Celebrating the James Partridge Award: Essays Toward the Development of a More Diverse, Inclusive, and Equitable Field of Library and Information Science: Volume 42

This chapter introduces the roles and challenges of diversity and inclusion in library and information science, as well as the goals and efforts to promote diversity and inclusion such as the James Partridge Outstanding African American Information Professional Award.

This chapter begins with a brief review of the issues of race and other forms of diversity in the field and the importance of addressing them. After articulating the need for this volume, the chapter introduces the sections of the book: The James Partridge Award and Other Efforts in Higher Education; Equitable Service to All; Toward a More Inclusive and Supportive Profession; Intersections of Race and Other Forms of Diversity; and Conclusions.

This chapter introduces a book that explores the historical and current issues related to diversity, inclusion, and equity in library and information science professions, professional organizations, institutions, education, and scholarship from a range of first-hand perspectives of winners of the James Partridge Award and other scholars and professionals.

This chapter presents a brief history of the James Partridge Award from its founding in 1997 to the present day.

The history of the James Partridge Award is told as a narrative account. Both authors were personally involved in the founding and early development of the award.

The James Partridge Award has celebrated the accomplishments of African American information professionals since the first award was presented in 1998. The award is an important part of the Conference on Inclusion and Diversity in Library and Information Science.

This chapter traces the history of diversity and inclusion efforts at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland as an example of an institution that has made diversity and inclusion central to its activities.

By exploring the successes and failures of a program that identifies itself as activist in terms of diversity and inclusion, this chapter offers a portrait of the evolution of cutting edge diversity and inclusion efforts in the field.

Widespread changes to the diversity and inclusiveness of library and information science education, professions, and institutions depend on all parts of the field committing to these issues, sharing ideas and best practices, and becoming activists for equity.

This chapter examines the ways in which library and information science scholarship can document African American women’s history—including the history of the field itself—through publication of biographies, bibliographies, and historical texts.

Through the author’s experiences, this chapter explores the roles of libraries, special collections, professional associations, journals, conferences, and academic and independent publishers in the production and dissemination of literature about African American women’s history.

The chapter emphasizes the importance of mentors and fellow scholars in the pursuit of historical research of populations that are often neglected in scholarship.

This chapter argues that despite efforts to increase the diversity of the library and information science profession, little has changed in the last four decades.

This chapter presents historical and current data on diversity within the profession and examples of initiatives to improve diversity in schools of library and information science.

The chapter explores the ways in which the racial climate of the profession has impacted all of these efforts to improve diversity in the field.

This chapter explores the ways in which libraries can adapt to meet the needs of their patrons and communities, particularly those that are often neglected by other community institutions.

Personal experiences and insights of the author through work in many types of libraries serve as the framework for this discussion.

This chapter offers suggestions on ways in which libraries can better meet community needs and improve the quality of life for patrons of underserved populations.

This chapter presents a personal reflection on the attention to community needs and inclusiveness in libraries.

Personal experiences and insights of the author serve as the framework for this discussion.

Tracing the course of the author’s four-decade career, the author identifies the growth in the focus on service to communities and their specific needs by libraries.

This chapter presents an exploration of interrelated issues of diversity, poverty, race, and incarceration, as challenges for libraries and information professionals in certain communities.

Through the perspective of the author’s personal experiences in libraries, including a long career in prison librarianship, the chapter provides a cross-national and cross-cultural view of race and inclusion in libraries.

The chapter emphasizes the transformational impacts of libraries on their patrons, particularly in areas and situations of significant need, such as prison libraries.

This chapter focuses on the roles of the library as a center of self-education and information access in promoting equity in society.

Based on the author’s experiences as an academic library director, this chapter presents reflections on the concept of the library, its development, and its contributions.

This chapter argues that libraries are institutions of equity, serving as a special kind of university that is “of and for the people.”

This chapter explores the role of librarianship, mentoring, leadership, community outreach, professional organizations, and change when infused with positive administrative leadership. These elements are explored because they increase the likelihood of a positive climate for assessment of diversity, inclusion, and implementation of diversity initiatives in libraries. The chapter also examines cultural issues that impact the inclusiveness in libraries as well as identifies the barriers that leave an indelible imprint that institutional racism creates when the library’s effort to deliver quality services to users is in doubt. The author takes a cathartic look at her education, career trajectory, professional development, and how she has come to value her purpose and survival of 51 years in the profession.

Using as a lens for change in the profession, the author traces her career in K-12 schools, community college, and academic libraries in times of both segregation and integration.

Through the metaphor of “stepping back in order to move forward,” the author demonstrates best practices that can be taken by libraries, library professionals, and community organizations toward progress in terms of diversity and inclusion. The author also explores pioneers of color and has used their lives as models for training future librarians. Walking in the “back door” and going through the hotel kitchen has never been a positive example of appreciation for a professional as they make monumental contributions to serve the library profession. Our pioneers endured to serve as “lights” in spite of societal obstacles.

This chapter focuses on the importance of recruitment and education as primary means to improve the diversity and inclusiveness of information professions.

This chapter presents a personal narrative of the author’s career as a lens by which to examine changes in racial attitudes in the field.

Attention to recruiting people from diverse backgrounds and to making library and information science educational programs more inclusive are keys to improving the diversity of the profession.

