Social Justice & Anti-Racism: Representation Matters

In February of 2020, the library honored African American History Month with a display of the research conducted by Librarian Michelle Hendley, and faculty members Dr. Matthew Hendley and Dr. Trudy Thomas-Smith. 

In February of 2019, the library put together a display in the Children's Books and Young Adult Collection to honor African American History Month. 

In February 2021, the library put together a display to honor Black History Month. The display needed to be enclosed in our glass display cases due to COVID restrictions. 

The display picture below occurred at the 2017 Life of the Minds at SUNY Oneonta. The display features SUNY Oneonta faculty publications available in the Alden Room that were published between 2007 - 2017. 

In April of 2019, Special Collections Intern Quetcy Betancourt used materials from the Milne Library Archives for her presentation titled "The History and Politics of People of Color in SUNY Oneonta." 

Pictured above is Quetcy Betancourt. Pictured below is Quetcy Betancourt and Special Collections Librarian Heather Stalter. 

Pictured above is Quetcy Betancourt during her presentation. Pictured below is a collection of the materials from the Milne Library and Special Collections that were used for the presentation. 

In the past, Librarian Sarah Rhodes has teamed up with Professor Carol Mikoda for an instruction class for the course EDUC 201: Diversity in Teaching. In this particular instruction class, the students learn about the importance of selecting multiculturally appropriate Children's and Young Adult books for their classrooms in the future. After a hands-on activity, students are asked to select a book that they would recommend to add to the Milne Library collection that is multiculturally appropriate. These recommendations are used to select titles to add to the Children's Book and Young Adult Collections at Milne Library. Picture below is a display created highlighting the recommendations purchased from the first class. 

At the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester, the library worked to create spaces that felt less lonely for students. In order to still create socially distanced and safe spaces, the library created "study buddies." These study buddies were images of people that were printed out and placed around the library at tables to create the illusion of working next to other people. The library used this opportunity to highlight Black men and women alongside a QR code that linked to library resources about the person, turning the experience into an educational one. 

In March of 2020, the library put together a display featuring Asian American Art. Since the display was up for only a brief time before the campus community members transitioned to an online environment, the display was transitioned into an online format. At the link titled Blog Post below, you will encounter an informative guide to highlighting a virtual display! 

In March of 2020, the library put together a display in the Children's Book and YA collection featuring a selection of contemporary multicultural titles. The display was inspired by a quote from Tommy Orange, author of the novel There, There. For more social justice themed resources for ages K-12, check out the page "Social Justice Resources for K-12 Educators." View the pictures of the display below. 

Upon hearing the sad news of her passing, the library put together a display to honor legendary author Toni Morrison.