The Edsel Ford Memorial Library and the Hotchkiss Archives & Special Collections stands in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), particularly Hotchkiss students, alumni, faculty and staff. In the wake of this summer’s protests in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and many more throughout United States’ history, we express our anger and sadness at the ongoing racist violence across the country. 

As staff and members of the Hotchkiss community we commit to increasing our knowledge about systemic racism and the ways it has influenced our work as librarians, archivists or curators. Further, we support The Hotchkiss School, its board of trustees’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, and Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Yassine Talhaoui, in their essential work to strengthen school culture and divest it of racism, marginalization and bigotry. We believe the Library, and its satellite programs of Archives and Special Collections, should always be places free of racism and bigotry, where students feel safe, seen, and supported. 

Libraries, archives and special collections are not neutral. While we strive to make information equitably available to everyone, we also recognize there are historical and implicit biases ingrained in much of what we do from the way we catalog, to the narratives that dominate our collections, to the presumption of privilege that permeates our resources. To that end, we commit to the following actions:

As individuals: 

• We will work to educate ourselves about anti-racism and racial equity, and wherever possible, participate in programs about systemic racism available to the wider School community.
• We will examine the language we use in the Library and in our workspaces.

As a Library, Archives and Special Collections

• We will work to understand and change the ways our spaces may not be as welcoming as they should. 
• We will re-evalute our policies, looking for possible barriers in language and tone. 
• We want and need to encourage dialog with our community about our resources. To that end, just as we offer students, faculty and staff the opportunity to request items for the collection, we will now offer an online opportunity to question why a book, video or e-resource is included in the collection.
• We will work to develop our collections that equitably reflect and represent Hotchkiss community members who self-identify as BIPOC. 
• We will examine our classification methods to make access to all collections more equitable. 
• We will work with Hotchkiss faculty to make sure our teaching, exhibits, and digital content is inclusive and culturally responsive.

Follow this link to view library resources on the subject of anti-racism.