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committed to recognizing and supporting underrepresented voices past and present

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The William L. Clements Library is committed to actively supporting underrepresented voices from the past and in the present throughout the Library’s collections, community, and operations. We fully support the University’s commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and will continue ongoing assessment and response in conjunction with University-wide efforts.

  • The full version of the Clements DEI 2.0 plan is available here:

Clements Library DEI Plan

  • The Clements DEI 1.0 Evaluation Summary is available here:

Clements Library DEI 1.0 Evaluation Visual Summary

  • The Clements Initial DEI 2.0 Priorities are available here:

DEI 2.0 Priorities Visual Summary

  • The Clements Strategic Plan is available here:

Clements Library Strategic Plan

We encourage anyone to contact the library with questions, suggestions or concerns at clements-dei@umich.edu

 

Clements Library Statement on Injustice

The United States has its roots in interconnected systems of racial oppression and economic inequality, as well as in protest against excessive police power. Systematic violence against Black people in what is now the United States has continued unabated since 1619, with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor among its most recent victims. The staff of the Clements Library shares in the outrage over their killings and grieves at their loss.

The Clements Library exists to collect, preserve, and make available primary materials that permit a full and honest recounting of all aspects of the American story. But we also bear the responsibility for examining our own institution’s history of fostering practices of collecting and scholarship that excluded the experiences and contributions of Black people. The staff of the Clements Library are committed to supporting research and scholarship that honors and elevates the experiences of those whose voices have been doubly silenced—first during their own lives, and again by later generations of collectors and scholars. We understand that we have a responsibility to the community of which we are a part, and commit to reaching out to partners to ask how we can be of service. But first and foremost, we pledge to listen. We also commit to ensuring that everyone—at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, around the state, and across the nation—experiences a feeling of true welcome at the Clements Library when they visit to study, research, and use our collections as part of the larger work of confronting our past and building a more just future.

Header: Integrated lumbering camp group, Charlevoix County, Michigan. View in the Clements Library Image Bank.