UW Libraries Blog

social justice


August 12, 2020

Special Collections Library Launches New Digital Exhibit on Protest History in Seattle

Abbey Maynard, Archivist-in-Residence, Labor Archives of Washington

For the last few months, I have been working on creating a new digital exhibit: We Are All The Conspiracy: The Day After Protest, Seattle 7, and Community Activism in 1970s Seattle, featuring material about the Seattle Liberation Front (SLF), a political group founded on the University of Washington’s campus in January 1970. Seven members…


June 5, 2020

Responding to the Call: George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and Systemic Change

Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, vice provost for digital initiatives and dean of University Libraries

Dear UW Community: Thank you to our UW leadership across all three campuses,  President Ana Mari Cauce and Laura Cañate, UW MBA ’18, for your powerful words. We recognize the clarity of this moment and share a commitment to anti-racist work across the UW Libraries. Speaking on behalf of UW Libraries to all individuals and…


May 12, 2020

Recommended Reads for Equity – Evolving the Collection for Remote Engagement

Caitlin Stewart and Sydney Krueger - Master of Library and Information Science 2020 iSchool Graduates

As students in the iSchool’s Library and Information Science program, we have been working at UW Libraries during our tenure here. Our capstone project is focused on the UW Libraries Recommended Reads for Equity collection, an initiative that was launched in 2018 with the support from a UW Diversity and Inclusion Seed Grant and the…


April 28, 2020

Insights from Going Public: Opening Scholarship to All

Verletta Kern, Digital Scholarship Librarian and Elliott Stevens, English Studies & Research Commons Librarian

UW Libraries inaugural Going Public event launched in 2017 as a forum for sharing ideas and exploring ways researchers communicate their work to the public through the media. In the following years, other topics were explored–like public scholarship, citizen science, and community-based participatory research. Hosting events like this is central to UW Libraries mission and…


February 14, 2020

HEALWA: The On-Call Library for Washington State Healthcare Practitioners

Patricia J. Devine, MLS and Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, vice provost for digital initiatives and dean of University Libraries

Medicine, more so than many other disciplines, is a rapidly changing field. According to some estimates, medical knowledge doubles every few months, up from the fifty years it took to double in 1950.1 Using evidenced-based resources to provide the best care is imperative in the healthcare industry. Yet, unless healthcare workers are affiliated with an…


February 6, 2020

The ‘story behind the story’ of No-No Boy: Shawn Wong Impresses at this Year’s Friends of the Libraries Lecture

UW Libraries

Stunning. Provocative. Unselfish. What a treat for the record-breaking attendance at the Friends of Libraries Annual Lecture last week. UW’s Professor Shawn Wong showed an audience of almost 500 that words matter in every generation. As keynote for the 2020 Friends of UW Libraries Annual Lecture, Shawn shared how “The publishing history of No-No Boy…


February 4, 2020

Founding Stories: The Origin of UW Tacoma

Justin Wadland

On the eve of our 30th anniversary, the UW Tacoma Library is spearheading a project to document the origins and development of UW Tacoma through oral history. Gathering the Voices of Those who Built UW Tacoma Nearly 30 years ago, in March 1990, the News Tribune asked residents of the Tacoma area where the new “branch campus”…


January 30, 2020

Beyond Books: Building Community through Bothell/Cascadia’s Community Reads  

Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, vice provost for digital initiatives and dean of University Libraries

As public spaces devoted to teaching and learning, our Libraries have a duty and responsibility to steward diversity, equity and inclusion.  At UW Libraries, this is embedded in our Libraries Strategic Plan. At the UW Bothell and Cascadia College Campus Library, this work has long been a part of our professional learning and community engagement…



Previous page