Insight Into Diversity magazine has selected WVU Libraries to receive the 2024 Library Excellence in Access and Diversity (LEAD) Award for its programs and initiatives that encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion across West Virginia University.
“We know that many academic libraries are not always
recognized for their dedication to diversity, inclusion, and access,” Lenore
Pearlstein, owner and publisher of Insight Into Diversity magazine, said. “We
are proud to honor these college and university libraries as role models for
other institutions of higher education.”
A few of the efforts that have distinguished WVU Libraries
involve exhibitions, community outreach and research.
One that has been especially popular and attracted the most
attention is the Inclusive Portrait Project, an initiative by WVU Libraries’
Art in the Libraries program to expand the WVRHC portrait collection through
the creation of three portraits painted by a current BFA or MFA student or
recent graduate who identifies as female. The project is funded by a Women of
WVU grant.
Last spring, the Libraries unveiled a portrait of Virginia “Kittie”
Blakemore, the first coach of the WVU’s women’s basketball team.
A central tenet for WVU Libraries and the West Virginia and
Regional History Center is the need to not only preserve history, but to also
make it freely accessible to the public.
In October 2023, the Libraries and
the WVRHC hosted an exhibit to showcase the West
Virginia Feminist Activist Collection. Since 2017, the WVRHC has actively
collected records and oral histories to document efforts to improve the lives
of women in the state and region.
The West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection is a rich
collection of materials for scholars, teachers, and students to use for
research and learning. It is equally a set of collections that offers
inspiration and hope. It serves as a vital record of the history of women and
the women making that history.
Also last fall, people from the WVU and local community and
beyond filled the Milano Reading Room to celebrate the life and legacy of NASA
mathematician and space pioneer Katherine Johnson. At the event,
WVRHC Director Lori Hostuttler announced Johnson as the latest addition to the
Center’s Distinguished West Virginians Program and officially open Johnson’s
archives, which include notebooks, photographs, correspondence, memorabilia,
awards and other materials.
WVU Libraries and the WVU Humanities Center regularly
collaborate on events to support underrepresented authors. One event introduced
a new generation to the late Affrilachian poet Norman Jordan. “Reflections on
West Virginian Poet Norman Jordan” featured Brucella Jordan, Norman’s widow,
reading his works and talking about his life.
As part of its Appalachian Writer of Color series, the WVU
Humanities Center invited AppalAsian poet Lisa Kwong to campus.
WVU Libraries also supports faculty research both inside and
outside the library. Currently, this includes a Librarian Faculty member who is
working on article about the Black Press in West Virginia for the West Virginia
Encyclopedia and an English Professor conducting research on Black students on
the WVU campus in the 1960s.
WVU Libraries will be featured, along with 55 other
recipients, in the March 2024 issue of Insight Into Diversity magazine.
Insight Into Diversity magazine is the largest and oldest
diversity and inclusion publication in higher education today. Insight is the
leader in recognizing inclusive excellence in higher education through its
prestigious awards. They are also known for being the leader in advancing best
practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion through their website and print
magazine.
For more information about the 2024 Library Excellence in
Access and Diversity (LEAD) Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.