EDI in the Library
The library team prioritizes equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). We have listed a few of the more prominent EDI commitments and initiatives below. As more work is completed, this page will be updated with dates to track the library's journey.
Contact Us
If you have questions on any of the following, or recommendations for additional ways the library can support EDI at the college, please contact library@lwtech.edu.
Accessibility
The library is concerned with accessibility in the physical library as well as in the library's digital resources. In Summer 2022, with the support of LWTech's Disability Support Services office, the library created a physical Accessibility Toolkit for students to check out and use in the library.
Additionally, the library regularly reviews its systems, including Library Search and research databases, to optimize for accessibility.
The library team consistently supports the Digital Accessibility Committee at the college as well.
Acknowledgments
The library team integrated a labor acknowledgment and a land acknowledgment into all major meetings in Spring 2021. The labor acknowledgment was derived from similar language used at Seattle Central College and Highline College. The land acknowledgment was developed by the LWTech Office of EDI. Both acknowledgments are included below.
Labor Acknowledgment
We pause to recognize and acknowledge the labor upon which our country, state, and institution are built. We remember that our country is built on the labor of enslaved people who were kidnapped and brought to the US from the African continent and recognize the continued contribution of their survivors. We also acknowledge all immigrant labor including voluntary, involuntary, trafficked, forced, and undocumented peoples who contributed to the building of the country and continue to serve within our labor force. We acknowledge all unpaid care-giving labor. Finally, we acknowledge that our institution relies on hourly, student, contingent, and unpaid labor and we recognize those contributions.
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that the LWTech campus is on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, past and present, and we honor with gratitude the land itself, and the Coast Salish, Stillaguamish, Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot and Duwamish tribes. We acknowledge these tribes by showing respect, and take an intentional step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people's history and culture, and toward inviting and honoring the truth.
Tribe Websites
If you would like to learn more about the tribes in the area, please visit the following websites:
Antiracism Collection Development Review
As of Summer 2020, the LWTech librarians have been reviewing and revising practices, policies, and resources with an antiracist lens. The LWTech Library is committed to antiracism through a review and revision of policies, practices, and resources. Read our full statement and the librarians' list of Antiracism Books and Movies.
Collections
You can view information about all our collections on our collections page. Visit the Collections page in Library Search to see individual items in each collection. The library continuously works to grow
these collections and keep them relevant.
The library launched a Diversity and Social Justice (DSJ) collection in Fall 2021 to support the new DSJ requirement across all academic programs. The collection includes books and movies related to the following categories: Ableism, Environmental Justice, Ageism, Classism, Critical Pedagogy, Diversity, Ethnicity, Homophobia and Transphobia, Immigration Status, Intersectionality, Level of Education, Racism, Religious Oppression, Sexism, and Social Oppression. It is located on the upper floor of the library near the main book stacks.
The library team is committed to supporting Indigenous culture and knowledge and correcting the stories and practices that erase the first peoples of this area. In addition to staff reflections and ongoing learning, we have developed an Indigenous Peoples Collection (IPC) that focuses on works by Indigenous authors locally and beyond. The collection has existed since 2015. It can be identified by green "IPC" stickers on the spines of books throughout the library.
In Spring 2019, the library developed the International Collection to bring in books representative of the diverse, international student population at the college. Over 60 countries are represented in this collection, across multiple book genres.Diversity and Social Justice (DSJ) Collection
RISE Center and Office of Student Life Collaborations
The library has partnered with the LWTech RISE Center, since its creation in Summer 2017, and the Office of Student Life to bring diverse events programming into the library. These include panel discussions, presentations, poetry readings and workshops, and movie screenings. The library also regularly collaborates on displays created by the RISE Center to support different populations, heritage months, and other topics. Occasionally the librarians will support programming outside of the library as well.
Student and Employee Privacy Rights
The library is committed to supporting the privacy rights of all users of its systems and resources, both in the context of intellectual freedom and in supporting user safety. In Spring 2022 the library severed its contract with research database LexisNexis in response to the vendor's selling user data to ICE and other entities. In Fall 2022 the LWTech librarians began a systemic review of the other library databases in the context of user data and privacy. Read our Policies and Procedures, articles 5 and 7, for more information.