Executive Summary

On October 21, 2020, the Council of the Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) adopted an Equity Action Plan (EAP). The EAP was produced through several rounds of drafting and editing with input from various members, committees, and outside reviewers. The document aimed to guide the BSA’s efforts to acknowledge and address long-standing inequities in the field of bibliography and pursuit of bibliographical scholarship. It outlined concrete objectives and benchmarks for the BSA to pursue over the next five years. The full Equity Action Plan is available on the Bibliographical Society of America’s website.

Now, in the plan’s fifth year, the EAP Review Subcommittee has found that a majority of those action items have been addressed. There were a total of fifteen Action Points spread across four areas and four miscellaneous Action Points for a total of nineteen Action Points. Of those nineteen Action Points, thirteen were fulfilled, five were partially fulfilled, and one was not fulfilled. The creation of a new fellowship working group, the BSA land acknowledgement, sponsorship of diverse events, and transparency around committee volunteering are just a few of the highlights of the accomplishments that can be traced to the priorities outlined in the EAP. The only Action Point that might be considered “not fulfilled” is the expansion of journal content into non-English languages and works in translation. However, there has been at least one preliminary important step taken toward potentially achieving this goal at a future time.

The EAP’s successes to date have been thanks to the dedicated work of many committee members, multiple BSA Councilors, and the PBSA editors. Recognizing that the work of addressing inequities is long-term, this report presents a set of enduring commitments and recommendations that we propose guide future efforts at creating a more equitable working world for all bibliographers.

Enduring Commitments:

  • Supporting initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion in the world of bibliography, in relation to geography, identity, discipline, and institutional affiliation

  • As a Society, we commit to take concrete actions to address the following questions: 

    • Do we have a Society set up in a way that people from diverse backgrounds can participate?

    • Can people interested in the study of material texts read what we publish? 

    • Are BSA offerings relevant to the work of bibliographers?

    • Can people attend events?

Recommendations:

  • Comprehensively redraft of the EAP with new Action Points, revisions to partially fulfilled or unfulfilled Action Points, and a new timeline for achieving these goals.

  • Assign Action Points to committees and make these part of their charge, noting them when onboarding the committee chairs, who in turn can communicate these to their committee members.

  • Periodically review of the BSA land acknowledgement.

  • Acting under the guidance of the Council, the BSA should issue or cosign public statements on social and political matters when these matters have a direct impact on bibliographical research and inquiry.

  • Engage and foster conversation around major topics, such as:

  • If translation and non-English language publishing is truly a priority, work with PBSA editors to explore what is needed to support a realistic program for sharing works in translations and/or non-English languages (e.g., a special issue of bibliographical research in translation, or a committee that might produce translations on an ad-hoc basis to better communicate bibliographical scholarship between English and non-English speaking people).

Summary of Action Points

The EAP had a total of nineteen action points of which eighteen were fully or partially fulfilled. 

Publications Committee / The Papers of the Bibliographical Association of America:

Action Point 1: Develop and adopt policies and procedures to regularize and support the participation of self-identified members of under-represented groups on the PBSA Advisory Board.

  • Fulfilled. In Summer 2021, new editors were appointed to the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America who set to work on recruiting the first cohort for a new advisory board for PBSA in 2022.

Action Point 2: Broaden the coverage of books reviewed to cover a wider array of textual artifacts and diverse authors in English and non-English languages.

  • Partially fulfilled. Works to be reviewed in the journal are chosen by the PBSA Editorial Team, who rely on publishers’ announcements, Advisory Board suggestions, and recommendations from members. Works available for review are broadcast regularly through the BSA newsletter and relevant listservs. While attempts to diversify the reviews offerings for English-language publications are ongoing, efforts to review non-Anglophone materials have not been as successful.

  • If translation and non-English language publishing is truly a priority, work with PBSA editors to explore what is needed to support a realistic program for sharing works in translations and/or non-English languages (e.g., a special issue of bibliographical research in translation, or a committee that might produce translations on an ad-hoc basis to better communicate bibliographical scholarship between English and non-English speaking people).

Action Point 3: Explore possibilities for expanding journal content in languages other than English and/or material in translation.

  • Fulfilled. PBSA’s Editorial Team would require additional expert labor to solicit, review, and copy edit non-English language scholarly articles. In volume 117 (2023), the journal published an English translation of a Spanish-language BSA-sponsored roundtable; translation was paid for by one of the convenor’s research funds, but the experience confirmed that the added complexity of working with translations was beyond current capacities. PBSA editors and others involved in the journal did their best to act in ways that were in keeping with the spirit of this goal. As part of the journal’s redesign in 2023, a new typeface was selected that would be compatible with diacritics and letterforms found in non-English languages.

