pilot between 7/1/2020 and 4/1/2021.
    • meet in a shared Business Library meeting once in fall 2020 and once in spring 2021 and share ideas and insights learned through individual DEIA goals.

Cataloging and Metadata Services

  • Changed "Aliens" and "Illegal aliens" subject headings in the library catalog, totaling 7,000 uses of 16 individual headings. Subject headings for "Aliens" and "Illegal aliens" have been changed to "Noncitizens" and the subject "Unauthorized immigration" will be added to records formerly containing the subject "Illegal aliens" and its derivatives.
  • Identifying records with outdated and pejorative terminology within descriptive notes. A formal departmental project will launch later in September 2020.
  • Among individuals:
    • One will be attending the ARL Fall Forum.
    • One was accepted to the DEIA Community of Practice.
    • Three are joining a University Libraries-led Native American learning working group.
  • Elizabeth Hobart’s article Anti-racism in the Catalog: an analysis of records was published in College and Research Libraries News, September 2020, Vol. 81 No. 8, pages 378 – 381. The article focuses on equity issues by analyzing the use of subject terms in cataloging records for recommended antiracist literature. She also presented during the University Libraries’ Data Days on Cataloging in a Crisis: Using Data to Improve the Catalog (starts at 59:18 mark).

Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Set aside a portion of collection funds to acquire works that increase and showcase the diversity of within the disciplines, by 6/30/2021.
  • Document DEIA goals as part of the faculty annual review process, by 4/1/2021.
  • Partner with departments, programs and centers to learn about their DEIA initiatives and collaborate with them on programming, e.g. films, forums, visiting lectures, workshops, and webinars, through 4/30/2021.
  • Set aside time during monthly departmental meetings to talk, reflect and share ideas for best practices to make our unit more inclusive and to reduce bias, through 6/30/2021.

Library Learning Services

  • Department initiatives based in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility have been integrated for the past few years, so work is both evolving and ongoing.
  • Examples include:
    • Focus on distinctive populations with outreach and instructional strategies for first-generation students, students of color, and veteran students, among others.
    • Collaborating with Strategic Technologies and other departments to advance Libraries accessibility efforts, specifically accessibility of electronic resources and physical classroom spaces.
    • University-level leadership on initiatives related to open and affordable educational resources (OAER), which comes directly from our goal of reducing barriers to access and promoting equity in education.

Preservation, Conservation, and Digitization

  • Developed and adopted a departmental understanding and meaning of University Libraries DEIA statement, defining terms, and committed to the following actions, including highlights of some objectives:
    • Focus on inclusion and diversity in the workplace, such as:
      • Examining biases and unintentional offensive language in everyday conversation;
      • Critically reviewing documentation for potential barriers to DEIA.
    • Focus on the department’s role to build and preserve collections, such as by:
      • Actively participating and offering recommendations in the selection of materials for digitization and online delivery and access to ensure all stakeholder voices are heard and considered;
      • Supporting through assessment, treatment, digitization, housing, and exhibition the University Libraries’ subject libraries (at all locations) to acquire resources written by our back Black, Indigenous and people of color; and
      • Supporting building digital online collections of the Black Digital Research Center.
    • Focus on the department’s community, by:
      • Strengthening and deepening collaborative partnerships within the region, state, nation, and globe to identify collections that document historically marginalized groups for digitization;
      • Supporting Penn State’s land grant mission by creating a strong outreach mission, especially to underrepresented groups throughout the region and state;
      • Supporting local businesses by awarding business to diverse suppliers.
    • Focus on ongoing accountability, including:
      • DEIA objectives as individual and departmental performance goals;
      • when assessing the success of a digital project; and
      • reviewing and updating these commitments annually.

