Scholarly Review #1: Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in LIS research.

“Only a small number of LIS programs have committed to diversity as a key educational focus. While the American Library Association accreditation guidelines for MLS programs include language that issues of diversity need to be covered to some extent in instruction, few LIS programs have made diversity an explicit pedagogical focus” (p. 179).

Authors Jaeger, Bertot, and Franklin (2010) highlight the imbalance between librarianship’s professional commitment to deliver services and outreach to increasingly diverse communities, and the actual amount of diversity within the librarian profession – specifically, the lack of diversity among librarians, library administrators, and library and information science students. Latinos and African Americans account for less than 10 percent of practicing librarians and LIS full-time faculty. As for other diverse groups – those with disabilities, individuals that are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and individuals representing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups – the authors note a distinct gap in studies that attempt to track the representation of these diverse groups within the LIS profession.

The findings in this article are consistent with the results of the American Library Association (ALA) study titled Diversity Counts. Released in 2006, this “comprehensive study of gender, race and age in the library profession” (ALA, 2010) used 1990 and 2000 census data to survey the diversity of almost 110,000 librarians. The result: a majority of the librarians were between the ages of 45-54, female, and white. While the data used in Diversity Counts is a decade old at this point, Jaeger, Bertot, and Franklin’s article cites studies from the past four years, studies that continue to point to the lack of diversity in the LIS profession.

Besides turning the spotlight on diversity within the LIS profession, this article also focuses on the importance of LIS research about underrepresented populations, and the seemingly endless opportunities to research this topic in relation to LIS. Pick an underrepresented social group and explore their information needs. Research the affects of a study on a social group. Connect a diverse population to an LIS issue or policy. The article gives numerous examples of possible research topics relating to diversity and LIS (SLIS students, take note), giving the reader the impression that many of these topics have been and are currently being pursued by LIS scholars. The problem, according to the authors, is that LIS scholars are doing the exact opposite: they are not researching diversity.

There are no negatives in promoting the importance of increased LIS research about diversity and underrepresented groups. If librarians are to continue to provide quality services to diverse populations (and the United States is not getting any less diverse), then they need to increase their knowledge of diversity-based research. Likewise, LIS students would better serve their future patrons by including some form of diversity research in their studies – this also means that directors of ALA-accredited LIS programs must do their part by including and emphasizing research about diversity in their MLIS curriculum. Finally, increased research about diversity has a direct affect on increasing diversity within the profession – if individuals from underrepresented groups see themselves as important in LIS research, then they might begin to identify with the field. A lack of research about diversity and inclusion tells underrepresented groups that they are unimportant and invisible, which is something that should not happen at the hands of LIS scholars.

The focus on diversity within the LIS profession at the staffing and research level poses a number of questions for the reader to consider. For LIS students, both past and present, think about the diversity of the faculty and the emphasis of the courses at your school – how many course readings covered topics related to diversity? Did your program help you become more comfortable with meeting the information needs of diverse populations? Did the courses help you become more comfortable with diversity in general? It is time for LIS scholars and schools to move faster in terms of diversity research and education, as the article states, in order to keep up with our nation’s diverse population and ever-changing needs.

Sources:

American Library Association. (2010). Diversity counts. Retrieved from http://www.pla.org/ala/aboutala/offices/diversity/diversitycounts/divcounts.cfm

Jaeger, P. T., Bertot, J. C., & Franklin, R. E. (2010). Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in LIS research. Library Quarterly, 80, 175-181.

Social Bookmark #1

(reposted from Delicious)

Biracial Identity Flint Public Library

The Flint Public Library provides an annotated bibliography of biracial identity resources. A majority of the bibliography consists of nonfiction books owned by the FPL. The nonfiction titles tend to focus on black/white biracial identity, but titles highlighting mixed-raced Asian Americans, mixed-race Latino Americans, and multiracial identities are also highlighted (see What are you?: Voices of Mixed-Race Young People edited by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins and Among Us: Essays on Identity, Belonging and Intercultural Competence edited by Myron W. Lusting and Jolene Loester). The bibliography ends with three major websites geared toward those that consider themselves interracial; unfortunately, the link to Interacial Voice is broken and the online news journal ended in 2003. However, the links to Mavin and The Multicultural Activist work, and both websites are updated regularly. Overall, this bibliography is a good starting point for those needing multiracial identity resources.

