Finding Our Way Forward: A Roadmap for Anti-racist Collection Development By Kat Nelsen (Social Sciences Librarian, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) <kgerwig@umn.edu> and KL Clarke (Social Sciences Librarian, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) <clark078@umn.edu> and Wanda Marsolek (Engineering Liaison and Data Curation Librarian, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) <mars0215@umn.edu> and Sunshine Carter (Director of Collection Strategy and eResource Management, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) <scarter@umn.edu> and Malaika Grant (Arts, Humanities, and Area Studies Librarian, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) <grant044@umn.edu> and Nicole Theis-Mahon (Dentistry Liaison Librarian and Health Sciences Collections Coordinator, University of Minnesota Twin Cities) <theis025@umn.edu> and Pearl McClintock (Collections Associate in Archives and Special Collections, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) <mccli072@umn.edu>
Introduction Traditionally, academic libraries (and by extension, scholarly publishing and academia) supported and promoted whiteness — as evidenced by collections predominantly consisting of Eurocentric knowledge, systems, and voices. Institutions, however, faced a reckoning with the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and community and global uncertainties. Libraries and library staff are increasingly demanding that their services, policies, staff, and collections reflect communities they serve. As collections are core to the library, correcting the imbalance in the representation of marginalized and diverse voices, experiences, and perspectives requires addressing structural barriers touching all aspects of library work. In 2021, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN Twin Cities) Libraries created the Racial Equity in Collections (REiC) group to advance collection development methods and practices to amplify diverse and marginalized voices with a focus on racial minorities, racism, and anti-racism within the United States. The UMN Twin Cities, located on Dakota lands, is a land-grant research institution in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota with 52,000 students and 4,000 faculty in seventeen colleges and schools. UMN Twin Cities Libraries employs approximately 250 full-time staff. Setting the library on a new course means coordinating efforts across collections management, cataloging, metadata, subject areas, instruction, research, acquisitions, access, e-resources, and interlibrary loan. To coordinate this shift, REiC was tasked with creating a roadmap for anti-racist collection development (henceforth referred to as The Roadmap). Throughout the UMN Twin Cities Libraries, there are and have been individuals and groups doing anti-racist work and advocating for changes to make the library and its collections more diverse and inclusive. The Roadmap is a way to bring together disparate activities in a cohesive way. Before creating The Roadmap, a shared understanding of anti-racist collection development was needed. Conner-Gaten et al., defines anti-racist collection development as “the process of identifying and disrupting whiteness and racial inequality in
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our collections, collection development policies and professional practices.” Collections work permeates all aspects of the library. The Roadmap touches most areas of the UMN Twin Cities Libraries and recommends areas for further investigation and actionable steps.
Seeking Input from Library Staff To gain a complete picture of what anti-racist collection work looked like across the UMN Twin Cities Libraries, REiC contracted a consultant to gather staff feedback on anti-racist collection development. Twelve, one hour-long, library staff focus groups were brought together over three weeks with over 80 staff participating. Questions were shared in advance to provide time for thoughtful consideration. Additionally, a form gathered anonymous feedback from 24 staff who were not able to attend the focus groups. The consultant provided REiC with a summary report including notes and thematic findings. REiC reviewed all of the information and distilled the responses into ten themes. Concurrently, a paid intern created an extensive annotated bibliography for anti-racist collection development practices.
Ten Themes The ten themes serve as wayfinders on The Roadmap. Descriptions of the themes are concrete examples and ideas derived from library staff feedback. They provide jumping-off points for consideration and discussion while the full roadmap suggests distinct strategies for moving forward. These strategies are specific to organizational needs and structure of the UMN Twin Cities Libraries and are not included in this article.
Revalue Collections Work Approval plans increase efficiency in selection, acquisitions, and cataloging processes. However, automated collection development has built-in biases which reflect the racism prevalent in academic and publishing structures. The “set it and forget it” approach promoted by approval plans has resulted in devaluing collection development work. At the UMN Twin Cities
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