Nominations Committee:

Action Point 1. The President and the Executive Director will develop guiding values for diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Nominating Committee with respect to the Council nomination process, and these values will be made publicly available.

Action Point 2. Improve communications to members regarding the role that they play in electing diverse members to the Council. Communications should cover the BSA’s “Work, Wisdom, and Wealth” requirements for Council participation and indicate that the Society appreciates varying individual resources and values all three contributions from Council members.

  • Fulfilled. The call for nominations for the Council is circulated to the membership and now includes language that references the goals of the EAP: “We strongly value the expertise and collegiality of all of our members and especially welcome nominees who represent the racial and ethnic diversity of bibliographic communities in the United States. The Nominating Committee seeks individuals who are committed to helping the Society fulfill the goals laid out in its Equity Action Plan.”

Action Point 3. The Policy and Procedures Manual Working Group will lead efforts to devise equitable and transparent procedures by which appointments to all BSA Committees and Working Groups will be made. Procedure documentation should include the criteria and/or qualifications for participation on each committee, information about the volunteer requirements for each committee (time commitment required, descriptions of the types of work done by committee members), and information about term length and renewal opportunities. While Committee or Working Group Chairs may from time to time appoint specific individuals to Committees, the Society will also issue calls for volunteers to members on a bi-annual basis. These procedures, when completed, will be posted to the Society’s website.

  • Partially fulfilled. Since Fall 2021, the BSA website page on “Committees and Service” has featured detailed information about the policies and procedures related to appointments, as well as specific language about the commitments to diversity and inclusion. The Policy and Procedures Manual (PPM) has been completed and currently comprises a PDF of over four hundred pages. It is not yet posted on the BSA’s website as it is considered too long to be immediately useful, even with keyword search functionality. The Executive Director will work to figure out the best and most cost-effective platform to deliver this information; then, all 112 documents compiled must be reviewed to determine which ones (a) should be public, (b) should be password protected for staff and Officers only, (c) should be stored internally only (e.g., financial info) and (d) might be better off filed for regular use (e.g., award letter templates).

Fellowships, Awards, Prizes:

Action Point 1: Continue to strengthen its Fellowship Program by adding new fellowships designed to encourage the study of under-represented bibliographical topics and by under-represented bibliographers.

  • Fulfilled. The Dorothy Porter Wesley Fellowship for Black Bibliographers was established on February 7, 2023. The establishment of an endowment for this fellowship was the most successful fundraising campaign in the BSA’s history.

Action Point 2: Prioritize awards for competitive proposals to individuals from under-represented groups.

  • Fulfilled. The Dorothy Porter Wesley Fellowship for Black Bibliographers and the BSA Peck-Stacpoole Fellowship for Early Career Collections Professionals target individuals from under-represented groups.

Action Point 3: The Fellowship committee will assist in establishing professional, working relationships between fellows and the relevant staff at institutions that they plan to visit during their fellowship period. This includes making efforts to connect BSA Fellows with resources available to research fellows at the institution(s) they will be visiting.

  • Fulfilled. A working group for Fellows and Fellowships was established in 2023 to steward this action point.

Action Point 4: The Fellowship committee will devise language to include in the Fellowship award letter to indicate that the Society’s consultant ombudsperson (per the Professional Conduct policy) will be available to fellows for confidential discussion of harassment, discrimination, or other matters of concern experienced within libraries during their fellowship period. While the Society cannot play a role in mediating or resolving complaints, the consultant ombudsperson should be made available as an impartial, neutral listener.

  • Fulfilled. Language was devised and is now included in all fellowship award letters.

Action Point 5: The Fellowship Committee will improve outreach with Fellows during their Fellowship period to improve their engagement with the Society and connect them with the bibliographical community around the BSA.

  • Partially fulfilled. A working group for Fellows and Fellowships was established in 2023 to steward this action point.

Events Committee:

Action Point 1: Maintain a list of outlets for sharing calls for proposals to ensure that opportunities are publicized to a wide range of relevant organizations and interested individuals.

  • Fulfilled. The committee has developed a list of relevant organizations, CFP databases, and listservs that focuses on organizations outside the US, as well as a system for advertising our CFP on these platforms.

Action Point 2: Events Committee should solicit or otherwise encourage proposals from specific individuals to encourage engagement with a broad range of institutions. Specifically, the Society should seek to organize and sponsor events centering collections from institutions spread across geographic regions, and in North and South America in particular. In addition to geographic heterogeneity in BSA events, the Society should seek to center institutions with a range of collecting strengths and use its programs to build awareness of collections without longstanding reputations and established recognition in the field. The Society should also seek to better recognize traditional and indigenous textual materials held within creators’ communities, and any special circumstances working with those materials.

