A subject librarian receives a request from a faculty member to find more inclusive sources with decolonial perspectives.

Prioritizing the faculty’s request to improve representation of equity deserving groups is essential in many disciplines. To include more inclusive voices in collections, utilize available toolkits and checklists, and engage with instructors to learn about the diverse cultural backgrounds of their students. Even if these backgrounds are not fully known, strive to highlight resources that reflect various identities and abilities. Make a conscious effort to be culturally aware and knowledgeable about your own biases, ensuring that your selections are inclusive and representative of different cultural perspectives.

Citation justice is a crucial practice for actively recognizing and citing the work of authors from historically underrepresented groups, including those based on race, sexuality, disability, and intersectional identities. 

When assisting patrons seeking diversity in their research fields, commercial databases are useful for locating and identifying authors by their identities. Several databases have begun offering features where authors can self-identify and list their articles based on their identity, although access to this data may still be limited for some users. As more scholars and community researchers contribute to decolonization efforts, a growing number of reliable online resources, including OA and OER sources and other projects, are becoming available. Librarians must stay alert about these alternative sources and guide students in evaluating and using them responsibly. 

Here are some starting points:

• Refer to the Culturally Relevant Teaching and Cultural Competency Checklists and Inclusive Teaching Pedagogy Checklist as well.
• Addressing Diversity in Author Searches: Finding diverse authors can be challenging due to limited data on author identities. Be transparent about these challenges with faculty, instructors, and students, emphasizing the importance of incorporating diverse authors.
• Expanding Library Collections:  If your library’s collections are overly Eurocentric, seek out diverse book lists popular in various disciplines. These lists are becoming available through multiple vendor websites.
• Vendor Resources for Diverse Authors: 
• EBSCO: Use the Advanced Search menu to filter by cultural identity (e.g., African American, Asian American, First Nations, etc.) and gender identity.
• ProQuest: Explore the Diversity Collection
• Diverse Bookfinder: Utilize this tool to find articles by diverse authors.
• EBSCO – GOBI: Explore diverse and inclusive collections using GOBI Spotlight Lists
• Independent Databases: Use databases such as 500 Queer Scientists, Cite Black Authors, Gage’s 500 Women Scientists, Diverse Sources, MMU Scholar List, Cite Black Women Collective, Cite Her Bibliography, Anti Colonial Research library to find diverse STEM experts. Similar databases may exist for other disciplines.
• Citation Mining: Do not make assumptions about an author’s cultural identity based on their name. Use references in articles or books to discover diverse authors.
• Cite Indigenous oral traditions and resources written by Indigenous scholars using Indigenous Knowledge and non-scholarly knowledge sources.
• Highlighting Diverse Authors: Identify diverse researchers from your institution (e.g., UVic) in Alma/Primo and showcase their work in author searches or topic exploration. Highlight diverse authors and titles in your LibGuide for the course
• Library Instruction and Discussion: Discuss Citation Justice, EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), Indigenous Knowledge, and Indigenous authors with students during library instruction sessions to support the search for diverse authors.
• Advocate for Diversity: Be vocal about the lack of diversity with faculty, instructors, and students, underlining the need to use diverse authors in academic resources.