Research Informatics and Publishing

Holding discussions on equity and justice to build on previous year’s work

  • Established set of department and team goals for the next year
  • Will complete department and individual audits to assess current state
  • Priorities include:
    • supporting accessibility needs of digital collections RePub stewards and curates
    • improving inclusivity of webinars and workshops
    • critically examining technology for biases

Scholarly Communications and Copyright (SCC)

  • Meet monthly to engage in anti-racism discussions and readings focusing on librarianship, scholarly communications, and copyright.
  • Create a resource of anti-racist scholarly communications actions for researchers and others by 12/31/2020.
  • Revise the ​Introduction to Copyright​ workshop series to be more inclusive by 12/31/2020.

Special Collections

  • Build: Focus collecting, documentation, and digitization efforts on increasing the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and voices and addressing gaps in the historical and scholarly record as outlined on SCL’s Collection Development Plan, with a particular emphasis on documenting:
    • African American Life and Culture
    • Latin American Cultural History and U.S. Latinx Experience
    • LGBTQIA+ History and Experience
    • Women’s History and Experience
  • Steward: Initiated efforts to support inclusive description and access to collections, which include undertaking a comprehensive review of archival finding aids to identify offensive and coded language, developing an archival description style guide for inclusive language and terminology, and outlining plans for revising archival finding aids.
  • Engage: Offer an array of inclusive outreach and engagement opportunities virtually in fall 2020 to connect with users and communities with a focus on historically marginalized groups, including virtual tours of online exhibits, virtual workshops for Penn State students and student groups, and virtual events, such as the Archives Month Lecture to be held in October (details forthcoming).

STEM

  • Update a STEM library instruction workshop including examples of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) scientists and engineers by 12/31/2020.
  • Retain content that supports underrepresented groups in STEM during FY20/21.
    • Related journal and electronic content was retained during the FY20 budget cut, e.g. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, moved to the Physical and Mathematical Sciences subscription list.
  • Hold monthly discussion on DEI and social justice during the year 2020.
  • Create an action plan for the year 2021 by 12/31/2020 for individual and collective

Strategic Technologies

  • Drafted a proposal for a departmental DEIA intern, currently in an internal review stage to compare internship outcomes.
  • All employees will participate in setting diversity goals.
  • Among individuals:
    • One will attend the ARL Fall Forum.
    • One is a member of the Libraries Diversity Committee.

Undergraduate Services

  • Continuing bi-weekly department meetings to further understanding of racism and inequity, after establishing ground rules for discussion and guidelines for having difficult conversations. Each department member leads a meeting based on readings or other selected materials, including chapters from Antiracism Toolkit for Allies.
    • Watched Brene Brown’s The Anatomy of Trust and read The 3 Elements of Trust by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman. From these activities, created a “Team Alliance.”
    • Meeting discussion topics:
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Commitment Statement
  • University Libraries’ Civility Statement and Guidelines
  • Brene Brown’s Interview of Ibram Kendi
  • White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
  • When White Women Cry: How White Women’s Tears Oppress Women of Color by Mamta Motwani Accapad
  • Walking While Black by Garnette Cadogan
  • Implicit Bias – Test and follow-up article (How To Think About Implicit Bias)
  • Among department members:
    • One is a member of the Libraries’ Peer Cohort: Actions for Equity and Justice.
    • One was accepted into the Community of Practice: Race and Racism.
    • One is registered for the virtual brown bag series, Race and Ethnicity, Not Race or Ethnicity.
    • One has viewed several programs but favors Carla Hayden and Lonnie Bunch’s Cultural Institutions at Times of Social Unrest.
    • One developed a training module on creating trans-inclusive spaces that will be used during training of Welcome Desk employees.

Web Updates

  • By the end of September 2020, a call for membership will be made for a task force to implement the recommendations in the Diversity in Our Web Presence Task Force Report. Interim Associate Dean Dace Freivalds will sponsor the task force.

In the future, University Libraries DEIA updates will be published on a quarterly basis. Heads of libraries and departments should plan to submit updates to their unit-level plans and goals to University Libraries Public Relations and Marketing, which will coordinate unit-level solicitation and publication of update information.