Kate McGuinn and Alison Sharman, University of Huddersfield Broaden my Bookshelf (BMB) is an initiative to increase the range of authors represented in the University of Huddersfield Library. The main focus is on books written by marginalised people (e.g. from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background and/or who identify as LGBT+). It was launched in October 2018 and is delivered in collaboration with the University of Huddersfield Students Union (UHSU). It grew out of our desire to work with UHSU on improving the quality and breadth of reading lists, along with a growing awareness of issues raised by the Why is my curriculum White? Campaign. BMB also aims to encourage and assist lecturers to diversify their reading lists. This led to the creation of a Reading List Toolkit in 2020. The Toolkit provides a rationale for decolonising and diversifying reading lists with testimonies from minoritized students. It also includes a checklist for lecturers to self-assess their lists, also access to the BMB book collection and relevant journal collections as well as less traditional resources, including video playlists and podcasts. Throughout the period since 2018 the BMB team has worked to raise awareness of the campaign by organising events such as panel debates and an author event with the author and photographer Johny Pitts. We have also taken BMB out to the schools of the university with “roadshow” events and gathered feedback from students about their experiences of the curriculum from a diversity perspective. We have also promoted BMB each new academic year using a variety of print and social media, including videos created by the UHSU Education and Equalities Officers. Our latest promotional event was a Human Library which we ran at the university Teaching and Learning Conference on 28th June 2023. This presentation was delivered at Reimagining Higher Education: journeys of decolonising at De Montfort University, Leicester, on Wednesday 8th November 2023.

1. Broaden my Bookshelf
Working towards decolonising the
library at the University of
Huddersfield
Alison Sharman and Kate McGuinn

2. Talk schedule
 What is Broaden My
Bookshelf?
 How did it come about?
 The first five years.
 Still spreading the word.
 Reading list toolkit.
 Human Library.

3. • Launched in October 2018
• Inspired by “Why is my Curriculum White?” movement
• An initiative to increase the range of books in the Library and on
reading lists written by marginalised people from a Black, Asian or
minority ethnic background and/or who identify as LGBT+
• Delivered in collaboration with the Students’ Union
• Supported by the SU’s Education Officer, Equalities Officer and
B.A.M.E. Ambassadors
What is Broaden my Bookshelf?

4. The first five years

5. The first five years

6. Still spreading the
word in 2023
 Renewed interest from new SU
officers and BAME Ambassadors.
 Black History Month displays.
 Book group discussions on The
Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
and Girl Woman Other by
Bernardine Evaristo.
 Stickering of all Broaden my
Bookshelf stock.
 Short videos produced by SU
Officers.
 Human Library.

7. Audit of reading lists
In 2017, the SU and BAME
Ambassadors undertook a
reading list audit of sample
reading lists across all 7
Schools, looking at the gender
and ethnicity of authors.
Findings - on average, only
4.73% of the items were written
by BAME authors
Just over 80% were written by
white authors
15.26% of authors were
classified as ethnicity unknown.

8. https://hud.libguides.com/broadenmybookshelf

9. 11/15/2023
What is a Human
Library?
A place where real people are
on loan to readers.
The “books” are usually from an
underrepresented or
misunderstood community and
will talk about a particular aspect
of their life or experience.
It originates from Denmark
(2000) and has been carried out
in over 80 countries including
the UK.

10. What is the benefit of holding such
an event?
“I found a radical way of thinking about
listening. Real listening is a willingness to
let the other person change you . When
I’m willing to let them change me,
something happens between us that’s
more interesting than a pair of duelling
monologues.”
Alan Alda, Actor and Communication
Trainer

11. We did our homework…
Infopeople (2014, April 30th) How to organize and
run a successful Human Library: an infopeople
webinar [Video] How to Organize and Run a
Successful Human Library | Infopeople
Swansea University (2022) Planning and organising
a Living Books event.
libguides.Swansea.ac.uk/diversecollections/LivingB
ooks

12. Convened a small
team
Produced a
planning document
Secured £250
funding from the
ALN EDI Innovation
Fund

13. Training the books

14. Our living books
• Book titles:
Out of the shadows: walking a gay path through
a straight world 1970s-2020s
On being sane in insane places
Not So Terrible Palsy
'But you don't look autistic...': Living with an Adult
Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and
ADHD.
An ambivert international student
The skin I’m in
MS gets on your nerves: my 10 year journey with
the myelin muncher

15. The plan for the
session
There was a short break in
between the two readings.
We also did some feedback
with the readers at the end
Introduction and principles
Reading 1, 20 minutes
Reading 2, 20 minutes

16. Human Library Event

17. I found it really powerful. The honesty in the room and
the opportunity to have genuine conversations without
fear of using the wrong language that was really
powerful. In normal day to day working life, there is
sometimes the fear of saying the wrong thing. This
wiped away all these barriers and allowed genuine
discussion.
Feedback from the readers

18. Feedback from the books
Support was
exceptional I felt so
welcomed and support
by the team.
I think that I probably talked
‘at’ my group more than I
should have and it would
have been nice to have more
time to let people around the
table ask their own questions
I was feeling excited
as I think lived
experience needs to
be lifted throughout
the university
I’m used to talking about my
experience to an audience who
uses the same terminology in
the same field, so it was
insightful to dial that back as I
really need to work on that
more to make my story more
universal.
.It would have been nice to have
more time to spend with all of the
other books. We didn’t really get
a chance to properly meet each
other or discuss why we all
volunteered. It felt like there was
a potentially community here that
we could have built on
It felt a bit odd having such an intense
and vulnerable experience and then
just walking out alone to process it and
not knowing how my experience and
feelings compared with my fellow
books.
I loved it. It
felt powerful.

19. Future plans for the
Human Library at the
University
Run another Human Library
at the University’s Inclusion
Week in March: increase the
time of the readings to 30
minutes.
Finish the Human Library
Toolkit that we are working
on jointly with the University
of Hull.

20. Thank you for listening!
Further reading:
McGuinn, Kate (2020) Broaden my Bookshelf: working with the
University of Huddersfield SU to tackle the attainment gap. ALISS
Quarterly, 15 (2). pp. 3-5.
McGuinn, Kate (2021) Supporting lecturers to diversify their reading
lists: the Broaden my Bookshelf Reading List Toolkit. ALISS
Quarterly, 16 (2). pp. 20-23.