As the academic library consortium of Virginia, VIVA purchases and licenses shared
collections across the state that aim to level the academic playing field for students and
faculty. VIVA does this by ensuring that students have access to the same critical core
resources, regardless of which institution they attend, whether it is a small community
college or a large research university. An important part of this effort is to make
resources available that are focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion in order to
support researchers and students in their exploration of historical and current
systematic injustices, diverse perspectives, and inclusive practices. These resources also
help ensure that students and community members see themselves and issues
important to them reflected in library and research collections.
Thanks to the SCHEV Fund for Excellence and Innovation and state funding provided by
the General Assembly, VIVA has purchased three African American and Indigenous
Peoples primary source collections and a collection of ebooks covering a broad range of
diverse topics, and started a subscription to a video collection of African American oral
histories. These resources will support curricula throughout the state and be available
to all of the public colleges and universities. The Readex collections will be available to
all non‐profit private schools, and the other collections have discounted pricing options
for the non‐profit private schools interested in participating.
Readex Collections
African Americans and Reconstruction, 1865‐1883 contains nearly 1,400 fully searchable
printed works from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of Jim Crow. It includes
documents related to African Americans and citizenship, voting rights, literacy, land
rights, employment, and more, including the gaps between written law and practice.
African Americans and Jim Crow, 1883‐1922 contains more than 1,000 fully searchable
printed works from the beginning of Jim Crow to post‐World War I. These works
provide insights into African American culture and life during this period of segregation
and disenfranchisement and include such topics as African American identity,
relationships with peoples of other nations, and literature.
Gale Collections
Indigenous Peoples of North America is a comprehensive collection of primary source
documents from American and Canadian government sources and institutions, tribal publications, and documents from Indian‐related organizations, including a selection of
indigenous‐language materials. The collection covers topics such as Indian removal,
Indian wars and the frontier army, treaty policies, government boarding and missionary
schools, Indian languages and linguistics, water and fishing rights, and more. Together,
these primary sources enable in‐depth study of the political, social, and cultural history
of native peoples from the sixteenth century well into the twentieth century.
The Diversity Bundle Ebooks collection from Gale is a custom list of 57 titles, many of
which are reference resources and all of which have publication dates of 2017 to the
present. This collection provides information and research across a broad range of EDI
topics, including race and ethnic relations, gender studies, and women’s studies. These
topics are applied to a wide range of fields, including business, health science, and
education.
The HistoryMakers
The HistoryMakers Digital Archive is a collection of 2,800 full‐length African American
videotaped oral histories that is continually growing. It includes video and fully
searchable transcripts created by The HistoryMakers through their interviews with
African American leaders across a broad range of disciplines and subject areas, including
Art, Civics, Education, Law, Religion, STEM, and more. These testimonies illuminate the
stories of African American men and women living in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries
who have made important contributions to America and the world. Stories found in The
HistoryMakers Digital Archive include Katherine Johnson’s calculation of John Glenn’s
orbit, Vernon Jordan escorting Charlayne Hunter‐Gault as she integrated the University
of Georgia, and that of President Barack Obama while he was still an Illinois State
Senator.
Not only do these new collections greatly expand the breadth and depth of equity,
diversity, and inclusion content that VIVA makes available to its members, but by
negotiating as a group, each of these acquisitions represents substantial cost avoidance
for Virginia. In addition to being an incredibly cost effective use of state funds, acquiring
these materials through VIVA removes the duplication of effort required for institutions
to acquire the materials individually, saving local staff time and resources.
VIVA is the academic library consortium serving 71 nonprofit higher education
institutions in Virginia, including 39 state assisted colleges and universities, 31
independent private, nonprofit institutions, and The Library of Virginia. VIVA’s mission is
to provide, in an equitable, cooperative, and cost‐effective manner, enhanced access to
library and information resources for Virginia’s academic libraries serving the nonprofit
higher education community. VIVA is funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia through
the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and by investments from participating institutions. VIVA has been a cost savings initiative for the Commonwealth
of Virginia for over 25 years.
For additional information contact:
Anne C. Osterman
VIVA Director
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MSN 2FL
Fairfax, VA 22030
Tel: 703‐993‐4652
Email: aelguind@gmu.edu