March 2022 | Diverse Collection Support Toolkit

Laura Damon-Moore
Laura Damon-Moore
Last updated 
Committee Updates
Tip from Selection Committee member: use OverDrive's sales and promotions calendar to find and save on diverse titles.

Project Manager Updates
Sara G. signed up for the African American Literature Book Club's newsletter and has been using it to inspire purchases for the digital library.

Diverse Collection Action Plan Ideas | March
  • Keep an eye out for Ramadan titles, which will be promoted on OverDrive in the coming weeks.
  • For juvenile materials, check out the Cooperative Children's Book Center's Recommended Book Search database. Use the Diversity Subject filters to locate recommended titles in diverse categories.
Resource or Tool of the Month
RAILS webinar: https://www.railslibraries.info/events/238461 (external link/resource) 

Description: an hour-long continuing ed webinar from RAILS, featuring collection development librarians Betsy Bird from the Evanston Public Library and Dontaná McPherson-Joseph from the Oak Park Public Library. Betsy and Dontaná discuss the process of conducting a diversity audit and the results that led to changes in procedures and new initiatives for their collections. 

Takeaways:
  • Cultivating a diverse collection goes beyond selecting and purchasing -- also involves marketing and promotion and shifts in de-selection practices.
  • Auditing on the front end (surveying and seeking out diverse titles) is a key part of the process.
Stay in touch
We encourage you to comment on this and other modules, add YOUR tips and suggestions, or email us with ideas for future modules. We are excited to hear and learn from you! Find the complete toolkit here.

Keywords:
newsletter, front-end audit, diversity audit, collection development, juvenile, webinar, toolkit