Ledding Library Diversity Audit

In late 2020 the Collections Team of the library-wide DEI Committee agreed to launch a diversity audit to assess the current collection for its representation of diverse groups and populations.  We wanted an answer to the question, “Who are our books about?”  Diversity audits can be used to collect data on any number of factors, including workplace demographics, services and programs, and collections. In an audit of collections, titles are typically reviewed one by one to determine which, if any, groups they represent.  This was the project that the team undertook, ultimately auditing 2799 titles in the collection, and an additional 258 as part of a pilot project.  To complete such an extensive review, it took nine library staff members (a mix of librarians, LA1s, and an LA2) seven months, from March-October 2021, to complete the audit.

We wanted to take the diversity “temperature” of the current collection.  Audits are often used to compare the diversity of a collection against the diversity of the community to evaluate whether it is reflective of the people served.  Demographic data for Milwaukie can be found below.  We also wanted to identify gaps in our collection where we could be doing more to find and purchase diverse titles beyond representation of the Milwaukie population - after all, diverse books are for everybody.  Ultimately, we are striving to provide a collection that elevates marginalized voices and provides a variety of perspectives for all our users.  The first step in that direction was to have an accurate picture of our current collection and understand our starting point.

See the attached files for an overview of the project and its results, as well as detailed graphs.