Statistics & Assessment

image © Mark FischerIn a decision issued Monday, June 24, the US Supreme Court avoided a final ruling in a closely watched case challenging the University of Texas’s consideration of race as part of its admissions policy. Instead, the court held that the Fifth Circuit had not applied the correct level of scrutiny to the policy.

Mark A. PuenteARL's director of diversity and leadership programs, Mark A. Puente, submitted the following comments to Library Journal (LJ) in response to the May 23 editorial by Michael Kelley, "The MLS and the Race Line": Mr. Kelley provides some interesting and provocative comments about the effectiveness of diversity recruitment programs such as the collaboration between the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) recently funded by IMLS. But as previous commenters have pointed out to him, no one strategy is going to be effective for every recruit and a variety of approaches should be used. ARL’s approach should be seen within a larger context of attempts to ameliorate this vexing problem.

ARL IRDW Diversity Scholars 2013-15, photo by Molly MageeARL is accepting applications for the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW), a program designed to recruit master of library and information science (MLIS) students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic and racial minority groups into careers in research libraries. The IRDW includes a stipend in support of MLIS education of up to $10,000 over two years, leadership and career development training, a site visit to the Purdue University Libraries, financial support for skills development, and a formal mentorship program.

image © Jim BumgardnerARL and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) have been awarded a $487,652 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program in support of the new ARL/SAA Mosaic Scholarship Program—a diversity recruitment program that seeks to attract students to the archives and special collections profession and provide support for them during graduate school. The program will provide a full suite of financial benefits and career development and placement support to 15 students from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups entering academic studies in archival science, special collections librarianship, or similar graduate programs.

Mark A. PuenteThis National Journal article about recruiting minority librarians into the profession features ARL’s Diversity Programs and Director of Diversity & Leadership Programs Mark A. Puente. “For the librarian workforce to reach parity with the nation’s demographics…Puente stresses, ‘we would have to hire tens of thousands of librarians of color...’”