2023-03-292023-03-292023-03-17Kaumeheiwa, N., Kohn, K., & Pierce, J. (2023, March 17). Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through Purchasing Award-Winning Books. Poster presented at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2023 conference, Pittsburgh, PA.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/8405Poster presented at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2023 conference, which took place March 15-18, 2023, in Pittsburgh, PA.The presenters’ institution wanted to be deliberate about collecting materials written by and about marginalized groups. Creating a list of awards whose winners we planned to purchase annually allowed us to involve selectors from all disciplines at the outset while enabling future purchasing to happen in a way that does not take up their time. In addition, the plan ensured that collecting materials about diverse groups of people would be ongoing and not a one-time effort. Our process of evaluating awards was distinctive and collaborative and should be of interest to other libraries. Audience members will learn some of the considerations in curating a list of DEI awards and strategies for promoting such an initiative. Though we began with an existing guide to DEI-related awards, selectors at our institution did not feel all the awards on it would be appropriate for our approval plan, as there are cases when neither the author of the book nor the committee selecting the winner have a close relationship with the group described in the book. There is a risk that the award-granting organization could choose a book that presents a particular community in a way that the community finds problematic. In response to this concern, we devised a scheme for categorizing awards by organization type and authorship criteria, which allowed us to be selective about awards. Subject specialists were also given the opportunity to comment on the awards list, whether to add or remove awards from the list. Another concern was that some populations such as Black/African American and LGBT had more awards than others, such as people with disabilities, Native Americans, or Arabs/Arab Americans. To remedy this, we also calculated how many books we expect to receive for each population group, and for populations with especially few awards we plan to request finalists as well as winners. Our promotion efforts involve multiple departments within the Libraries, including acquisitions, cataloging and outreach. The books we receive via the awards plan will become part of a named collection that is searchable through the catalog. We plan to create a QR code linking to a canned catalog search for the awards collection. Catalogers will review and enhance the records to ensure that relevant aspects of either the author’s identity or the subject matter are identified. Outreach plans include sharing photos of new books on social media, putting signs around the new books shelf containing the QR code, emails from liaisons, and a write-up in the library’s email newsletter. We hope to repeat these activities yearly, so that the university community is aware that we continue to think about diversity, equity, & inclusion in our collection development.1 pageengAttribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NChttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Poster presentationsAcademic libraries--Collection development--United StatesText