If you know who you are, it makes it easier for everyone else.

Chao, G. T., & Moon, H. (2005). The cultural mosaic: A metatheory for understanding the complexity of culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1128–1140.

Once upon a time in my undergraduate years, my sociology professor mentioned that society likes to categorize, because it creates a feeling of being in control. It’s easy. It’s comforting. It makes people uncomfortable and, in some cases, upset, when they are unable to categorize another person. The cultural values and identities that make up an individual are incredibly complex – so much so that a society that wants to fit individuals into neat, organized categories may find that task much more difficult. Chao and Moon (2005) propose that an individual is made up of a “cultural mosaic” and one’s cultural identity pulls from the different “tiles” – age, gender, family, religion, geography, etc. Our individual cultural mosaics are complex and made from many tiles. The question, “What are you?” has no simple answer when we are cultural mosaics.

In response to the question above, which I have heard several times throughout my life, here are my tiles.

Demographic tiles: 25 years old. My Filipino-Irish mother (who looks Italian) and Filipino-Chinese-Nicaraguan father (who looks Latino and racially unmixed) handed down dark hair, light skin, and a petite stature. Oh, and a poor aptitude for mathematics. My parents are children of immigrants. My paternal grandfather arrived in Georgia from the Philippines as a houseboy for a U.S. general. My paternal grandmother came from Nicaragua, but I can’t remember how or why. My mother’s father escaped from the Philippines soon after World War II, and her mother is a fifth-generation Irish-American and the only non-immigrant out of my grandparents. I do not speak Tagalog or Spanish, but I wish I did. I grew up eating vegetarian Filipino food and fried Nicaraguan cheese. Extended family gatherings included Filipino, Nicaraguan, Italian, Portuguese, and Samoan relatives. In the end, though, I mostly feel very American.

Geographic tiles: Born and raised in San Francisco, California. I grew up a block away from the Mission District, and lived next door to a gas station and across the street from Mitchell’s Ice Cream. My playground was in the Upper Noe neighborhood, where Sister Act was filmed. Weekends were spent at my grandparent’s house in Pacifica, five minutes away from the beach and always shrouded in fog. My elementary school, located in the Ingleside neighborhood, did not have a field for physical education activities. We ran laps in the parking lot.

When I was eight years old, my family moved an hour east of San Francisco to Antioch, CA and we’ve been here ever since. The suburbs are vastly different from San Francisco. The community is more conservative and predominantly Caucasian, although that demographic is rapidly changing with the influx of residents from San Francisco, Oakland, and Richmond. It is insanely hot – summers are vicious. Public transportation is terrible. I miss urban life.

Associative tiles: I am a shyer person, but I have my groups. The relationship with my immediate family has gone up and down – I mostly get along with them these days. My work group varies, since I’m a library substitute and work at libraries all over the county. I’m friendly with many of my coworkers, and I would consider myself friends with a handful of them.  My tight-knit group of friends includes longtime friends from elementary school, high school, and college. The Seventh-day Adventist Church fills my religious tile, although I lean toward the progressive side of the church rather than the increasingly conservative side.

What a hodgepodge of tiles that make up multicultural mosaic me.

Getting to know you

*waves to my fellow LIS 7370 classmates*

For starters, my name is Courtney and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I graduated from La Sierra University with a degree in English: Literature, and I've been interested in librarianship since taking a course in YA literature. This is my third semester at WSU, and my first semester taking a full load of courses - I really hope I survive. Provided all goes well, I aim to graduate next summer. After years of being firmly rooted in public librarianship and teen services, my current area of interest is in academic librarianship.

I currently work for the Contra Costa County Library  as a Library Assistant - Permanent Intermittent, which is a fancy way of saying that I'm a substitute in the library system, picking up assignments as needed and setting my own work schedule - it's a nifty way to balance school and work, but the downside is that substitutes do not get health benefits. On the plus side, I've had the opportunity to work at libraries all over the county, from libraries in wealthier areas with privileged patrons to libraries in poorer communities that include large homeless populations to community libraries that have patrons from all backgrounds and social classes. I've enjoyed working in culturally diverse community libraries (more so than other libraries) and I hope to use the knowledge and skills gained in this course to adequately meet the informational needs of patrons from all cultural backgrounds.

With what little free time I have, I like taking naps (bring back naptime!), reading manga, playing video games, and spending quality time at the beach.