Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at GW Libraries & Academic Innovation

Our Commitment

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are key values for GW and for Libraries and Academic Innovation, but we know that we do not yet fully live these values. We acknowledge the mistakes and inequities of the past and we strive to learn from them, to know better, and do better. To that goal, GW Libraries and Academic Innovation commits to:

1. Become an anti-racist organization by making frequent, consistent, and equitable choices to question and dismantle individual, interpersonal, and systemic white supremacy wherever it is encountered. 
2. Engage our staff and community in frequent and on-going opportunities for discussion, reflection, and self-education in matters of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. As a staff, we will examine our own privilege and explore how that has shaped our worldview, remaining open to understanding the lived experience of others who lack that privilege. 
3. Find meaningful ways to diversify our professional and student staff by engaging in a deep exploration of our recruitment and hiring practices. We will educate anyone involved in hiring on unconscious bias and strategies for counteracting that bias. 
4. Assess the hidden curriculum at GW, openly question those assumptions, and actively work to make a GW education more inclusive for members of all racial and ethnic groups, socio-economic groups, sexual orientation, and gender identities. 
5. Identify barriers to accessibility in our physical and digital spaces and continually choose to break down those barriers through our own work or through strong advocacy efforts. 
6. Establish and maintain a work-culture in which all employees are free to be their true and authentic self and all are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. 
7. Examine the resources we collect and actively adjust those resources to match the diversity of our community in terms of both authors and subjects. 
8. Create a welcoming environment for all of our community members through the careful examination of policies, procedures, iconography and layout of our buildings, signage, and customer service standards. 

We will not meet these commitments tomorrow or, perhaps, even soon, but we invite meaningful suggestions and criticism from both outside and within our organization to move us toward these goals. Finally, we commit to accept all suggestions and criticism with a sincere desire to know better and to do better.