Barriers to the Profession for People of Color (POC): How the Culture of Whiteness in Libraries Excludes Marginalized Groups

Your Name and Title: Laura Giacobbe, Specialist Librarian

Library, School, or Organization Name: Guggenheim Memorial Library, Monmouth University & Nancy Thompson Learning Commons, Kean University

Co-Presenter Name(s): Chrisler Pitts, Collection Development/Acquisitions Librarian,

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: New Jersey, USA

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): Librarians and Library Administrators

Short Session Description (one line): Barriers to the Profession for People of Color (POC): How the Culture of Whiteness in Libraries Excludes Marginalized Groups

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

Academic libraries in the United States have a long-standing history of having a white workforce, with women being the majority of librarians. Though the racial composition of the United States has grown more diverse, as has Higher Education, librarians have steadfastly remained white. Despite implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and statements in many libraries and institutions of higher education, these measures do not always ensure that people of color (POC) feel a sense of belonging within the profession. This presentation aims to bring attention to the barriers that POC encounter in the field and provide recommendations for supporting and retaining BIPOC librarians.

True. The statistics show a decrease for BIPOC enrolled in schools that had already reversed affirmative action. Compounding the issue is the rising costs of higher education. To Kelsey's point Chrisler and I are both hopeful that more racial diversity will increase the number of BIPOC, but it hasn't been borne out yet. As the U.S. population has continued to grow more diverse, libraries have remained just as white as they have been for the last several decades. There has to be some sort of restorative action combined with diversity that will allow for more BIPOC to enter librarianship. We hope that our presentation and some of our suggestions can help to encourage more support for BIPOC library workers. Thanks for your feedback Kelsey and Cathy!

Replies

Laura Giacobbe November 13, 2023 at 11:07am

True. The statistics show a decrease for BIPOC enrolled in schools that had already reversed affirmative action. Compounding the issue is the rising costs of higher education. To Kelsey's point Chrisler and I are both hopeful that more racial diversity will increase the number of BIPOC, but it hasn't been borne out yet. As the U.S. population has continued to grow more diverse, libraries have remained just as white as they have been for the last several decades. There has to be some sort of restorative action combined with diversity that will allow for more BIPOC to enter librarianship. We hope that our presentation and some of our suggestions can help to encourage more support for BIPOC library workers. Thanks for your feedback Kelsey and Cathy!
Cathy Leverkus November 11, 2023 at 4:59pm

It is difficult to promote racially diverse hiring when the supreme court has rescinded affirmative action. What can be done about this issue?
Kelsey Gallagher mambach October 20, 2023 at 10:37am

Hopefully, something that may have a positive effect on this issue is that Gen Z is the most diverse American generation in history - with 48% of these individuals being non-White. Perhaps this new generation of library workers and librarians will begin to dismantle this racial and gender/gender-expression divide!

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