Research
Introduction

This website serves as a resource for information and research, as well as a venue for dialogue, on building and sustaining healthy and diverse communities. A community is healthy not solely because its members are healthy, but because it optimizes environmental, social, economic, political, and cultural conditions which shape the health of its members. A healthy community is a community that optimizes its ecological, human, economical, and natural capital.
In a healthy community, much collaboration takes place among its diverse members and entities. All its diverse members are involved in planning the solutions to their problems. Information professionals, such as librarians, are involved as well in collaboration and planning. The School of Library and Information Management (SLIM) at Emporia State University challenges its students to use their knowledge and expertise of information use, information access, information policy, information resources, and information services to help optimize their community’s ecological, human, economical, and natural capital. In a sense, the School challenges its students to be involved in collaboration and planning and be at the forefront in helping to build healthy and diverse communities.
Dr. Cecilia Salvatore, a member of the SLIM core faculty, and her students maintain this website. They invite students and visitors to take a look at the resources and research here, as well as engage in the discussion and dialogue about building healthy and diverse communities.