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Creating a STEM Diversity Collection in an Academic Science and Engineering Library

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Engineering Libraries Technical Session 6: Diversity

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40793

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40793

Download Count

612

Paper Authors

biography

Eric Prosser Arizona State University

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Eric Prosser is the Interim STEM Division Head and the Engineering & Entrepreneurship Librarian with the Arizona State University Library. Eric is a liaison to the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and provides research services for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students along with instruction in critical analysis and information literacy, including the legal and ethical use of information.

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Abstract

BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities have been historically marginalized and are underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Creating a curated collection that spotlights the stories of their contributors to STEM fields is one step that can be taken to address this inequity. The STEM Diversity Collection at this academic science and engineering library has been assembled with a focus on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ scientists, engineers, innovators, and others whose contributions and achievements have been historically minimized and even ignored. In addition to describing the creation of this collection, this article describes the challenges and lessons learned along with the development of a collection development philosophy for maintaining and growing the collection. In addition, the article reviews the literature describing similar equity collections, in both STEM and non-STEM fields, and looks at collection development efforts for diversity and equity in other academic STEM libraries.

Prosser, E. (2022, August), Creating a STEM Diversity Collection in an Academic Science and Engineering Library Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40793

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