Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) Resources for the Health Sciences

• Collections
• LibGuides
• Databases and Information Tools
• Emerging Technology
• Online Exhibits
• Curriculum Related Resources (non-Libraries)
• Skin of Color Images

The Health Sciences Library and Wangensteen Historical Library, as well as the broader University Libraries, offer access to primary and secondary resources that can support IDEA initiatives.

IDEA books and libraries collection statement 

The HSL strives to purchase online versions of books that are available to multiple simultaneous users, when such versions are available for institutional purchases and are financially feasible.

Inquiries about specific title(s) should be sent to the HSL Collection Coordinator Nicole Theis-Mahon, theis025@umn.edu.  

The Libraries Values for Collections outlines the values-based strategy to guide the Libraries investments in collections and related expenses. The Libraries value specific to IDEA is included, below:  

Equity, diversity, and inclusion collection value 

The Libraries strives to develop and steward diverse collections that reflect the broad scope of intellectual, cultural, educational, and research interests of its users and communities. To this end, the Libraries pursues multiple methods, locally and collectively, to address critical gaps in the collection and anticipate emerging research and educational needs. These methods include patron-driven acquisition and community input; purposeful engagement and strong communication with faculty and students; and consortial cooperation.

Historical collections

The Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine collections contain materials and objects that broadly represent health, medicine, and biological sciences from 1430 to 1945. 

Curator expertise in medical humanities connects pre-health and health professional students with history to increase their cultural competence. Students can engage with historical resources to understand the factors, perspectives, biases, questions and decisions of people in the past. Historical inquiry encourages students to understand past medical and health-related practices as culturally-based, and provides an impactful way to increase cultural competency and increase awareness about the ways in which culture, context, and community dictate how people experience their own bodies and the bodies of those they care for. Historical research skills are directly applicable to how healthcare providers need to approach their patients, colleagues, and themselves as individuals from diverse social, economic, and cultural backgrounds. 

Examples from the collection can prompt discussion on topics such as race and medicine, health disparities, access to health care, vaccine controversies, and gender inequities. Examples include:

• A growing collection of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean medical volumes on subjects from obstetrics and gynaecology to military surgery. These materials document the cross-cultural exchange of medical theory and research in 16th-19th-century East Asia. Selected materials from this collection are available online.
• The archive of Dr Robert Harris, who performed the first epidemiological study of caesarean sections in mid-1800s America. This archive is rich with socio-economic and racial data that is ripe for research on healthcare inequality in this period. Selected materials from this collection are available online.

 Contact Curator Lois Hendrickson at wanghist@umn.edu to begin a conversation. 

LibGuides are custom webpages created and maintained by our librarians that provide information, resources, and tools on specific topics. The following LibGuides have been created to support IDEA research strategies and to highlight IDEA resources.  

Conducting research through an anti-racism lens

This Libraries-developed comprehensive guide provides context and tools for conducting research through an anti-racism lens. For faculty who conduct or teach research methods, whether primary or secondary, this guide can be used to instill in students the criticality of ethical, anti-racist practices. The guide features problematic practices, proposed solutions, and further reading in five topic areas: 

1. De-center whiteness in primary research
2. De-center whiteness in secondary research
3. Acknowledge that scholarly publishing is racist
4. Acknowledge that search algorithms are racist, and 
5. Acknowledge that library cataloging systems are racist. 

Medical faculty and students might be particularly interested in the Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration and resources for recruiting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals and communities for inclusion in clinical trials.

Anti-racism readings in the Health Sciences

Intended to help students at the University of Minnesota learn more about the intersection of racism and the health sciences. The reading recommendations in the guide were gathered from health sciences librarians and medical students.

Anti-racism reading lists

Highlights key anti-racism resources such as the Mapping Prejudice Project, Umbra Search: African American History, and a link to U of MN experts from the Experts@Minnesota database who work on topics related to racism and racial discrimination. Also included is an extensive reading list of books on anti-racism in a variety of settings, from perspectives from BIPOC here in Minnesota, to police brutality, to intersectionality as social theory.

Race, white privilege, racism reading guide

Contains keywords for searching databases for information on white privilege and anti-racism, a list of selected databases for background research, and information about the University Libraries’ African American Archive Materials, a collection of primary sources on African American history in the United States. This guide also features a recommended reading list on white privilege and anti-racism.

Library resources for transgender topics

Compiles resources to help researchers from all disciplines and affiliations locate and identify information on people who identify as transgender. Materials on transgender topics are often difficult to discover; language describing trans identities fluctuates over time and across cultures and regions. This guide helps researchers understand this research ecosystem and identify credible and relevant information sources.

The Libraries provides access to the following subscription-based and open resources to support culturally appropriate care.  

VisualDx Skin of Color Sort

VisualDX is a point-of-care tool to build and visualize a differential diagnosis based on physical signs and symptoms, lab results, history, and environmental exposure. Contains a large medical image library reflecting disease on all skin types, including a feature to help diagnose patients with darker skin types. Select “Dermatology Skin of Color” from the homepage to begin building a differential diagnosis. 

EthnoMed

Ethnomed provides information about cultural beliefs, medical issues, and related topics pertinent to the health care of immigrant and refugee groups in the United States. Access relevant information through the Cultural Profiles, Clinical Topic, or the multilingual Patient Education categories.

