Neutrality Unbound: The Value of Rare Book Collections in STEMM Classrooms

Abstract

Though the book has a storied past as a container for scientific knowledge, a range of challenges exist for asserting its value to coursework in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Much of the information that historical STEMM texts convey is widely available, dated, or peripheral to the curriculum of disciplinary instructors. These challenges are exacerbated by the ways in which prejudiced collecting has created special collections holdings that overrepresent and lionize the contributions of white, wealthy, Western men. To ascertain and assert the relevance of rare STEMM collections to contemporary scholarship, librarians must confront how these materials exist as enduring witnesses to bias in the development of the academic scientific community. In turn, this paper explores pathways for animating