This chapter focuses on strategies for recruiting, retaining, and mentoring librarians of color.

Based on her experiences in the libraries and the models and influences provided by her own mentors, the author explores issues and challenges in recruiting, mentoring, and retaining librarians of color.

The chapter provides suggestions for best practices in recruiting, retaining, and mentoring librarians of color.

This chapter explores the importance of professional learning and reinvention over the course of a career in information.

Drawing upon personal experience in a range of positions and information organizations, the author uses the evolution of her career as a template for exploring professional growth.

The chapter offers strategies for adapting, reinventing, and continually learning in a career in the field of library and information science.

This chapter provides a review of diversity management as framed in business and organizational management literature, and relates that literature to the current state of diversity theory development in library and information science (LIS).

This review begins with a theoretical orientation, focusing on organizational theories, diversity management models, and diversity conflict frameworks. It then summarizes some empirical literature for organizations seeking to create a diverse environment. It concludes with a discussion of diversity models developed in and for LIS.

Library and information science has lagged behind organizational science in research and theory development related to diversity. Most of the LIS research that has been done has focused on individuals rather than library systems or the larger organizational systems in which they are embedded. Practical questions are raised about the extent of diversity concerns in the day-to-day operations and practices of libraries, and where diversity concerns come into conflict with librarians’ professional values.

This chapter relates the story of the author’s career from student library assistant to professional librarian in academic libraries.

The author’s experiences as told in this chapter connect the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s with her career choices and her perspective on librarianship.

The chapter emphasizes the importance of the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century on shaping personal and professional world views. It also addresses the role of mentors and the importance of facing challenges.

This chapter argues that, though the field of library and information science has made some progress in advancing diversity and inclusion, race still needs to be acknowledged as a barrier and its collateral damage needs to be spoken in order to ensure equity in our practice, research, and/or service. Core to the argument is that race as a univariate measure, equated with phenotype, is problematic and simplistic. This chapter instead makes a case for race as multidimensional. Although race figures in how one is perceived, this lens diminishes the agency of people of color to define themselves through their own worldview, experiences, and actions.

The chapter is a collection of interwoven first-person essays that reveal what people see, perceive, and mask, with the intention to continue to push an authentic conversation on race in the field. Contributors include librarians, educators, and scholars, who represent distinct dimensions of the race spectrum, question such categorization, and do not necessarily neatly fit into a racial category. They explore how they view race in the library and information field, the extent to which they feel included or not, and how they have attempted and continue to shape the field through their practice, research, and/or service.

As individuals, each contributor speaks in their own voice, and as a collective, the authors move the race dialogue forward by speaking about dimensions of race from their own experiences, representing individual stories, and allowing their intersections to be revealed.

This chapter presents a cultural re-interpretation of race/ethnicity and sexuality in the American academy from the perspective of a gay man originally from India settled in the United States for more than 22 years. The reflection is based on experiences in graduate education in the United States during the closing decade of the 20th century.

The author employs a personal critical narrative, gaining insights and developing an alternative “voice” of race/ethnicity and sexuality other than what gets reported in the mainstream media and contrary to stereotyped representations. It involved resisting real and/or imagined lapses emerging in Asian-Indian contexts in areas such as ethnic gender role differentiation, heterosexism, improper academic practices, and unethical intellectual property infringement, while at the same time questioning the limitations of American gay white hegemonic dictates in a journey of self-discovery and self-growth.

The chapter identifies select strategies in the provision of information services that, had they been available during the author’s graduate education, would have better addressed (and supported) efforts to deconstruct and understand perceptions of unjust/prejudiced behaviors. The insights are meant to provide future directions to both individuals and institutions that are coping with similar needs, situations, and perceptions of people who are stuck between a rock and hard place owing to intersections in their multiple (and seemingly conflicting) identities (e.g., based on race/ethnicity and sexuality). The chapter calls for a more inclusive understanding of diversity-information-leadership intersections to better respond to the needs of such marginalized individuals and communities.

This chapter is a first-person exploration of the process of pursing a doctoral degree and a faculty career as a person of color in the field of library and information science.

The chapter focuses on the varying levels of diversity and inclusion in LIS practice and education and the impacts of those differences on who enters the field, what gets taught, and who stays in the field.

The chapter concludes that there are varied levels of diversity and inclusion in library and information science practice and education and that the racial biases and insensitivities encountered in the field can have significant impacts on persons of color in the field.

This chapter examines the depth to which considerations of diversity and inclusion have been internalized within the educational programs, professions, and institutions of library and information science.

Drawing upon the authors’ parallel careers as scholars and educators focused on the diversity and the inclusiveness of the field, this chapter uses the findings from their individual and collaborative studies over the past 10 years to explore the roles of diversity and inclusion in the field.

This chapter details a list of key issues of diversity and inclusion that remain insufficiently addressed in the field and the ways in which educators, professionals, and institutions can work together to confront these challenges.

This chapter presents the acceptance speech for the 2015 James Partridge Award, which inspired the creation of this volume devoted to the Partridge Award and issues of diversity and inclusion in library and information science.

Tracing his career as librarian and library director, the author explores his path to becoming a library director in his hometown and finding ways to work with the community and local government to build a new facility for the city library.

Community engagement, advocacy, partnerships, and fundraising plan intertwined roles in sustaining libraries and meeting the needs of the communities that they serve.