         MedlinePlus: Health Information in Multiple Languages

MedlinePlus contains multilingual, multicultural health information and patient education materials about health conditions and wellness topics. Materials may be available as printable documents, audio, and video. This page provides links by language. Users can also browse by health topic to see materials on each topic in multiple available languages.

Cultural care readings

A Libraries catalog search to retrieve a list of books in our collection about culturally appropriate health care. 

Age-friendly care and education collection

Educational and clinical resources related to improving care for older adults. Contains assessment instruments, case studies, clinical guidelines, educational competencies, patient and caregiver education materials, practice and research toolkits, preceptor materials, teaching modules/toolkits, videos, and narrated slide presentations.

#ImmigrationSyllabus 

Following a chronological overview of U.S. immigration history, the syllabus provides historical context to the current immigration debates, as well as a discussion of issues including xenophobia, deportation policy, and border policing.  

#ReparationsSyllabus 

Includes foundational texts on and debates over Black reparations in the United States, models of restorative justice, and intersections between the debates over Black reparations with those surrounding the experiences of Indigenous, Pan-African, and Japanese American people. 

The emerging technology spaces in the Health Sciences Library and Libraries were founded on the principles of increasing equitable access to emerging technologies and exploring how they can improve health education and health care for all.  These spaces and services are free to use and serve as a connector to campus and community-wide resources.

From creating adaptive technology in the Makerspace to developing empathy and cultural competence in our Virtual Reality Studio to exploring health care access and disparities in our Data + Visualization Lab, there are many opportunities for our staff and spaces to support IDEA initiatives.  

The Libraries Archives and Special Collections offer online exhibits on a variety of topics. The following exhibits have been selected for their connection to IDEA topics.

History of contraceptives

This Story Map showcases contraceptive-related artifacts and texts from the Wangensteen Historical Library, created for an undergraduate course in the History of Medicine. Story Map content can prompt discussion on changes in the legal status of, medical practice related to, and social and political attitudes towards contraception. It can help students develop a deeper understanding of the role these contraceptive technologies play in shaping women’s experiences of contraception over time. These materials also prompt crucial discussions about sexism in contemporary medical research and practice. 

Introduction to the East Asian collection

This Story Map was created for a graduate course in the history department and features a 19th-century volume on tongue diagnosis, mid-17th-century acupuncture wall charts, and an 18th-century work on theories of disease. East Asian materials such as these in the Wangensteen Historical Library’s collection encourage conversations about the diversity of medicine and medical theory that patients experience. Understanding and acknowledging different medical epistemologies helps to create practitioners who are more empathetic and are more culturally capable.  

A Campus Divided

The “A Campus Divided” online exhibit explores the evidence of racist and anti-Semitic sentiments among past U of MN leaders that led to a controversy about University buildings named for them. Read essays, documents, and other primary source materials that can shape a conversation and understanding around the impacts of racism and anti-Semitism on campus life.

The following non-Libraries resources have been selected for sharing as they are recognized educational resources that support an anti-racism curricula within the health sciences.   

MedEdPORTAL anti-racism in medicine collection

Provides educators withd practice-based, peer-reviewed resources to teach anti-racist knowledge and clinical skills to elevate the educational scholarship of anti-racist curricula. This collection aims to convene a community of collaborators dedicated to the elimination of racism within medical education.

National Collaborative for Education to Address the Social Determinants of Health (NCEAS)

A curriculum collection of over 165 anti-racism curricula and assessment materials and a general  collection of journal articles, lectures, websites, and other resources on the social determinants of health that can be used to build curricula. 

Databases

Ebooks - Atlases

Moiin, A. (2020). Atlas of black skin. Cham: Springer.

Orfanos, Zouboulis, Assaf, Orfanos, C. E., Zouboulis, Christos C, & Assaf, Chalid. (2018). Pigmented ethnic skin and imported dermatoses: A text-atlas. Cham: Springer.

Taylor, Kelly, Lim, Anido Serrano, Kelly, A. Paul, & Lim, Henry W. (2016). Taylor and Kelly's dermatology for skin of color (2nd ed.) New York, New Yorks: McGraw-Hill.

Jackson-Richards, Pandya, Jackson-Richards, Diane, & Pandya, Amit G. (2014). Dermatology atlas for skin of color. Heidelberg: Springer.

Ebooks - Clinical/Diagnostic

Love, P., & Kundu, R. (2016). Clinical cases in skin of color: Medical, oncological and hair disorders, and cosmetic dermatology (Clinical cases in dermatology). Cham: Springer. 

Love, P., & Kundu, R. (2016). Clinical Cases in Skin of Color: Adnexal, Inflammation, Infections, and Pigmentary Disorders (1st ed. 2016.. ed., Clinical cases in dermatology). Cham: Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer. 

Alexis, A., & Barbosa, V. (2013). Skin of color: A practical guide to dermatologic diagnosis and treatment. New York, NY: Springer.

Dadzie, A., Petit, O., Alexis, A., Petit, Antoine, Alexis, Andrew F, & Wiley InterScience. (2013). Ethnic dermatology: Principles and practice. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ebooks - Pediatric

Silverberg, Durán-McKinster, Tay, Silverberg, Nanette B., Durán-McKinster, Carola, & Tay, Yong-Kwang. (2015). Pediatric skin of color. New York: Springer.

Shah, M., & Sheth, P. (2021). Pediatric dermatology in skin of color : A practical guide. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.