This past week I read a very interesting scholar article, and I would like to share my findings with you. This was related to a school assignment for the Research Methods in Library & Information Science class. Full citation of this piece follows before my writing. Hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did!
Subramaniam, M.M., Rodriguez-Mori, H., Jaeger, P.T., & Hill, R. (2012). The implications of a decade of diversity-related doctoral dissertations (2000-2009) in LIS: supporting inclusive library practices. Library Quarterly, 82 (3), 361-377.
This study was conducted among
ALA accredited LIS schools in order to reveal the relevancy of
diversity-related topics in doctoral dissertations in the field of Library and
Information Science covering a period of 9 years, from 2000-2009. The objectives were to raise awareness about
the need to prepare our librarians and libraries to serve in a better way all
types of diversity (gender, religion, age, gender, race, religion, physical
disabilities, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientation, and thinking
styles), and to promote awareness within the educational institutions in a
sense that more courses on diversity would be offered to prospective LIS
students. As stated by Subramaniam, M.M., Rodriguez-Mori, H., Jaeger, P.T., & Hill, R. (2012):
Libraries and other information
organizations either are currently or will be serving an ever more racially
diverse national population. The nation is becoming more diverse, but LIS is
not embracing this change in its research, particularly in research that will
support libraries in providing services, resources, programs, and outreach that
will meet the needs of these diverse communities and patron populations.
Data for this study was
collected from dissertations’ abstracts retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations
and Thesis Database. A list of 44 diversity
terms were originated to analyze the content of such abstracts and to prove the
level of relevancy of such terms within these dissertations A total of 216 LIS dissertations were
analyzed, and a total of 08 spreadsheets were created to illustrate the study
results. This study revealed that 89
dissertations from the total of 216 dissertations analyzed were diversity-related
doctoral dissertations. It also revealed
that only 22.2% of recent LIS graduates had the option to take a course related
to diversity in their program, and 21.3% of LIS recent graduates pointed out
they didn’t know how to proceed in order to work with diverse groups. Other factors that caught my attention during
the examination of this study were:
·
Hispanic population increased 15.2 million
between 2000 & 2009 in U.S.;
·
From 2000 to 2010, 83% of the U.S. population was
non-white;
·
48% of all children born is U.S. nowadays come
from minority groups;
·
And by 2050, minorities groups will represent a
total of 54% of the U.S. total population.
In conclusion, it is clear that
a need to include diversity in our LIS programs and libraries is a reality
which is expanding faster and faster as the nation demographics changes
rapidly. As stated by Subramaniam, M.M., Rodriguez-Mori, H., Jaeger, P.T., & Hill, R. (2012):
The belief that it is essential
to help all individuals who enter the library by providing materials and
services that reflect the diverse range of perspectives and groups in society
has been the underlying foundation to the code of ethics and the bill of rights
of the American Library Association
Here are some Excel tables which
were created in this study report for your knowledge, and better understanding
of this study.
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