  • Partially fulfilled. Members of the BSA Events Committee have been involved in organizing events with a broad range of institutions, often with attention to collections without a longstanding reputation in the field. The full list of events sponsored by the Committee can be found on the BSA Events Webpage. Our ongoing efforts to advertise the CFP more widely have focused on audiences outside of the US (see Action Point 1). The current composition of the committee ensures that we have representatives from various geographical regions in the US, as well as members from Canada and Mexico. The increasingly international and multilingual composition of our committee will make it easier for us to collaborate with parties from various regions in North and South America.

Action Point 3: Evaluate and expand BSA’s ability to improve physical access to in-person and virtual events by encouraging co-sponsoring organizations to offer and communicate about accommodations for individuals with a variety of requirements for access.

  • Fulfilled. The Events Committee worked with the Executive Director to develop clear guidelines about translation and captioning services for BSA events. Additionally, the application form now asks applicants to “describe any accessibility accommodations [they] intend to guarantee, and how [they] will address requests for accommodations by attendees.”

Action Point 4: Proposals for events support will be required to document their event’s commitment to diversity in selecting presenters.

  • Fulfilled. The application form for Events Funding now includes a question that urges applicants to think about expanding the field of bibliography: “Who is the intended audience for your event? How will this event bring bibliography to new and established audiences?”

Miscellaneous:

Action Point 1: The Society will maintain and evaluate a list of places where calls for applications/proposals/submissions, program announcements, and other communications are shared to ensure wide coverage to varied audiences.

  • Fulfilled. In Spring 2024, the Events Committee developed a list of relevant organizations, CFP databases, and listservs, as well as a system for advertising BSA CFPs on these platforms. In crafting the list, the Events Committee tried to focus on organizations outside of the US and noted an increase in queries from outside the US.

Action Point 2: The Society will continue to develop collaborative, sustainable partnerships with cognate organizations that represent any and all time periods, geographic regions, and methodologies in the study of material texts

  • Fulfilled. The Liaisons Subcommittee drafted and approved a charge that includes this language. The charge was approved September 2021. Committee members Jose Guerrero and Mathieu Bouchard created a document, the “Liaisons Subcommittee and the BSA Equity Action Plan,” to guide Liaisons in their efforts to meet the goals of the Equity Action Plan in their work, and this plan has been integrated into the new “Liaisons Onboarding” document that Jeanne-Marie Musto, current committee chair, has prepared.

  • Sessions and events organized by liaisons have covered a wide range of topics, including a program for marginalized collections, a joint effort between the Bibliographical Society of Canada, BSA and the Bibliographical Society, held on March 6, 2023; sessions on the Chinese material text at the College Art Association in 2022 and 2023 and on “The Transcultural Circulation of Illustrated Books (1500–1900) in 2024; and panels on the theme of “Early Modern Women and Their Books” at the Renaissance Society of America 2022 meeting.

  • The Liaisons subgroup maintains a list of conference dates, themes, and bibliographically-relevant sessions from BSA affiliates and cognate societies.

  • New affiliate partners include the Bibliographical Society of Canada, The Center for Book Arts, the Independent Online Booksellers Association, Medieval Academy of America, and SHARP. All affiliate societies can submit events of interest to BSA members as announcements to the BSA newsletter.

  • We continue to consider and pursue leads with regard to other societies that might be compatible affiliates, including BSANZ, ILAB, Oxford Bibliographical Society, Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Society for American Archivists, Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM), Groupe de recherches et d’études sur le livre au Québec (GRELQ), Society of Early Americanists, and the Early Caribbean Society.

Action Point 3: The Council shall reconsider and publicly acknowledge the Society’s role in advocating for a more equitable working world for all bibliographers.

  • Partially fulfilled. The question of advocacy was taken up by Council at the October 25, 2024 meeting. Members of Council were surveyed on a range of questions around defining advocacy and where advocacy might be useful. In response to that discussion, an Advocacy Policy was approved by Council at the September 13, 2025 meeting. This policy focuses on promoting bibliographical study and bibliophilic pursuits, messaging about internal organizational affairs, co-signing public statements on matters that have a direct impact on bibliography, and includes the procedure by which Councilors can bring forth a business item that invokes the Advocacy Policy. This new policy will be added to the Policies and Procedures Manual.

Action Point 4. The Council will draft a land acknowledgment for the BSA website and determine the best placement(s) for it thereon.

  • Fulfilled. This was completed and approved by Council at the February 2023 meeting and is posted on the BSA’s website.

Respectfully submitted,

Jose Guerrero, Elizabeth Ott, Magalí Rabasa

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