Brunel University and the Union of Brunel Students have undertaken and funded a #LiberatedLibrary campaign to diversify our library and offer new books by authors from the global south, people of colour, female, LGBT+, and disabled authors. This will enhance the student experience when accessing the library, whilst also liberating student’s education away from standard white male and Eurocentric reading lists. It will enable students to look at different perspectives of life, and use this knowledge in their education to help them obtain a good degree.
Throughout February 2017, students were invited to suggest books online or in the Library. When suggesting the books students were invited to explain why they think it is important to have their suggested book in the library. The majority of students commented on how it is important for them to have books from diverse authors who can offer different perspectives, especially for topics such as issues in the LGBT community and non- Western history from the native authors' point of view. On the 6th - 10th February 2017, we launched the campaign with stalls and book displays to celebrate diversity in literature. A total of 65 books were suggested, 21 are already owned by the library and the remaining 44 books have been ordered. To see a full list of the books ordered please click here.
As the campaign was such a success we ran it again this academic year on the 15th -27th November 2017, throughout the week a dedicated stall was located on the ground floor of the library where students could submit suggestions and find out more about the campaign. A display was also set up of books purchased from the last campaign to celebrate the diverse range of authors. Since the second campaign was launched in November 2017, a total of 59 books were suggested, 29 books have been ordered of which the remaining 30 were either already owned by the library or did not meet the criteria of diversity. To see a full list of the books ordered please click here. The suggestions have been fed back to academic departments as suggestions for how to diversify the curriculum. Students will be able to use the books for recreational or academic reading.
In Term 1 of the academic year 2018/19, during the period of November 12th - 22nd 2018, the Liberated Library campaign ran for the third time. On Tuesday, November 13th, 2018, the launch event Diversifying The Ivory Tower Part 2 was held in The Venue. A dedicated stall was on the ground floor of the library, during said period, was available to the students to submit suggestions and find out more about the campaign. The closing event where the number of new books purchased and the celebration of the Creative Project Competition will be held in Term 2.Brunel Students can participate by submitting suggestions here.
To keep up to date with the campaign via our social media accounts:
@BrunelSSP 
@brunelssp