Read part 1 of the Diversity Audit blog series here!
Read part 3 of the diversity audit blog series here!
As you know from my last post I have begun a comprehensive and extensive Diversity Audit on my high school library’s fiction collection. I have decided to do the diversity audit by genre first, so that I will have data on the diversity of each individual genre. This information will help immensely with my collection development efforts going forward. After I have completed all 7 genre’s diversity audit, since I am completing it within a common excel sheet, I will also have the data for the collection as a whole.
This post is for presenting the data collected during the audit of my science fiction genre. You can see the results for my Fantasy collection here.
Download my science fiction diversity audit (excel)
Download my science fiction diversity audit (google sheets)

Changes I Made
I’m basically making this audit process up as I go, since I was unable to find a comprehensive practical guide elsewhere. Since I’m learning as I go, I ended up making several changes after completing the Fantasy audit. Here are a couple things I changed:
Adding more author categories
Initially I only had a couple author diversity categories, but I decided I wanted more comprehensive data on the authors. Originally I was auditing authors for:
But I’ve now added several more categories, which you can see here:
Titles vs. Copies
I am auditing every single copy in the collection, because I will then be able to use the barcodes in the spreadsheet to easily and quickly add the audit data to Destiny via copy categories when I’m finished.
But I did make a change regarding which data I present in my graphs. Originally I was presenting the data for the copies but I’m switching to presenting the data on the titles instead. The reason for the change is that I’m concerned the duplicates would muddy the waters of the diversity of the collection and I want a clearer view of the diversity of the titles. Luckily since I am auditing each copy I can always run the data for the copies if needed.
So interesting to see how the data is coming out. I can see so many uses for this information. I am looking forward to seeing the next updates!
LikeLike
Thank you so much!
LikeLike
Hi! I was wondering if you were okay with people posting your charts with accreditation? If not, totally okay, I just try to amplify how terribly cis/het white male the industry is and your charts are wonderful!
LikeLike
ABSOLUTELY! Once I’m finished I’ll be creating an info graphic and everything but absolutely go ahead and share!
LikeLike