Synopsis
A comprehensive perspective on multiculturalism in libraries!
Diversity Now: People, Collections, and Services in Academic Libraries delivers a comprehensive look at diversity issues for librarians. It examines partnerships between academic research libraries and campus agencies and provides effective retention strategies for diverse employees. It also shows how librarians can lobby for domestic partner benefits for university employees who are unmarried same- and opposite-sex couples.
Diversity Now: People, Collections, and Services in Academic Libraries provides a unique research perspective on assessment and diversity integration in the academic libraries and highlights effective working strategies for a multicultural library environment, examining:
- partnerships between academic research libraries and campus agencies which work directly with students
- assessment and diversity integration in the academic library workplace and six critical challenges for working well in a multicultural environment
- communication and teaching
- incorporating service learning experiences in the library and information science curriculum
- model retention programs for junior faculty of color
Library Journal
Published simultaneously as the Journal of Library Administration (Vol. 33, Nos. 1/2 and 3/4), this volume features 16 papers selected from over 50 presentations at the Big Twelve Plus Libraries Consortium Diversity Conference held in April 2000 at the University of Texas at Austin. Despite the subtitle, diversity is discussed here primarily as a workplace issue rather than a service issue. The major emphasis of the articles is on recruitment, retention, and promotion of ethnically diverse faculty. Though some papers focus on a specific underrepresented group, such as African Americans, most present initiatives for a wide multicultural spectrum of faculty or staff; one clear omission is any discussion of students or faculty with disabilities. As with any such compilation, the entries vary widely in scope, thoughtfulness, and scholarship; most present best practices at the authors' universities without further context. Particularly compelling reading are the contributions of Camila A. Alire ("The New Beginnings Program: A Retention Program for Junior Faculty of Color"), Johnnieque B. Love ("The Assessment of Diversity Initiatives in Academic Libraries"), Mark D. Winston ("Communication and Teaching: Education About Diversity in the LIS Classroom"), and Loriene Roy ("Diversity in the Classroom: Incorporating Service-Learning Experiences in the Library and Information Science Curriculum"). Recommended for most academic libraries and library school collections.-Rhea Joyce Rubin, Independent Lib. Consultant, Oakland