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Anti-racist Library Collection Building

Approval Plans Selecting Materials Purchasing Materials Cataloging & Classifying Weeding Community Engagement

Selecting Materials

Librarians make decision on individual titles to select based on their knowledge of their users' needs. This work is both historically and currently dominated by white perspectives: the library profession is overwhelmingly white and many of our institutions' users are predominantly white (PWI's), while our users of color may not feel comfortable approaching a white librarian to express their collection needs. This work has inflected decades of collection building decisions that has resulted in our current collections that are overwhelming built to answer white questions and serve white needs. To correct such a longstanding imbalance, it will take dedicated and consistent effort to change our practices and change the make-up of our collections.