Building a Diverse Collection at the MIT Libraries

A presentation for the Charleston Conference

November 6, 2015Eugenia Beh

Electronic Resources Librarian

MIT Libraries

• Over 5 million print and digital resources– 2.9 million print – 3.1 million e-resources

• Budget = $24M• 162 staff• Memberships – ARL, Ivy Plus, NERL, etc.

Student Population• FTE = 11,319• Undergraduates: 4,512 – Women: 2,055 (46%) – US Minorities: 2,317 1 (51%)

• Graduate students: 6,807 – Women: 2,171 (32%) – US Minorities: 1,379 (20%)

• International students (31%)– Undergraduates: 436– Graduate students: 2,748– Exchange, visiting, special students: 405

Diversity at MIT

Support for Diversity at the MIT Libraries• Committee for the Promotion of Diversity and

Inclusion (CPDI) events• Hiring • Evaluation • Use central funding (when available) to buy

materials to support Diversity Initiative

@mchris4dukehttps://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/

“Selecting based on use strikes me as an essential passive collection development philosophy. It is ceding our role in promoting diversity, and it is saying that we are OK with the scholarly and cultural heritage we preserve being decided by popularity contest…I’m arguing then, that we need to aggressively collect diverse literatures, on niche topics and by authors from underrepresented groups, not just so that our individual collections reflect our stated commitment to diversity; but to ensure that diverse voices get published and are heard and have an enduring place in the scholarly record… The kinds of research questions that can be asked by today’s scholars because the words in the books have now become data, can only be answered because of the sheer size and comprehensiveness of the corpus.

- Beyond Measure: Valuing Libraries

https://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/beyond-measure-valuing-libraries/

How Do We Operationalize Diversity?• Define what diversity means at the Libraries• Update strategic plan, collection development

policy and Selector’s Toolkit• Create special funding line for diversity

materials• Uncover hidden collections• Highlight diverse materials in our collections

Bookmobile Project

Further considerations• Consortial memberships• Web archiving• Create library award to recognize

diversity/social justice efforts

Future of Libraries Task Force

https://future-of-libraries.mit.edu/future-lib@mit.edu

“We…want to create a culture that truly values diversity, inclusion, and transparency. We want to explore ways our library can be a force for equity and justice, within MIT and beyond. As I meet with colleagues in the Ivies Plus group, in ARL and in other collectives; I am convinced that what we are trying to do culturally is just as innovative and experimental as what we are trying to do in the areas of library services and technologies. ...We will be trailblazers, and as such, we will stumble and we will encounter obstacles — some of our own making, perhaps. Achieving our cultural goals is and will be challenging, and will require both patience and perseverance - but I am certain that by working together we have and will continue to make progress.”

- Occasional note from CB (Sept. 25, 2015)

Thank you!ebeh@mit.edu