Inclusive Excellence

DEI is our guiding force. It infuses our daily work and interactions with all whom we come in contact. We value, celebrate and promote DEI in our workforce and in the communities we serve. Our services, resources and collections should reflect the diversity of the world and highlight marginalized and previously unseen communities – and where we fall short, we will work to do better.

DEI efforts take place throughout UC Libraries and are championed by many people. This page is a resource and highlight of the various DEI initiatives and news from UC Libraries.

Regina Bourne, Director, Inclusion, Diversity & Organizational Development

• Implementation of the Multicultural Organizational Development Plan and activities where Libraries can build and maintain a sense of belonging, agency, enhanced cultural competency and a culture of accountability 
• Serves as UC Libraries liaison to the Office of Equity, Inclusion & Community Impact
• Coordinates UC Libraries involvement with the university's broad urban community engagement initiatives

Debbie Tenofsky, Accessibility Librarian

• Manages Adaptive Technologies resources and services
• Servces as UC Libraries liaison to UC's Accessibility Resources
  

• Africana Studies, Arlene Johnson
• Asian Studies, Olga Hart
• History, Nimisha Bhat
• Judaic Studies, Arlene Johnson
• Latin American Studies, Arlene Johnson
• Music, Dance, Theatre studies, Jenny Doctor
• STEM,liaison to DEI and Inclusive Excellence, Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy
• Urban Studies Archive, Suzanne Reller
• Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Nimisha Bhat
  
• World Language & Culture, Olga Hart

RESPECT (Racial Equity Support Programming to Educate the Community Team) has as its charge to use library resources to expand programming and resources that provide library users with the tools to understand systemic racism in order to begin dismantling it.

2022/2023 RESPECT Members:

• Tiffany Grant, co-chair
• Melissa Cox Norris, co-chair
• Meshia Anderson
• Susan Banoun
  
• Mikaila Corday
• Sidney Gao
• Maggie Patel
• Erin Rinto
• June Taylor-Slaughter

• Africana Studies LibGuide
• African American History Research Guide
  
• CECH Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Research Guide
• CECH Library’s Social Issues for Criminal Justice Careers Research Guide
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Databases
• Diversity, Race & the Media
  
• Diversity & Performing Arts Resources
  • main LibGuide: Researching in the Performing Arts @ CCM
• IT Knowledge Base article about PDFs and accessibility
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Resources in STEM
  • Inclusive Excellence - STEM & Beyond
  • Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
• Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates & Allies Research Guide
• University of Cincinnati Press books on Social Justice and Equity Studies

We respectfully acknowledge that we are on the traditional, ancestral lands of the Ni-u-kon-ska (Osage), Ani'-Yun'wiya (Cherokee), Myaamia (Miami), Lenape (Delaware), and Shawandasse (Shawnee) Nations. These peoples, in addition to the ancient Adena and Hopewell cultures, lived and thrived here before being subjected to forcible removal and genocide. As we reflect on the Nations whose land we appropriated, it is also critical to acknowledge that Native peoples are still here. The legacy of displacement and subjugation disproportionally affects Native communities and families as they continue to fight for the sovereignty of their Nations and the retention of their tribal lands.   

Learning our land’s history is not enough. A shared commitment to learning about and supporting Native nations, organizations, and causes is also an important way to acknowledge the land on which our city was built and the Native peoples who were displaced from it. Further, we acknowledge the institutional, socioeconomic, physical, psychological and emotional wounds and inequalities that remain in existence as a result of these inhumane and reprehensible crimes.

• 'Indigenous Dispossesion' exhibit and bibliography
• UC Native American Initiatives website
• Greater Cincinnati Native American Coalition