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This demographic study contributes to scholarship on the recruitment of Blacks into the US LIS workforce by situating Black librarianship within broader population trends. The research combines historical LIS reports, Africana studies scholarship, and federal data to describe how long-term transitions in the overall US Black population influence LIS. Issues pertaining to middle-class job prospects, higher education attainment, and immigration are investigated. A review of varied evidence suggests that librarianship as a career option remains largely out of sight or out of reach for many Blacks. The article provides recommendations for LIS leaders to achieve synergized recruitment and inclusion efforts.

This article revisits Rosemary DuMont's 1986 articles on Black librarianship and racial attitudes in LIS. The first part addresses missing or limited coverage on the library schools at five historically Black colleges and universities: Alabama A&M University, Clark Atlanta University, University of the District of Columbia, Hampton University, and North Carolina Central University. The second part provides examples of biases in accreditation as it relates to HBCU-based LIS programs. The article closes with a discussion on the erasure of HBCUs in LIS education, despite their important contributions to racial and ethnic representation and inclusion in the library professions.

According to LIS research, the U.S. library and information science field reflects more than 135 years of white racialized, monocultural pedagogy. Critical race theory helps us understand why Blacks remain on the margins of the LIS profession. Armed with critical racial knowledge, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association embarked on a three-year project to assert Black culture in a profession that has historically overpowered other ways of knowing. This article chronicles how BCALA leaders gleaned from Black-centered pedagogical traditions, data on Black MLIS students' needs, and the critical race theory tenet of counterstorytelling to scaffold a national, online Black MLIS student organization that exists autonomously from mainstream U.S. LIS programs.

This perspective essay explores Gasman & Arroyo's (2014) HBCU-inspired framework for Black student success as a prism for re-envisioning LIS education. In response to calls for anti-hegemonic LIS education, the authors discuss a potential tool for Black student success and suggest its benefits to LIS education. The framework can introduce non-white, anti-racist educational practices to the work of educating the U.S. library workforce; it is relevant in light of ongoing racial and political strife in U.S. society.

Purpose: After the closing of four of the five historically Black college and university (HBCU)-based library and information science (LIS) graduate programs (leaving only that of North Carolina Central University), there is a need to revitalize HBCU-LIS degree program pathways to increase racial diversity in LIS education. Design/methodology/approach: This mixed-methods study entails survey and interview research with HBCU librarians. The researchers explored participants' professional experiences and perspectives on creating partnerships between HBCU institutions and LIS graduate programs. Findings: Participants demonstrated substantial experience, expressed high levels of job satisfaction, viewed pipeline programs favorably and believed that LIS can be strengthened through the inclusion of HBCU educational practices and students. Practical implications: This study provides recommendations and a model for forging culturally competent and reciprocal HBCU-LIS degree program partnerships. Social implications: Community-led knowledge of HBCUs can disrupt rescue and deficiency narratives of these institutions. Such prejudices are detrimental to HBCU-LIS degree program partnerships. Originality/value: Past HBCU-LIS degree program pipeline partnerships did not culminate in research or published best practices. This paper presents literature-derived and community-sourced guidelines along with a model for future initiatives.

This demographic study contributes to scholarship on the recruitment of Blacks into the US LIS workforce by situating Black librarianship within broader population trends. The research combines historical LIS reports, Africana studies scholarship, and federal data to describe how long-term transitions in the overall US Black population influence LIS. Issues pertaining to middle-class job prospects, higher education attainment, and immigration are investigated. A review of varied evidence suggests that librarianship as a career option remains largely out of sight or out of reach for many Blacks. The article provides recommendations for LIS leaders to achieve synergized recruitment and inclusion efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]