Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Libraries)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will convene a workshop to identify gaps, opportunities, and best practices for designing library information systems that can incorporate local knowledge, accommodate different modes of learning and cognition, and foster diverse approaches to organizing information. The goal of the project is consider how best to provide services that are accessible to communities with a range of abilities and viewpoints. It will address concerns that algorithms, interfaces, and ontologies embedded in current library systems incorporate substantial biases. The primary output of the project will be a white paper summarizing the significance and areas of need for diversity and inclusion; identifying high-impact design principles that are accepted and emerging in the broader community; characterizing approaches and methods for applying these principles to library information systems; and identifying potential next steps for software developers that develop these systems and for library institutions that adopt and deploy them.