Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Library Guide: Celebrating EDI in the Library

In our Foyer display we celebrated Pride Month. As well as a diverse display of books from the Library's collections, we are promoting LGBTQ+ films from some of our streaming platforms, including Kanopy and BFI Player. 

In April we marked Stress Awareness Month with some tips to manage stress along with a display of books from the Library's Collections.

Stress Awareness Month is an annual event observed every April since 1992, dedicated to increasing public awareness about the causes and cures of stress. You can find more information on Wellbeing and Stress, including links to books and eBook on the Library's Wellbeing Collection pages.

January 2025, we celebrated the work of the late Benjamin Zephaniah, British Poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry. Zephaniah was awarded Honorary Doctor in Letters by University of Roehampton in 2019. Click here to find a list of his works available in the Library Collections.

October is Black History Month, and this year's theme, Saluting our Sisters, paid homage to black women who had contributions ignored, ideas appropriated and voices silenced. The Library's display celebrated the work of black women writers. 

A month of picture books! The Library marked Lunar New Year with a selection of picture books for the Year of the Rabbit. 

The Library marked University Mental Health Day (13th March) with a display from the our Collections. You can find more books on Mental Health in our Wellbeing Collection on 2nd Floor as well as in sections 362-616 of the Library.

June we celebrated Pride Month with a themed display. For more inspiration have a look at our LGBTQ+ Resource Lists which promote resources across a variety of academic disciplines from our print and online collections.

The Library marked LGBT+ History Week 2023 with a display and Resource List to highlight our collections. This year's theme was #BehindTheLens, which celebrates LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to cinema and film from behind the lens. Directors, cinematographers, screen writers, producers, animators, costume designers, special effects, make up artists, lighting directors, musicians, choreographers and beyond. 

On the First Floor (at the top of the stairwell) we marked UK Disability History Month. 2023's theme was Disability, Childhood and Youth. For more titles see our Featured Collection on Disabilities for more inspiration on the theme.

To support School Diversity Week, the Library is displaying some relevant children’s books in the School Experience Collection (SEC) on the first floor. The SEC is a collection of children’s books and other items, such as puppets and games, for teacher training students to use in schools, but they are available to all staff and students, even for home use.

We welcome suggestions for more titles to diversify this collection and make it more inclusive. Examples of books and eBooks that we hold can be found in this Featured Resource List: Equality, diversity, and inclusion in children's literature.

For Women's History Month in March our snapshot features some of the inspirational women from Roehampton who are celebrated in the Remarkable Women exhibition at Southlands. Read the full post here: Snapshot-from-the-Archives-Womens-History-Month-2025.

On the First Floor we featured books liked to the contributions and sacrifices of the Caribbean community as part of Windrush 75 (the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush in Britain). 

Our main display this month celebrated Women's History Month in March and International Women's Day on 9th March. The theme for 2023 was Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories, recognising women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts and more.

We curated an online Resource List to accompany the display and highlight our e-book collections, as well as a Snapshot from the Archives highlighting some notable women who feature in our Special Collections.