2015 Charleston Library Conference

Do your collections reflect the diversity of your constituents? Are you equipped to meet the diverse needs of future users? In light of budgetary and spatial challenges, diversity in collections may not be a priority for most libraries. Yet, changing demographics practically ensures that there will be an increase in the demand for diverse materials. See how librarians from 4 different types of academic institutions from 4 different regions have been dealing with (or not) with this issue.

Alburo will talk about how area studies collections brings a global perspective to a Tier 1 university in the West Coast while Beh will present the challenges of building a diverse collection at a Tier 1 STEM institution in the East Coast. Gong will discuss how a Midwestern community college with a non-diverse library collection is scrambling to acquire recent materials as it is faced by new needs from underrepresented groups, and Gujilde will talk about how he is looking for opportunities to change the lack of diversity in the collection at his comprehensive state university in the South.

Attendees will leave with a better understanding of the collection development issues related to diversity. We will leave enough time for the audience to share their own experiences, challenges, and successes so that we can all come away with an even wider range of possible ideas to implement in our own institutions.