It Takes a Village: Approaches to Diversifying Monograph Collections

By Doug Way (Dean of Libraries, University of Kentucky) <doug.way@uky.edu>

For far too long, academic library monograph collections have been primarily built with works written by straight, cis-gendered, white males from North America and Western Europe. These collections, which are in many ways reflective of what was published by major mainstream publishers, ignored, excluded, or “othered” voices of individuals from marginalized communities. As academic libraries seek to diversify and decolonize their collections by including and elevating marginalized voices, they must overcome entrenched and systematic structures and barriers. Doing this requires deliberate and concerted efforts and approaches from libraries, consortia, publishers, and vendors. In short, it requires systemic change.

Libraries, consortia, publishers, and vendors all play key roles in getting books into the hands of readers. Yet, too often we don’t understand the perspectives or challenges these different stakeholders are facing, nor do we engage them in dialog or seek to understand the steps they are taking to advance the goal of more diverse library collections. This issue of Against the Grain brings those voices together and looks at how we can advance this essential work.

Often, this work starts by looking at what we can do within our own organizations. Kat Nelsen, KL Clarke, Wanda Marsolek, Sunshine Carter, Malaika Grant, Nicole Theis-Mahon, and Pearl McClintock outline the work they did at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities to interrogate their collection development practices with the goal of amplifying diverse and marginalized voices.

While one organization can have an impact locally, by utilizing coordinated collection development strategies, groups of libraries are able to maximize limited resources and expand the impact of their efforts. Anne Osterman, Kevin Farley, and Peter Potter share how libraries across the VIVA consortium partnered together to provide access to works from small publishers that were focused on publishing works representing diverse viewpoints and experiences, as well as from publishers in Africa and Latin America.

The work done by VIVA was facilitated in large part by vendors. In his article, Jon Elwell explores changes in academic monograph acquisitions and how one vendor, GOBI Library Solutions, has evolved to meet the needs of libraries.

GOBI and other book vendors serve as a key bridge between libraries and presses. In her article, Kristen Twardowski provides us a press’s perspective. She discusses how libraries and presses need to collaborate to advance equity for authors and readers, challenging us to consider what local action could be taken to advance this work.

And while collective effort and collaboration are needed to overcome systemic structures and barriers, Nicole Cooke provides a stark reminder that change starts with each of us. In her article, she warns about the dangers of soft censorship and articulates the importance of self-reflection, personal transformation, and action as we seek to transform our libraries and our collections.

I hope these articles inspire you, provide you with ideas, and lead to self-reflection. Most of all, I hope these articles lead to action. One person can’t overcome all the obstacles and barriers that we face as we seek to elevate marginalized voices and develop more diverse and inclusive collections, but we each have our own sphere of influence and one person can make a difference. Collectively, each of us making an individual difference is what can lead to systemic change. I hope you’ll join me in that effort.