Wayne State University prides itself on supporting its diverse community and pursuit of scholarship. To support these ideals the Wayne State University Library System advances scholarship, student learning and faculty innovation that serves as a national model for a research University with an urban teaching and service mission.
As an academic library, we are privileged to curate a diverse collection that celebrates artistic and intellectual freedom, while maintaining our commitment to institutional neutrality. To serve the needs of researchers, the library system collects materials from various times, places, and cultures. These materials may include language or views that could be considered offensive or harmful.
Wayne State aims to describe its materials and collections in a respectful way, however, for several reasons, users may encounter offensive or harmful language in descriptions of works in our print, digital, and archival collections—for example, historical language that is racist, sexist, ableist, or homophobic.
If you encounter language in our catalog records, digital object metadata, or elsewhere that you find offensive or harmful, we welcome your feedback, questions, or concerns. Please use this form to report it. Staff will review the description and determine if it needs to be updated in order to balance the preservation of the original context with an awareness of the effect of language on our users. Revisions may include providing additional context and/or replacing problematic terminology.
This statement has been adapted and expanded from that of Brandeis University, University of Pennsylvania, and others, from this list of statements on bias in library and archives description. It was last updated on: 2024-08-08.