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These numbers are up only slightly for African Americans, which made up 3.2% of LIS faculty according to the 2012 report. "Considering the Ethnoracial and Gender Diversity of Faculty in United States College and University Intellectual Communities." "The Virtuous Circle: Increasing Diversity in LIS Faculties to Create More Inclusive Library Services and Outreach.". [Extracted from the article]

Spanish-speaking Latinx are currently the second largest racial/ethnic group in the United States however, general understanding of their use of libraries, museums and archives (LAMs) is limited. This study seeks to understand the level of use and perceptions of LAMs by members of the Spanish-speaking Latinx community. The results presented in this study stem from phenomenological interviews conducted with 13 individuals who identify as Latinx and live in the Boston metropolitan area. The interviews identified a wide array of experiences with LAMs in Boston. In general, libraries were the most used by the participants, followed by museums; archives were the least used. Participants who have or have had children living in the household indicated that their use of libraries and museums was mainly driven by the educational needs of the school-aged children in the household. This work demonstrates the need to create relationships with the Latinx community in order to encourage stronger and more sustained use of LAMs. The different areas of focus for the LAMs considered here are; the need for libraries to foster more consistent use among Latinx, for museums to explore ways in which they can encourage more visits to a greater variety of museums and for archives to create more awareness of the organization itself and its usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work discusses the need for and value of immigrant rights advocacy in libraries and archives amid the xenophobic climate in 2017. Using action research, we set out to understand how members of the Latinx community in Boston responded to President Trump’s Executive Order 13768, Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. Our focus on the Latinx community stems from our personal connections to it; however, our findings apply broadly to migrant communities and the intersectionality with multiple identities such as ethnicity, gender, legal status, and socioeconomic class. We argue that immigrant rights, and more generally civil and human rights, are indeed information issues, and archivists and librarians have a unique role to play in advocacy for oppressed communities. We identify records literacy instruction as critical for information organizations to prevent misinformation and to safeguard civil liberties and human rights during times of political turmoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite demographic changes which indicate larger numbers of racial and ethnic minorities make up most of American society, library and information science (LIS) research remains focused on majority groups. This work proposes ways in which researchers and LIS educators can incorporate more diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into their research, especially by making racial and ethnic minorities more visible in it. The main ideas discussed in this regard deal with self-awareness, positionality, and sampling methods. While not exhaustive, the suggestions offered here are straightforward ways in which researchers can become more intentional in their inclusion of historically excluded populations into their research. The ideas shared in this work are aimed at aiding those who are considering the incorporation of DEI topics into their existing research agendas, as well as helping LIS educators set the foundation of sound research which values DEI when guiding students’ research endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explored the ways in which current liaison librarians feel their LIS programs prepared them for their role, focusing on two research questions: To what extent do librarians working as liaisons in academic institutions in the US and Canada feel their LIS programs prepared them for their liaison role? How much of the preparation of librarians to be liaisons can be attributed to their programs' curriculum, especially in terms of where in the curriculum the liaison role is addressed? Results of a survey of 366 liaisons demonstrate that across a variety of contexts, most respondents feel their programs prepared them to be liaisons, but those who completed the academic library track more often than expected indicated feeling prepared. A majority of participants indicated non-curriculum experiences, such as assistantships, paid employment, and internships in academic libraries, as useful in their preparation, with one exception: those who completed online programs less often than expected indicated non-curricular experiences as useful in preparation for their current liaison role. Overall, the most useful courses cited included specialized courses, reference, instruction, and collection management, suggesting some preparation from core courses, but additional preparation coming from elective courses not always taken by or available to everyone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents findings from one-on-one interviews with 21 undergraduate students at a large public research university in the southeastern United States. While the preliminary focus of the study was to be students' opinions about and use of Wikipedia as a resource for course-related research, many of the interviews evolved into discussion about the relative merits of freely-available web-based resources as compared with subscription databases. In addition to providing illuminating information about respondents' relationships with Wikipedia and Google, these interviews offered an unexpected glimpse into participants' understanding of the nature of information creation, presentation, and retrieval in the free web-based environment. Additionally, respondents provided valuable insight into the question of why some students rely heavily on library resources while others avoid visiting the physical and virtual library. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Google Scholar and academic library discovery systems are both popular resources among academic users for finding scholarly information. By conducting an online survey with 975 users from more than 20 public research universities across the United States, this study comparatively investigates how and why academic users use these two resources. Results show that the ways participants used both resources were similar, and both were perceived as highly accessible and useful. Academic library discovery systems' perceived comprehensiveness, subjective norm, loyalty, and intended use were higher than Google Scholar, while Google Scholar's perceived ease of use, system quality, and satisfaction were higher than that of academic library discovery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite multiple calls for diversifying academia in general, and Library and Information Science programs (LIS) specifically, the number of faculty of color working in higher education remains low. This work presents the points of view and suggestions of a faculty member concerning the diversity dilemma in LIS. The work relies on personal narratives in order to present the experiences and point of view of a member of the LIS community who constantly navigates the spaces of academia while negotiating the many aspects of their experience through the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender. The main objective of the work is to present areas for consideration to those who are interested in bringing change and supporting faculty of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyses the structure of LIS program mission statements. The programs considered here are all ALA (American Library Association) accredited programs in the United States and Canada. The study employed content analysis through constant comparative analysis to determine the structure of the mission statements, the stakeholders represented in these as well as and the needs the programs satisfy for the different stakeholders. The results point to LIS programs employing symbolic mission statements that do not help to differentiate one program from another. The stakeholders represented were mainly students and external groups, both in interactions with one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work explores the ways in which academic librarians specializing in areas related to user services consider the courses they took as part of obtaining their library and information science (LIS) degree prepared them to deal with issues of customer service in their current work. Effective customer service is a central aspect of accomplishing community engagement in academic libraries. This research employs Grounded Theory in order to explore the process through which the librarians' personal experience of learning and applying principles of good customer service that will result in more community engagement. A total of 14 academic librarians working reference and instruction areas were interviewed for this project employing a semi-structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data uncovered perceived weakness in how LIS education prepares students to deal with customer service issues in their professional careers. Service learning is suggested here as a sensible approach to help bridge this gap between education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the roles of organizational stories among librarians who work at the reference desk. Twenty librarians employed in four academic institutions were interviewed. Most of the organizational stories shared among the participants and their colleagues were rich in tacit knowledge and can be classified according to four main roles: explaining work conditions, warning systems, preparing others, and finding comfort. The results of the study also suggest that the librarians recount the stories to different groups according to the role of the stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]