Library at Binghamton U. Gets DEI Award for ‘Decolonizing Collections’

Library at Binghamton U. Gets DEI Award for ‘Decolonizing Collections’

People on the left in higher education are not reading the room on this. They don’t care where public opinion is headed.

The College Fix reports:

Binghamton U. library gets DEI award for ‘decolonizing collections’

Efforts to “decononiz[e] collections” and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion have earned the Binghamton University library a special recognition.

The South Central Regional Library Council recently gave its Prism Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Accessibility to the university library for its DEI work, according to a BingUNews article.

The award recognizes individuals and institutions that show “strong work in advancing DEIJA,” including “antiracist” and “inclusive” projects, according to the report.

“DEI is more than just important: It is the cornerstone to the mission of the Libraries,” Binghamton’s senior director of public services Nancy Abashian stated.

Abashian said the library staff works to make sure “everyone, regardless of their background, feels valued and supported.”

A public research institution in New York, Binghamton received the award, in part, because of the library’s decolonizing collections working group, “which provides an ongoing effort to diversify the collections and archives,” according to the report.

The library also has its own Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility, which began in 2021.

One of its goals is to balance “any dominant, hegemonic trait (e.g. white, Christian, able-bodied, neuro-typical, gender conforming, etc.) … with otherwise underrepresented voices and intersectional experiences” in the library.

Additionally, the award recognized the library staff’s work over the past year to create “a feedback mechanism for identifying potentially harmful language found within the libraries catalog,” the report states.

This year, the library also expanded its collection with materials from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America to “facilitate research with a broader perspective,” according to the report.

The university’s commitment to DEI extends beyond the library. Earlier this month, Binghamton hosted an “inaugural Principles of Community DEI Symposium” for faculty and staff.

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