Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan

Purpose of Plan

The Libraries’ vision, mission, and core values are WHY we do our work.

The Libraries’ strategic plan, which includes our strategic initiatives and core activities, describes WHAT we do in service of our vision, mission, and core values—the services, programs, and resources that we provide to students, staff, and faculty at Pacific.

The Libraries’ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) plan guides HOW we approach our work—both that described in our strategic plan and all other activities that we engage in as part of our operations—by providing a framework for identifying and prioritizing activities that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. As part of determining HOW we will do something, we are also led to a decision as to whether we should be doing that “WHAT” at all—if something actively works against equity, diversity, and inclusion, or reinforces exclusion or discrimination, we will not implement it.

Note: This plan does not reflect all of the ways in which the Libraries support equity, diversity, and inclusion; individual departments and areas of work are engaged in additional efforts. However, this plan presents activities that are priorities for the Libraries as a whole, and which often involve multiple departments/library stakeholders.

EDI Goals

Create an organizational culture that reflects and advances equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Activities to support this goal:

  1. Prioritize funding for, and provide professional development for library employees (including student employees) on EDI topics and related competencies (for example, anti-bias, bystander intervention, trauma-informed care). [Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries and EDI Committee]
  2. Identify, and prioritize funding for, relevant opportunities and programs for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) students to aid in professional development and progress along library career pathways, in order to help address the disparities within librarianship in employment and advancement for persons of color. [Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries and EDI Committee]
  3. Review and update onboarding processes for all library employees. [Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries and Library Steering Team]
  4. Incorporate an “under-deployment” strategy (intentionally not planning tasks that will consume an individual’s full capacity) into goal-setting at the organizational and individual level to help address employee stress/burnout and leave room for unexpected work. [Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries]

Build library collections and services that recognize different forms of cultural knowledge and ways of understanding the world, and that contribute to dismantling the idea that any single cultural way of knowing is better or should be viewed as the norm.

Activities to support this goal:

  1. Develop and implement sustainable plans for providing resources in library, archives, and special collections that reflect, and are relevant to, different cultural identities and life circumstances; this includes maximizing ease of discovery and access to resources needed for personal or curricular exploration. [Responsibility: Collections Committee. Archives/Cultural Resources, and Collection Services]
  2. Develop, and integrate into acquisitions decisions and descriptive practices, sustainable strategies for holistically supporting patrons through library collections by considering their intersectional identities and needs, especially those from historically marginalized communities or those who may have experienced trauma. This could extend beyond the curricular or scholarly content traditionally seen as appropriate for a university library collection. [Responsibility: Collections Committee and Collection Services]
  3. Incorporate inclusive pedagogy principles into the design and delivery of library instruction sessions; ensure that everyone in the Libraries engaged in instruction is equipped to implement these principles; and promote these principles through collaborations with academic faculty within the colleges.[Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries]

Foster a sense of belonging for all members of the Pacific community in library facilities and in library service and resource use.

Belonging refers to “students’…perception that they are personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others at the university.” (Wilson, S., & Gore, J. (2013). An attachment model of university connectedness. Journal of Experimental Education, 81(2), 178–198.)

Activities to support this goal:

  1. Include the Libraries’ Student Advisory Board in reviewing changes in library services and resources, and in advising the Libraries on the best strategies for including other student voices in planning and assessment. [Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries and Student Advisory Board Advisors]
  2. Systematically gather information that is needed from, and about, patron groups in order to deliver inclusive services informed by specific patron needs. This should include both project/service-specific data gathering as well as a mechanism for ongoing, anonymous feedback from patrons. [Responsibility: Library Steering Team and Assessment Lead]
  3. Create an intentional, inclusive communication strategy for sharing information with patrons. This should include practices for creating awareness of library resources, services, and news; guidelines for ensuring relevant information is shared on a consistent basis; and guidelines for minimizing/eliminating the use of library jargon that could contribute to library anxiety or create barriers to engagement for patrons.  [Responsibility: Library Communications Committee]
  4. Improve the visibility and accessibility of signage in library facilities related to basic patron needs (for example, gender neutral bathrooms or maps indicating accessible seating for wheelchair users or others with motor disabilities). [Responsibility: Accessibility Committee]
  5. Ensure library physical spaces are inclusive of the identities, experiences, and needs of all patrons. This includes the selection of artwork and exhibits, arrangement of furnishings, and removing both physical and emotional barriers to use of library facilities and collections (for example, introducing self-check out stations or high-speed scanners or removing security measures that cause anxiety). [Responsibility: Access Services and Archives/Cultural Resources]
  6. Analyze patterns in missing physical resources to try to identify potential barriers to patrons feeling comfortable checking out specific resources, and to ensure high-interest items are quickly replaced. [Responsibility: Collection Services]

Work to identify and eliminate racism, White privilege, and other identity-based privilege currently inherent in library services, technology, and information resources.

