Ethnic Diversity in Library and Information Science. Library Trends, Vol. 49 No. 1, Summer, 2000

Citation

Salvatore, C.L. (2002), "Ethnic Diversity in Library and Information Science. Library Trends, Vol. 49 No. 1, Summer, 2000", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 118-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/jd.2002.58.1.118.7

Educators in library and information science know well that teaching about and discussing diversity in libraries and the library profession can be met with a number of challenges:

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  the challenge of not necessarily encouraging ethnic separatism, which some will argue is, in turn, a dangerous thing for diversity and multiculturalism;

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  the challenge of not seeming to demonise the majority ethnic or cultural group;

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  the challenge of not presenting a stereotypical perspective about the majority ethnic or cultural group, which in and of itself serves as a form of discrimination; and

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  the challenge of the countercharge that diversity will soon be not necessary as, through new media and enabling technology, ethnic and cultural boundaries will be obliterated.

In this 219‐page volume of Library Trends, ethnic diversity in library and information science is discussed by ethnic scholars, educators and practitioners in the discipline. These discussions are useful, simply, for explaining to the reader features and characteristics about ethnic diversity in library and information science. Additionally, however, they are useful in that they answer in some way the challenges confronted by teachers and scholars of ethnic diversity in library and information science.

The volume begins with an article by Alice Robbin which provides a breakdown of the various features and characteristics of the ethnic communities in the USA, translating them from census data. To make these features and characteristics more pertinent to library and information science, Robbin transcribes the census data into a description of literacy activities and visits to the library according to various ethnic groups. She points out, for example, that “reading to young children and visiting a library are highly correlated with parental or mother’s education” and that “only 26 per cent of Hispanic children visited a library in contrast to 34 per cent of Black children and nearly 43 per cent of White children” (p. 28). Alma Dawson’s chapter, “Celebrating African‐American librarians and librarianship”, which follows, is truly a celebration of the tremendous work that African‐American librarians and educators have done in library and information science – for example E.J. Josey, the first African‐American male to be elected President of the American Library Association, and Clara Stanton Jones, the first African‐American female to serve as its President. Dawson provides a list and biographical description of these and other impressive key figures in library and information science. Other chapters in this volume focus on libraries and specific ethnic minority groups – Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. Kenneth A. Yamashita’s description of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association provides a glimpse of how ethnic minority librarians can feel a sense of fortification by making a decision to organise and subsequently presenting another voice in the broad forum of library and information science. It is interesting to note in Yamashita’s discussion that as an ethnic minority group proceeds to organise, it can encounter a sense of working in isolation and therefore can be prone to chaos and disorganisation. This sense emerges when Yamashita describes how the record of the tenure of the association’s administration is not complete. Mengxiong Liu focuses on Chinese Americans in librarianship, describing their history in the profession, as well as their contribution to research and scholarly activity and to its leadership. Salvador Guerena and Edward Erazo, on the other hand, describe the Latinos of the USA and their relationship to librarianship. Theirs is a description that ranges from that of the history and role of associations that are relevant to Latino librarianship, including the American Library Association and REFORMA, to a description of its key leaders, and to a discussion of the condition of the resources and services available for and targeted to Latinos. Lotsee Patterson’s article focuses on Native Americans and librarianship. She describes the way Native American and tribal libraries face barriers and challenges to providing resources and services. In addition, she provides strategies for recruiting Native Americans into the library profession. An important point that Patterson describes is that “the recruiting of native people to library school is most successful when it is done on a one to one basis” (p. 186). “No amount of press releases, announcements, career fairs, recruiting trips, and other techniques often used to attract minority students”, she states, “works with any degree of success with this segment of the population”. The final chapter in the volume is by ALA Diversity Officer, Sandra Rios Balderrama. Balderrama’s discussion is, as editor Kathleen de la Peña McCook describes it, “a poetic discourse that invites readers to contribute equally their ideas, expertise, potential, and distinctiveness” (p. 4). It is a synthesis that “elicits the dream of individualized hope for a coexisting sense of care” (p. 4).

The discussions in this volume answer the challenge of how to describe and discuss ethnic diversity in library and information science. The authors and contributors do not emphasise ethnic separatism. By focusing on the library as an institution, and in turn, on professional library associations, recruitment of staff and the contributions of individuals and leaders, they suggest – and quite safely – that ethnic diversity is simply one of the necessary components of an institution. In the systems approach, ethnic diversity in the library as an institution is one of the components that make up the organisation as a complex and diverse system. The discussions in this volume, furthermore, do not visibly demonise the dominant ethnic group or culture. They focus on the important place of ethnic diversity in library and information science while not placing harsh blame for the lack of diversity on the dominant Anglo ethnic group. In doing so, therefore, they do not emphasise a stereotypical image of this group.

The other question that needed to be addressed by the discussions in this volume is whether ethnic diversity will continue to be meaningful when, as some would suggest, ethnic and cultural boundaries are being obliterated? If we look at young adults, for example, we see that technology and the media have enabled them, even coming from diverse ethnic groups, to watch the same television shows and listen to the same music. The same cultural qualities and factors are, therefore, shaping these young adults. But what begins to emerge in these discussions is a force that compels us to seek further into the notion of ethnic diversity, and in this way they are critical to library and information science. In discussing the barriers to the inclusion of ethnic diversity in library and information science, the authors illustrate how diversity can be easily de‐emphasised and muted. Scholars, researchers, practitioners and administrators in library and information science publicly claim to speak for society, yet somehow have neglected the diverse members of society. How could this be?

History aside, on the other hand, can we justify now why we should continue to neglect ethnic diversity? Are ethnic and cultural boundaries being obliterated, truly? Can we be sure that young adults who are shaped by common rules and norms will grow up to become a homogeneous group of adults? Will ethnic diversity continue to exist, just as diversity of any kind will continue to exist? The choice is up to us: we either justify why we have neglected ethnic diversity by suggesting that, now, the notion of it is a moot point, or we continue to learn about the diverse aspects of members of our society in order to speak truthfully for them. We can also continue to look at ethnic diversity and be able to see better the way we have tried to make sense of the world by doing things justly as well as doing things unjustly. The single most important contribution this volume of Library Trends makes to library and information science, therefore, is that it continues the much‐needed discussion and debate in our society about ethnic diversity.