Anti-Racism & Racial Justice Library Guide

This guide is intended to provide a variety of sources and information about anti-racism and racial justice issues to the CSUMB community. This guide also provides resources by/about Black authors, illustrators, and people. This guide is by no means exhaustive and will be continuously updated and added to.

Dear CSUMB Campus and Community Members,

The CSUMB Library condemns violence and racism toward Black people and all people of color, and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Jamel Floyd, and many more innocent Black people. The library stands in solidarity with those directly affected by this hate and violence, including local campus community members.

We need to take responsibility to be actively anti-racist at a personal level, build with one another to be accomplices in our day-to-day lives, and work collectively to transform policies and procedures at our workplaces and library associations. We must acknowledge the systemic and structural racism that Black people face, and actively fight against white supremacy in our personal and  professional lives.  

The CSUMB library is committed to actively practicing anti-racism through dialogue and action. It is our responsibility to interrogate and transform processes, policies, and procedures that are rooted in anti-Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) sentiments and which perpetuate inequities. Specifically, we need to look at our library resources and collections, research and instruction activities, services and programs, and our hiring and retention practices.

This LibGuide is the first step in this process. The intention of this guide is to share resources and begin the process of reflecting on the ways in which we perpetuate anti-BIPOC sentiments and policies.

The library stands by its library diversity statement, which commits us to:

• supporting diversity, inclusive excellence, equity, and social justice within the communities we serve by enhancing the experience of the CSUMB community by maintaining inclusive, safe, and welcoming library spaces, and by providing resources, services, programs, events, and exhibits that support diversity, inclusive excellence, equity, social justice, and a sense of belonging;
• maintaining strong relationships with diverse CSUMB communities including cultural and identity groups, first-generation, low-income, international students, and programs that support them;
• providing professional development training and support for all library employees in developing cultural competencies; and
• utilizing inclusive hiring practices so that our library employees reflect the diverse communities we serve.

For more information on the Library's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, please visit our website.