6 comments on “Diversity in LIS
  1. LibGirl09 says:

    Good post. This is one of the better, more well thought out blog articles (that I have read) pondering diversity in library science. I have experienced the reluctance to discuss this issue in the classroom as well. In a recent class session, my professor was willing to go there, but the normally very opinionated group was strangely silent (out of 18 students, I think 4 are minorities–myself included). I did comment on the HLS post with my insights. But I am giving it more thought. Maybe I’ll post something on my blog soon.

    Anyway, just wanted to say I enjoyed the read. 🙂

    • admin says:

      Thanks for the comment! Sorry for the delay in my response. I must not have my blog comment notifications set correctly (still!). I thought your comment on the HLS blog was thoughtful and covered a lot of bases. Your points about there not being enough entry-level positions and the gap between the cost of the education and salary are no-brainers that are often overlooked. Thanks for bringing those to our attention! These factors are important to keep track of. I hope you *will* post something to your blog and let the library and library student communities know about it!

  2. Katy Vance says:

    Hi Melody!

    Although I am obviously coming to your post late, I wanted to say I really enjoyed this post. I am doing a lot of work on Diversity in LIS education at UNC Chapel Hill. We have created a Diversity Taskforce and Advocate Certificate. They are small steps, but steps all the same. You can check them out at .

    I would be interested to hear how your thoughts have evolved on this topic since you posted this.

    • admin says:

      Hi, Katy. I’m not finding a link in your comment! Just googled the taskforce and am looking into it. My thoughts haven’t evolved greatly since posting this. In fact, I’m an organizer for a SLIS student-run conference at my university and shake my head while looking at the people we’ve gotten to be a part of the program–only 2 panelists are male and 1 person of color. On the one hand, there was only so much we could do to get people to agree to be presenters. On the other, we could have done more to go out of our way to solicit contributions from male students. We do have more men taking part in a non-panel session, but not at any rate that would suggest we’re starting to achieve gender balance.

      Are you on Twitter? I would love to keep track of your efforts at UNC!

3 Pings/Trackbacks for "Diversity in LIS"
  1. […] The Melody Party – Diversity in LIS […]

  2. […] Dworak, Melody (Mar. 5, 2011) Diversity in LIS. […]

  3. […] the ALA to do more to promote diversity in the field.  I’m certainly not the first blogger to discuss the uncomfortable racial demographics that exists in the information field and I will not bring any […]

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