Utilizing the Diverse Voices in Health & Medicine Collections toolkit provided by the NNLM, we will purchase health information books with focuses on Addiction/Recovery, Body Systems and Diseases (with a focus on HIV/AIDS), Health Topics for People of Color, Mental Health and Psychology, Sexual and Reproductive/Women’s Health, and Social Issues. We will choose from both the Adult and Young Adult lists in order to reach both our adult age patrons and the high school students (enrolled in either Running Start or the on-campus Northwest Career and Technical High School).

The items will be highlighted as a special collection in our book catalog and made accessible to all students, including those attending the on-campus technical high school, but with special attention given to students in nursing, human services, and all of our allied health programs in order to foster a socially-conscious and compassionate workforce. We will also share the toolkit lists with relevant instructors so they may participate in the selection process.

Furthermore, we plan to use these funds to better support our English language learners as well as community members who visit our campus by selecting titles in languages other than English when possible and also visually highlighting the collection with a physical book display and digital cover flow on the library website to increase visibility amongst patrons.