The State of Diversity Audits of Public Library Collections

How well does your collection reflect your diverse community? How can you meaningfully evaluate diversity in your collection at scale? This session will explore the current landscape of diversity audits for public library collections, and you will leave with a clear understanding of the various tools and methods available, as well as their benefits and risks.

This panel will convene experts researching diversity audit methods and practitioners who have implemented these tools and methods. We will discuss how these audits function, whether library workers find them useful, and what is at stake when sensitive, normative decisions about representation are outsourced to automated systems designed by private vendors. The panel is inspired by, and will speak to, findings from a June 2025 study (published at the FAccT conference) conducted by a team that includes two of the panelists. Drawing on an anonymous survey of public librarians, interviews, financial records, and vendor documentation, the authors found that many library workers view diversity audit tools as convenient, time-saving solutions for assessing and diversifying collections under real and increasing constraints. Yet at the same time, they found that the audits often flatten complex identities into standardized categories, fail to reflect local community contexts, and further entrench libraries’ infrastructural dependence on commercial vendors. The panelists will discuss, debate, and contextualize these findings and work toward recommendations for using and improving diversity audits, especially in the current climate where public libraries are operating at the intersection of AI adoption, escalating anti-DEI backlash, and politically motivated defunding.