Fifteen faculty members make up the Libraries' Outreach, Engagement and Collections unit. Headed by Dave Vose, Senior Director for Outreach, Engagement & Collections and Matthew Gallagher, Director of Collection Development, the group ensures that all of the Libraries’ forward facing resources are of the highest possible quality. The Libraries' long standing reputation for excellence in the realm of Collections and Instruction are a contributing factor to Binghamton University’s place with other elite institutions labeled “R1 — very high research activity” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
Part of the Libraries' strategic mission is to decolonize its collections. To “decolonize” means to accept the idea that all aspects of American life are influenced by perspectives of race, class and gender and to then reflect on how definitions of race, class and gender have been largely defined by the individuals and groups who support their own rise to power. On a macro-level we see this in American politics through the wave of individuals from historically marginalized cultures being elected to important government positions at unprecedented rates. At the University Library level this can be seen in the purchasing power of Subject Librarians whose budgets are becoming more equalized as new courses of study develop over time.
