George Brown College Library makes available research which reflects a variety of viewpoints and can include historical and recent materials that contain negative and discriminatory stereotypes, language and symbols referencing equity deserving and marginalized groups. GBC Library does not condone these viewpoints. We affirm that these viewpoints are not only discriminatory and offensive, but also disrespectful, harmful and unjust.
George Brown College acknowledges the systemic racism that Black, Indigenous and other racialized people face. The college’s Anti-Racism Strategy is focused on addressing and improving community inclusivity and outcomes for racialized students and employees. In the library we acknowledge the influence of systemic racism and are reflecting upon this to provide an equitable environment. We are committed to taking the following actions:
We recognize that some language used to describe content in our catalogue is racist, disrespectful, and harmful. We are working to address this, and our first project to this end is the review and revision of subject headings describing Indigenous topics, communities, and content.
We are working within the college initiatives to explore the roots of racism in Canada and understand the impact of racism at the individual, institutional and societal level.
We are exploring options with database providers to either remove flagged offensive content from our collection where possible, or to attach a warning regarding offensive content.
While searching, you may encounter historical documents that are offensive, but are retained for research purposes. We encourage students, staff, and faculty to always evaluate resources critically.
While we do not have direct control over the language used in library databases, we can sometimes work with their creating bodies on proposing revisions.
We are committed to addressing harmful and offensive content in our collection to help foster a more inclusive and welcoming learning environment. To help us with this work, we invite you to email us if you encounter anything that is offensive while searching the library resources, or have questions/feedback about this statement.
