ERIC Number: EJ1487916
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1531-2542
EISSN: EISSN-1530-7131
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Inclusion and Empathy Are Not Enough: Cultivating Student Belonging in the Academic Library through Compassion
portal: Libraries and the Academy, v25 n4 p625-641 2025
This article explores the challenges, complexities, and contradictions of promising complete inclusiveness for all students and advocates for academic libraries to pursue student belonging. A sense of belonging is not only memorable for the student but impactful, as it results in closer social connections and higher rates of persistence. While an organizational foundation of inclusivity is inarguably essential, it must be coupled with individualized social support from public-facing employees. Tolerance, empathy, and compassion are compared as social support approaches for cultivating belonging, and tough situations that threaten students' sense of belonging are examined. Academic libraries should not settle for an end-goal of inclusivity but instead seek to create an environment that abounds with opportunities for students to experience a profound sense of belonging as they grow and learn.
Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Library Role, Library Policy, Library Services, Inclusion, Sense of Belonging, Librarian Attitudes, Empathy, Altruism, Caring, Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Religious Factors, Cultural Influences, Social Influences, LGBTQ People
Johns Hopkins University Press. 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Tel: 800-548-1784; Tel: 410-516-6987; Fax: 410-516-6968; e-mail: jlorder@jhupress.jhu.edu; Web site: https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/list
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

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