By Gina Murrell and Annie Reid
Reflecting Gleeson Library’s commitment to upholding social justice and dismantling white supremacy, two new library collections focusing on Black lives are currently in development. One is the Black Lives Matter collection, a project being led by Gleeson Library Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA). The second is the BSU at USF digital collection, initiated by Gleeson Library Digital Collections and in collaboration with SCUA.
SCUA seeks to document the experience of USF students, faculty, staff, administration, and community partners in Black Lives Matter movement protests, demonstrations, and other expressions of solidarity. SCUA is committed to the ethical archiving of social movements with the protection and safety of Black lives at the center of this effort, as well as preserving and making accessible USF’s voice in the BLM movement. The collection will consist of donated signs, flyers, photographs, printed matter, and electronic records that detail the historic uprising against racism, violence, and injustice. If you have materials to donate, please complete this form and/or contact University Archivist Annie Reid, who will be able to assist you.
The BSU at USF digital collection will feature, within Gleeson Library Digital Collections, content that tells the story of the Black Student Union at USF. This new digital collection will make easily accessible rarely seen before content from its founding in 1968 to fresh and exciting materials from the student organization’s present day, available for viewing and downloading at no cost to library users. The BSU at USF digital collection will be an ongoing collaboration between BSU members past and present, and with SCUA and the Gleeson Library Scholarship Repository and Cataloging and Metadata Management team. If you have materials related to the BSU at USF, please get in touch with Digital Collections Librarian Gina Murrell.
The development of the Black Lives Matter and BSU at USF collections speaks to Gleeson Library’s core values and social justice mission of both the Library and the University. These collections will build upon dedicated efforts within Gleeson to bring greater visibility to Black experiences at USF.