Members of the ARL Committee on Diversity and Leadership have selected 13 master of library and information science (MLIS) students to participate in the 2014–2016 Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW) as ARL Diversity Scholars.
Underwritten by ARL member libraries, the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce offers numerous financial benefits to program participants as well as leadership development provided through the annual ARL Leadership Symposium, a formal mentoring program, career placement assistance, and an ARL research library visit. This program reflects the commitment of ARL members to create a diverse research library professional community that will better meet the challenges of changing demographics in higher education and the emphasis on global perspectives in the academy.
Jay Schafer, director of libraries at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and member of the IRDW selection committee, said, “It is always inspiring to review the IRDW applications and to learn there are so many highly qualified students from traditionally underrepresented groups who are excited about careers in academic and research libraries, and archives. My only regret is that we cannot provide support to a greater number of these students.”
Fellow selection committee member Alberta Comer, dean of the J. Willard Marriott Library and university librarian at the University of Utah, added, “The IRDW is helping libraries build a more diverse workforce, a critical component for providing the services and resources needed by students and faculty in the 21st century. Diversity in library staff and in library leadership is needed now more than ever as our communities become more enriched with racial and ethnic diversity.”
The 2014–2016 Diversity Scholars are:
- Alonso Avila, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Benjamin D. Branch, North Carolina Central University
- Richard Cho, University of California, Los Angeles
- Linh Gavin Do, Indiana University Bloomington
- Joyce Gabiola, Simmons College
- Alia Gant, University of Texas at Austin
- John Martin, University of North Texas
- Alda Migoni, University of California, Los Angeles
- Amanda Moreno, Long Island University/New York University
- Rebecca Orozco, St. Catherine University
- Monique Perez, University of Arizona
- Yesenia Román-López, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Deborah Alvarez Tarver, Florida State University
For more information about the IRDW, visit the ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce website.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in the US and Canada. ARL’s mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at https://www.arl.org/.
