UB Libraries Strategy Aims to Increase Minority Librarians

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In 1992, the University at Buffalo Libraries initiated an original and aggressive racial/ethnic diversity recruitment strategy that has proven so successful that it has attracted applicants from all over the country. And those who have become part of the program not only have infused fresh new blood into the libraries themselves, but are helping to change the face of librarianship in the United States.

The program was developed in response to a 1991 American Library Association report citing the vast underrepresentation of minorities in the library field.

The aim of the UB program is to increase the pool of Native-American, Latino and African-American librarians by aggressively recruiting minority students into a three-year program of library education, internship and residency designed to enhance their professional status and employability.

The program, which now serves as a model for other academic institutions, also has produced many unexpected benefits for UB -- increased instructional programs, better one-on-one service to students, excellent role models for minority students, unusual exhibitions and performance programs, fresh professional perspectives and increased staff creativity and flexibility.

Librarian Glendora Johnson-Cooper, manager of the UB program, says the problem of underrepresentation stems in part from the fact that young people from minority communities often don't realize the excellent career opportunities available in the library field, most with good benefits and salaries and many offering great opportunities for research and professional development.

"Latino, Native-American and black students rarely see librarians who are 'like them,' so they have very few role models to encourage them to consider the field. They think all librarians are middle-aged white women," she laughs. Johnson-Cooper and Margaret Wells, director of the UB Undergraduate Library, note as well that minorities students who do complete degrees in library studies frequently face the usual

extant discrimination when applying for their first jobs and so find it harder to acquire the professional experience and publishing opportunities that will help them move up the ladder.

"This program helps overcome the employment barriers for these professionals," Wells says. "It kicks excuses for underrepresentation to the curb. At the same time, it has allowed us to offer much better service and education in library research methods to our undergraduates, and particularly to our minority students."

At any given time, one of the three is a Schomburg Fellow, a minority graduate student enrolled in the UB School of Information and Library Studies and working toward a master's degree in information and library studies. Upon completion, that student begins a two-year library residency that makes up the second part of the program.

As one participant is completing a master's degree at UB, two others -- minority graduates of SILS or any other library school in the U.S. -- are getting a leg up, professionally speaking, in a two-year professional residency as reference/instruction librarians with the rank of visiting assistant librarian.

During their residencies, these young librarians spend a great deal of time in direct contact with undergraduate students, getting hands-on teaching experience as well as practical experience in collection development and special projects.

During their residency years, they receive full support from the university for professional travel. Wells says the program also provides strong mentoring from fellow librarians, the university and the profession.

"Residents work with the newest technology and contribute to our Digital Libraries Initiative," says Johnson-Cooper, "and they're supported by UB as they develop their research agenda. We also help them to prepare a scholarly article for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and get them involved in local, regional and national professional organizations."

She says the opportunity to practice and enhance professional skills and establish a research record early in their careers makes the participants much more competitive when seeking employment.

"When they're finished," Johnson-Cooper adds, "they have an impressive record of professional accomplishment, which is why many of them already have positions in academic libraries."