Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center is committed to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) and supporting the Feinberg community through concrete, strategic actions, starting with those outlined below. Through this working group, we aim to support DEIA at Feinberg School of Medicine by fostering a culture of belonging and inclusion for all patrons including faculty, staff, students, and trainees.  

1. Environment: Establish, develop, and support library programs and spaces that offer a welcoming, inclusive, equitable, and accessible environment for everyone.  

2. Policies, procedures, resources: Audit internal and external library operations to identify potential inequities in existing policies and procedures; target and work to meet the required DEIA needs; and continue intersectional conversations through Galter Library’s strategic planning.    

3. University-wide initiatives: Engage with Feinberg and other partners at Northwestern University to enhance and support initiatives that meet DEIA needs of our campuses and community.   

As a health sciences library, Galter supports scientific research and the equitable dissemination of information while striving to eliminate access barriers. The DEIA working group facilitates Galter’s application of this expertise to address issues of social justice through an intersectional lens by looking at the multiple, varied, and layered forms of discrimination and privilege. The DEIA working group is committed to the continuous and thorough examination and dismantling of systemic racism, ableism, and inequities.  

Members of the DEIA Working Group are aware that we do not speak for all members of the Northwestern University community, nor do we have all the answers to longstanding problems. We further acknowledge that our perspectives and efforts may miss the mark at times, and welcome feedback and suggestions. 

Mahonry Estrada, Co-Chair, Collection Management and Metadata Services
Gretchen Neidhardt, Co-Chair, Collections Management and Metadata Services
Matt Baumann, Digital Systems
Molly Beestrum, Research and Information Services
Matt Carson, Digital Systems
Rebecca Flores, Administration
Christina Gattone, Research Assessment and Communication
Kristi Holmes, Administration
Mohammad Hosseini, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine
Verónica Hoyo, NNLM-National Evaluation Center
Katie Lattal, Special Collections
Corinne Miller, Research and Information Services
Lindsey O'Brien, Collections Management and Metadata Services
Erika Gisela Martinez Picazo, NNLM-National Evaluation Center
Brooke Strodder, Access Services
Steph Thor, Administration
Annie Wescott, Research and Information Services

We acknowledge that we are on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations. For more information, please go to Northwestern University's Land Acknowledgement.

We encourage patrons to explore the Racism, Anti-Racism, and Health Disparities GalterGuide. This guide serves as a starting point for learning about racism, anti-racism, health disparities, and the intersection of health, healthcare, and race.

If you are interested in getting in touch with the Galter Library DEI Working Group, please email co-chairs Mahonry Estrada (mahonry.estrada@northwestern.edu) and Gretchen Neidhardt (gretchen.neidhardt@northwestern.edu). Thank you.