Mansfield Library DEI Committee

Charge

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is a standing committee within the Mansfield Library composed of faculty, staff, and student employees. The committee charge is to support the Mansfield Libraries’ and the University of Montana’s strong commitment to creating a vibrant and welcoming culture that expects and respects diversity. The DEI Committee’s role is to actively challenge racism and support diversity through library collections, services, instruction, exhibits, and physical and virtual environments in recognition of the Mansfield Library’s unique responsibility to and long history of upholding equal and accessible access to information, intellectual freedom, and freedom of inquiry and right to privacy.

Members

Library Representatives

DEI Committee Activities

An Evening of Traditional Salish Stories (2013)

On February 20th, Vance Home Gun, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, led an Evening of Traditional Salish Stories for an audience of 50. This event was funded with Student-Centered Innovative Project funds.

The Diversity of One (2014)

Student Meagan Schrey (BFA 2014) won an open competition sponsored by the Diversity Committee and was commissioned to create original artwork for the Mansfield Library. Her piece, The Diversity of One, depicts the word “library” in languages including Arabic, Blackfoot, Irish, Lao, Swahili, and Salish, among many others. It was installed and is permanently displayed on Level 5 of the library.

DiverseU Display (2018)

In celebration of celebrate UM’s 13th annual diversity symposium, this display highlighted literature from our collection that celebrated diversity.  DiverseU provides a forum for honest dialogue in order to explore the complexities of human experience, promote understanding, and create community through the practice of civil discourse.

Black History Month February (2019)

This display highlighted material from our collection written by African American authors in the subjects of afrofuturism and children’s literature.

Kyiyo Display (2019)

To celebrate the 51st Annual Kyiyo Pow-Wow, the Diversity Committee displayed photos of past Kyiyo celebrations.  These photos were donated to the Archives and Special Collections by Chris Roberts, a pow-wow photographer and founding Kyiyo member.  The display was on the main floor lobby of the library during the month of April.

Pacific Islanders Club Display (2019)

Pacific Islanders Club Display (2019)

He Huaka'i i ka Pākīpika “A Journey to the Pacific” - This display highlighted indigenous adornments and cultural instruments from the University of Montana’s Pacific Islanders Club.  The Pacific Islanders Club is dedicated to creating sacred spaces around campus and sharing their Aloha throughout the community. 

  

Free To Be: LGBTQIA Children's Literature (2019)

This exhibit, which was on display in the Mansfield Library, March 1-31, 2019, featured a spectrum of children’s literature about gender and sexual identity. LGBTQIA children’s literature helps children develop an identity so they can find a place in the world, and it educates both children and adults about queer culture, diversity, and uniqueness. The books in this exhibit celebrate all the different ways someone can be and how families are made, and are available in the Children’s Collection at the Mansfield Library.

Writing Native American History: Understanding Plenty Coups from the Crow Perspective (2019)

In March and April 2019, the Mansfield Library’s Archives and Special Collections hosted three presentations by anthropologist and Apsaalooke tribe member Aaron Brien about the life of Plenty Coups, chief of the Ashalaho / Many Lodges (Mountain Crows) of the Apsáalooke / Children of the Long Beaked Bird. The presentations coincide with the exhibit of Plenty Coups on display on the main floor of the library. Brien discussed the history and development of the Crow clan and warrior structure as well as the importance of understanding Plenty Coups’ life from a Crow perspective. Each presentation ended with a tour of Apsaalooke artifacts held in Archives and Special Collections.

Story Time (2019)

The Diversity Committee created a monthly event, hosting children from ASUM Childcare for a 45 minute story time where kids participate in stories and a creative activity. This event will continue focus on ethnically and regionally diverse stories.

Study Rooms

Our group study rooms represent the diversity inherent in Montana’s twelve tribal nations. Welcome signs in the Mansfield Library and at the Payne Family Library at Missoula College identify the library in the Salish language as Snmipnuntn – a place to learn, a place to figure things out, a place where reality is discovered. We acknowledge that we are in the aboriginal territories of the Salish and Kalispel people. We honor the path they have always shown us in caring for this place for the generations to come.”

Snmipnuntn (2019)

The Payne Family Library at Missoula College recently put up welcoming signs in their space. The library worked with Tachini Pete of the Nḱʷusm Salish Language School to develop signage in Salish, in acknowledgement of the land the University of Montana sits on, and the people who have called this their aboriginal territories. Snmpinuntun is a Salish word meaning “a place to learn, a place to figure things out, a place where reality is discovered”. We are honored to welcome our Native and non-Native students into our spaces using the language of the Salish people.

Launch UM virtual tour.