About the Library

Purpose and Mission

The Library IDEA Committee exists to develop and promote IDEA efforts in Library policies, practices, programming, and services. It will also promote and reflect SUNY Geneseo's Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity principles.

The central mission of the IDEA Committee is to create a welcoming and supportive community for our students, faculty, and staff. 

Cultural Collections at Milne Library

Learn about our IDEA Committee Initiatives

Library Statement of Solidarity on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism

IDEA Committee Charge

The IDEA committee is charged with finding ways to promote the diversity, equity, and inclusion values of the university within the Library, recommending educational programming to library staff on IDEA concepts, helping the library demonstrate its appreciation of the diverse student body, and collaborate with faculty or students on promoting materials that align with IDEA principles.

Everyone is welcome at the SUNY Geneseo Library. With the potential to serve as a place of connection for people and ideas across the College’s disciplinary, community, and racial divides, the Library’s physical and virtual spaces provide a place for people to connect with information as well as each other. The Library staff acknowledges our responsibility to emphasize both of our roles as connector and catalyst for change as we move forward.

Library Mission:

“To provide access to information, expert support for scholarship, and a diverse and inclusive environment where patrons come to study, share ideas, and learn.”

To carry out our mission, we accept our responsibility to further social justice by providing equitable access to information, facilitating the creation of new knowledge, and preserving our history so that we may continue to learn from it. Thus, we are committed to recognizing and addressing the history of systemic bias and inequity in libraries and in librarianship, including our collections, spaces, services, and past recruitment practices.

The Library staff is committed to inclusivity, diversity, equity, and anti-racism. To respond to the challenges of a changing academic library environment, we strive to:

• Continue to educate ourselves to develop cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Foster equitable treatment of everyone in the SUNY Geneseo community.
• Maintain library spaces that are welcoming, respectful, safe, and accessible to all.
• Provide members of the college community a wide variety of resources that are free of charge to users, eliminating cost as a barrier to access.
• Build collections that are inclusive and represent multiple points of view, focusing on materials by a diverse authorship.
• Make the library’s online resources and technologies universally accessible within our means and adapt to rapidly changing technology.
• Incorporate inclusive pedagogy when teaching information literacy and research skills so all members of the SUNY Geneseo community can create knowledge.

Our statement of solidarity is also on the SUNY Geneseo Statements of Support and Action Plans for Racial Justice page.

Resources

Since its creation, members of the IDEA Committee have been updating the research guides with diverse resources and language. Most of the guides updated so far are those of  Individualized Studies and Cultural Studies, including:

• Antiracism Resources
• Asian Studies
• Becoming an Antiracist Educator
• Black & Africana Studies
• Latin American Studies
• LGBTQ+ Studies
• Native American Studies
• Women and Gender Studies

Active members

Alessandra Otero Ramos (Chair) - Research Instruction Librarian; Liaison of Arts and Humanities
Becky Leathersich (IDEA representative in the President’s Commission on Diversity and Community) - Research Instruction Librarian; Liaison to Education
Brandon West - Head of Library Research Instruction Services
Teddy Gyamfi - Evening Access Services Manager

Initiatives

Click here to learn about the committee's deeds since its creation in Summer 2020.