Diversity Audit

I conducted a diversity audit the house architecture section of Kent State University’s Architecture Library, where I work, as a project for the course LIS 60614: Collection Management in Libraries. This project aligns with PLO One: Apply the field’s foundational theories, principles, values, ethics, and skills to everyday practice, PLO Four: Evaluate systems and technologies relevant to a particular information context, and PLO Five: Identify needs and connect individuals and communities with information that engages and empowers them. I did statistical analysis, comparing the percentages of books on diverse subjects to the percentages of people from each group in the Kent State student body, and evaluated the library’s systems and collection based on those findings. I made recommendations to my boss based on my findings, so that we could update our collection with materials that are more relevant and will better engage the student body. This project connects to several of the ALA Core Competencies of Librarianship, including 5C: “Maintain the systems of cataloging, collection, metadata, indexing, and classification standards and structures, and implement methods used to apply, create, and discover recorded knowledge and information, and the weaknesses and strengths of these systems" and 8D: “Incorporate social justice and inclusion into professional practice through outreach and partnership with diverse groups and communities in order to expand inclusive collections (purchasing, classification, and description), staff, programs, and services." This project also relates to the ALCTS Core Competencies for Acquisitions Professionals, which states that an acquisitions professional “Pursues diversity and inclusion for the equitable acquisition of materials.”