In this issue, Alexandra Rivera, Jade Alburo, Makiba Foster, Lisa Chow, and Latanya Jenkins reflect on their experiences at the 2012 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color in Kansas City, Missouri.
ARL Diversity Scholars 2011-2013, photo by Holly KuperARL is now accepting applications for the ARL/Music Library Association (MLA) Diversity and Inclusion Initiative (ARL/MLA DII). This scholarship program, funded by a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and by ARL member libraries, offers minority candidates an opportunity to pursue the master’s in library and information science (MLIS) degree while gaining valuable “hands-on” experience in a large academic music library environment. The initiative’s goal is to increase the number of underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities within academic music librarianship by providing support for the graduate education and the practical experience critical for successful entrance into the profession.
This 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...’”
Poster presented at the LCDP Luminary Class, June 2012. How have research libraries chronicled the lives of African American students on campus? What are the subject headings and finding aids for student organizations, dissertations, sororities and fraternities, or oral histories? What factors (procedure, personnel, Alumni groups) have impacted the inclusion of materials in library collections?
Poster presented at the LCDP Luminary Class, June 2012. The Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce has succeeded in recruiting librarians from racial and ethnic minority groups to careers in academic and research libraries, with over 75% of program participants who currently hold library positions working in these types of libraries. Participants rate the program highly, with 86% stating that the program was very important/important in advancing their career. Three of the six program components of IRDW scored highly on the very favorable/favorable scale: participants valued the stipend funding, the leadership institute, and the visit to the Purdue University Libraries. The mentorship program was the lowest rated of the program components, and participants perceived this component to need improvement.
In this issue, Eugenia Kim, 2010 ARL CEP Fellow, recounts her experience working as an intern, providing support for the Data Curation Profiles (DCP) project led by the Purdue University Libraries. Kiyomi Deards, 2009 ARL Diversity Scholar, provides an update on ARL efforts to recruit students from diverse backgrounds into science and technology roles in academic and research libraries. Former LCDP Fellow, Steve Adams, discusses a relatively new but important area of practice and inquiry—the Science of Team Science—and how librarians can and should insinuate themselves into the research process and be vital members of scientific research teams.
This webcast, held April 17, 2012, provides potential and current participants with vital information on the ClimateQUAL® service, a survey protocol capturing data on Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment (OCDA). This one-hour webcast provides practical information for administering a survey, helps participants with interpreting the data and its analysis, and shares best practices in using the results. For more info, visit http://www.climatequal.org/.
The theme of this issue is “transitions”. Whether transitioning from student to professional or from one position of leadership to another, one will always encounter challenges and opportunities that are unexpected and that can reshape one’s view of self and of the profession. Three former ARL Diversity programs participants offer their reflections on what it’s like to transition from one setting to another within the library and information profession, and how their experiences in ARL programs informed their thinking and behaviors as they made those transitions. The issue concludes with a call for applications for the newest diversity recruitment initiative administered by ARL and funded by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS). This partnership between ARL, the Music Library Association (MLA), and five partner ARL member libraries seeks to recruit students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic and racial minority groups into music and performing arts librarianship.
The theme for this issue is “research” and how libraries are supporting these endeavors in higher education and becoming invaluable partners in the enterprise. 2000-2001 Leadership and Career Development (LCDP) Fellow, Angela Lee (University of Washington) discusses current trends in data curation and management, specifically in the context of health sciences librarianship at her institution. Also in the health sciences arena, Myra Morales, 2009-2011 Diversity Scholar, defines Community Based Participatory Research and the role that the research librarian can play in this new paradigm – from support for or engaging in the methodology – to providing preservation services for the data collected. Last, Minglu Wang (Career Enhancement Fellow, 2009) speaks about her experience as the newly appointed data services librarian at the John Cotton Dana Library of Rutgers University. Wang makes the case for library and information professionals insinuating themselves into research projects much earlier in the process in order to help researchers develop more efficient and comprehensive data collection and management plans. All three of these authors provide solid evidence of the value that library and information science professionals bring to their organizations, and of the significant contributions that former ARL Diversity Programs participants are making to the profession.
SPEC Kit 319 explores what progress has been made in ARL member libraries to recruit and retain a diverse workforce; the strategies they use to increase the number of ethnically/culturally diverse librarians in the profession and in their libraries; the elements of programs that successfully support an inclusive workplace; the people, groups, and/or committees responsible for overseeing the programs; and how libraries are assessing the effectiveness and success of such programs. It includes documentation from respondents in the form of diversity statements, diversity plans, and descriptions of diversity and recruitment programs.
This publication is available for purchase in both online and print versions. Download the spec-kit-purchase-options-2013.pdf for complete pricing and purchase options information.
In this issue, 2008-2010 Diversity Scholar, Nicole Branch, writes about her experience visiting the Purdue University Libraries in April of 2009. The event was the fifth time the ARL Diversity Scholars were hosted by Purdue for a ‘research library visit’. Sandra Baker, ARL Career Enhancement (CEP) Fellow in 2009, speaks about the entire fellowship experience, from her first meeting of her cohorts at the ARL Leadership Institute in Denver (January 2009), to the completion of her CEP fellowship last summer. Finally, Leadership and Career Development (LCDP) fellow, Kawanna Bright, from the North Carolina State University Libraries, chronicles the time spent in New Haven, CT and the Yale University Libraries for the Institute on Research, Teaching, and Learning.
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