Activities to support this goal:

  1. Audit library policies and services to identify ways in which they may establish White culture as normative and non-White cultures as “other;” as a complement to this, work to identify strategies for better positioning and acknowledging all cultures as equal in library policies and services. [Responsibility: Library Steering Team, EDI Committee, and Dean of University Libraries]
  2. Develop criteria and a framework for evaluating and selecting external vendors using equity and anti-racism rubrics. [Responsibility: EDI Committee, Library Administration, and Collection Services]

Develop accountability to historically marginalized and oppressed groups within Pacific University.

Activities to support this goal:

  1. Consistently share the results of patron feedback and other library evaluation tools through the library website and other public communication channels in order to be transparent about areas in which the Libraries need to improve in their services to historically marginalized and oppressed groups; ensure that this includes an explicit plan (ideally with a timeline) for the Libraries’ planned actions in response to issues identified. [Responsibility: Dean of University Libraries, EDI Committee, and Library Steering Team]
  2. Implement culturally responsive approaches to working with local and regional Indigenous communities in order to ensure materials and descriptive information in the library, archives, and museum collections and catalogs, as well as education provided by the Libraries, appropriately represents communities and do not cause harm to Indigenous individuals or groups. This includes a commitment to the repatriation of materials to Indigenous communities, and to the education of the Pacific community about the roles and responsibilities of the institution in local and regional Indigenous history. [Responsibility: Collection Services, Archives & Special Collections, Dean of University Libraries]

This plan will be reviewed on an annual basis and will be updated as necessary to reflect progress or changes in priorities based on the needs of the communities we serve. If you have questions or feedback on the plan, you can contact the Dean of University Libraries directly at gilmani@pacificu.edu or you can use the Libraries’ anonymous feedback form.To contact individuals in other Libraries departments, please visit the Libraries employee directory.

EDI Plan Progress (as of July 2022)

Create an organizational culture that reflects and advances equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Progress in support of this goal:

  1. Created a standing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee to provide leadership in the area of EDI for the Libraries by identifying needs, making recommendations, and assisting in the development, implementation, and assessment of projects and strategies that support and promote equity, justice, and inclusion for all employees and patrons of the Pacific University Libraries.
  2. Created a bi-monthly 'EDI Coffee Break' time as an opportunity to have informal, but moderated, discussions about EDI topics and help normalize and reinforce the expectation that an EDI lens will be part of everyone's work.
  3. Adapted the Nonprofit Association of Oregon's Equity and Inclusion Lens Guide to create an internal tool to be used in the planning of new programs, services, and policies, and in the assessment of existing work.
  4. Supporting ongoing professional development for library employees on EDI topics and related competencies (for example, anti-bias, bystander intervention, trauma-informed care).
  5. Reviewed and substantially updated hiring processes for library employees to mitigate the impact of bias in the hiring process and to ensure all qualified candidates have an equal opportunity for success, using principles from Oregon State University's Search Advocate program as a starting point.

Build library collections and services that recognize different forms of cultural knowledge and ways of understanding the world, and that contribute to dismantling the idea that any single cultural way of knowing is better or should be viewed as the norm.

Progress in support of this goal:

  1. Completed a NNLM Collection Equity Award to identify and purchase library materials to update outdated areas of the collections related to LGBTQ and BIPOC health and wellness; this served as an initial pilot of evaluating and re-building a collection through an equity lens, a process which can be
    applied broadly across our collections.

Foster a sense of belonging for all members of the Pacific community in library facilities and in library service and resource use.

Progress in support of this goal:

  1. Involved the Libraries’ Student Advisory Board in reviewing changes in library services and resources, and in advising the Libraries on strategies for including other student voices in planning and assessment.
  2. Created an internal guide focused on accessible use of fonts, colors, and design choices in Libraries communications materials.
  3. Installed gender neutral bathroom signs on single occupancy bathrooms in the Tran Library.
  4. Removed electromagnetic security gates to create a more welcoming space in the Tran Library and Hillsboro Campus Library.
  5. Installed self-serve options for interacting with the Libraries' physical collections--high-speed scanners and self-check out stations/phone app--in the Tran Library, Hillsboro Campus Library, and Eugene Campus resource library.

Work to identify and eliminate racism, White privilege, and other identity-based privilege currently inherent in library services, technology, and information resources.

Progress in support of this goal:

  1. Library Steering Team began review and update of Libraries usage polices using our internal equity lens framework.

Develop accountability to historically marginalized and oppressed groups within Pacific University.

Progress in support of this goal:

  1. Developed and implemented the Reconsideration of Library & Archives Materials policy and procedure to provide a transparent process for responding to concerns about materials or descriptive information in the library, archives, and special collections and catalogs that could cause harm to individuals or groups.