Exploring Inclusivity: A diversity audit of life science library exhibits

, Shearer, Janis; , Liu, Yanling

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125299 Copy

Description

Title

Exploring Inclusivity: A diversity audit of life science library exhibits

Author(s)

• , Shearer, Janis
• , Liu, Yanling

Issue Date

2024-08-09

Keyword(s)

diversity audit; library exhibits; life science library

Abstract

Funk Library (Funk) has three exhibit cases with a goal to display materials related to Funk subject areas, university events, or campus groups. Display materials are drawn from the library’s extensive collection for agricultural, consumer and environmental sciences, biology, city planning and landscape architecture, the Prairie Research Institute and agricultural communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign campus. Exhibitions offer an opportunity to connect with our patrons and to provide a glimpse into the unique topics, subjects, and services that science libraries have to offer. They are also opportunities to develop strategies that integrate diversity into our work, increase our impact, and maintain our relevance. With motivations to foster diversity through our exhibits, the authors’ reflection on past work attempts to identify gaps in representation that can address inclusivity and a sense of belonging within an academic community. This paper will discuss the process and findings from a diversity audit of physical materials exhibited by Funk over the past 5 years. Applying methods used to audit print collections, the authors will discuss their manual methodology to assess diverse representation of authors and subjects, their tools used to document findings, and how the resulting information will be used.

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

Library Assessment Committee

Owning Collections