Statement on Potentially Offensive and Harmful Content
In support of Ithaca College’s institutional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the staff of the Ithaca College Library strive to make our collections and services accessible, inclusive, and equitable and to practice the mutual care, respect, and accountability central to the college’s vision, mission, and values.
Libraries and archives collect materials from different cultures and different time periods to preserve and make available the historical and scholarly record. As a result, the library’s collections may contain materials or descriptions that our community could find offensive, harmful, and counter to the college’s vision, mission, and values.
We retain these items in our collections not to endorse the offensive content, but to accurately represent the historic record. We do not censor materials in our care.
Additionally, the language used by libraries to describe materials evolves over time. We are making efforts to create respectful and inclusive descriptions in our catalog and recognize that this is an ongoing process.
We acknowledge that we may not always make the right decisions. If you encounter descriptive language in our catalog that you find offensive or harmful, we welcome you to reach out to us to open dialogue or to share your concerns or questions. Please use the "Report a Problem" button directly from the catalog, or send us an email to share your concerns. We will review your request with the goal of balancing the preservation of original context with an awareness of the effect of language on our users.
This statement was adapted from that of Brandeis University. It was last updated on January 26, 2022.