Diverse Voices

The University of Rochester Libraries are committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive environment for students, staff, and faculty. The Libraries encourage, support and celebrate people of all races and places of origin, people with disabilities, people of diverse religious beliefs, sexualities and gender identities, and the most vulnerable in our community. UR libraries are promoted as a safe space to Learn, Discover, Heal, Create—and Make the World Ever Better.  

Libraries champion equitable access to information and entry to cultural dialogue for underrepresented voices. Staff members are empowered to promote equity, diversity and inclusion through our library services, collections, spaces, programming, and recruitment efforts.  

The UR Libraries Committee on Diversity and Inclusion was founded in 2016 to ensure that diversity and inclusion remain in the forefront of library operations through collaboration and education. Committee members are passionate, dedicated librarians and library staff who agree to serve a two year term, from River Campus, Edward G. Miner, and Sibley Music Libraries.

Learn more about the University's Office of Equity and Inclusion.

In conducting research, it can be easy to leave out BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) voices and populations, especially when in a majority White university. Here are some strategies to decenter whiteness in primary research.

Evaluate whether your research is WEIRD

• Western
• Educated
• Industrialized
• Rich
• Democratic

Most published research is not representative of the majority of populations because it was conducted with WEIRD societies. WEIRD can be applied to behavioral research based on cultural, environmental, and socioeconomic factors, but has also been critiqued for not acknowledging values and research practices informed by whiteness, not including race and ethnicity, and not addressing diversification of contexts as well as samples. Additionally, the research community can take steps to welcome non-WEIRD researchers into mainstream literature.  

When developing a research design, ask yourself how you can decenter the status quo characteristics described by WEIRD. 

1. As a researcher, are you making an effort to bridge the cultural gaps between researcher(s) and communities of color?
2. To what extent is your research question shaped by the needs and priorities of marginalized people, particularly those who will be most directly affected by the research?
3. Are members of that community involved in the creation process and being compensated for their work?
4. Are your promotional materials and communications in the language(s) and the medium (i.e., email, poster, text) that your target populations can understand and engage with?
5. Are you actively engaging the communities being researched to ensure an appropriate and meaningful outcome? 

Utilize research methods and practices that decenter whiteness

A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration, by Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, helps researchers embed questions of racial equity throughout the data life cycle: planning, data collection, data access, algorithms/use of statistical tools, data analysis, and reporting and dissemination. It includes exercises and examples, and encourages a community engaged framework. See the excerpt below:

Follow the praxis put forth by the Cite Black Women Collective

1. Read Black women's work
2. Integrate Black women into the CORE of your syllabus (in life & in the classroom)
3. Acknowledge Black women's intellectual production 
4. Make space for Black women to speak 
5. ​Give Black women the space and time to breathe

These principles from the Cite Black Women Collective, which aim to amplify the frequently marginalized voices of Black women, can be applied to all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

Use inclusive citation practices

Craven (2021) studied the Cite Black Women movement from the perspective of the field of Anthropology and wrote about antiracist citational politics and praxis. Craven gave the following (and more) suggestions.

• Look online to see how author's self-identify
• Make a spreadsheet to identify your own citation trends
• Be explicit that citing black women is not an add-on. Cite because their scholarship is valuable and central
• Read promiscuously, critically, and counter the observed inequities
• Look outside of academic books and articles (because of the history of Black women's scholarship being excluded from those venues)

Consult research found in non-Western journals

The Journals Online Project - aimed at providing increased visibility, accessibility, and quality of peer-reviewed journals published in developing countries so that the research outputs produced in these countries can be found, shared, and used more effectively - was launched by the International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP) in response to voices not heard, wasted talent, and unused research.