Publishing While Latina: My Journey as an LIS Scholar in Search of the Academic Stool's Third Leg

Abstract

This chapter will focus on the ways in which publishing in the library and information science (LIS) field has demonstrated to be a career obstacle for the author, a Latina scholar. Academic work is defined as a three-legged stool in which the three legs are defined as research, teaching, and service. Here, the author presents a self-reflection as a Latina in academia related to her experiences while publishing topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in LIS. The author presents specific experiences which have hindered her progress as a scholar especially those related to the push back she has received on the research topic matter and the positionality statements which “outs” her as a Spanish-speaking Latina and might even “out” her identity to reviewers. The author’s goal with this chapter is to shed light into some of the issues that make for a treacherous path to career progression in academia for scholars who belong to minoritized groups, but it is seldom discussed in the field.

Citation

Colón-Aguirre, M. (2023), "Publishing While Latina: My Journey as an LIS Scholar in Search of the Academic Stool's Third Leg", Black, K. and Mehra, B. (Ed.) Antiracist Library and Information Science: Racial Justice and Community (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 52), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 167-174. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020230000052017