ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 840 / C&RL News ■ Decem ber 1998 CONFERENCE CIRCUIT The challenge to change Creating diversity in libraries by Martin Goldberg and Susan Hamburger S uppose you were on a sinking boat with your spouse/partner, your mother, and your child. As the only swimmer, whom would you choose to save? When one large audience was asked this, most responded with their mother! While this may seem odd to Americans (most would save their child), when this question was asked in the Philippines, the respondents chose their mother; after all, the thinking went, you have only one mother— you can always remarry and have m ore c h il­ dren. This question, asked of almost 150 academic and pub­ lic librarians to il­ lustrate that people value and think dif­ ferently, started a tw o-d ay c o n fe r ­ Nancy Eaton, dean of Pe ence sponsored by with keynote speaker E. at University o f Pittsbur Penn State Univer­ sity (PSU) Libraries, Rutgers University Librar­ ies, University of Maryland Libraries and Col­ lege of Library and Information Services, and University of Pittsburgh (UP) Libraries and School of Information Sciences, and the As­ sociation for Research Libraries (ARL). Held nn J. gh October 1-2, in State College, Pennsylvania, librarians and support staff joined nationally known speakers in an exploration of diver­ sity issues affecting academic libraries. Objectives The conference objectives included a histori­ cal overview of diversity in libraries; show­ casing diversity efforts at several major librar­ ie s ; e x a m in in g current trends and best practices in diversity; explor­ ing issues o f orga­ nizational culture related to diversity; h e lp in g p a rtic i­ pants build effec­ tive professional re­ lationships around diversity; discuss­ ing the expanding role of diversity in State University Libraries, recruitment; men­ Josey, professor emeritus toring, promotion, . and retention, and its importance in creating organizations; and giving participants a look at the future of diversity in libraries. Topics focused on race, gender, disabili­ ties, climate surveys, hate groups, and diver­ sity programs at several university libraries. A A bo ut the authors Martin Goldberg is associate librarian at Penn State Beaver Campus, e-mail: mxg35@psu.edu; Susan Hamburger is associate librarian at Penn State University Libraries in University Park, e-mail:sxh@psulias.psu.edu mailto:mxg35@psu.edu mailto:sxh@psulias.psu.edu C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 1998 / 841 Attendees enjoy a book sale at the conference multicultural interaction session performed by Loaves and Fish Traveling Repertory Com­ pany engaged the audience in role-playing. The conference fostered networking among speakers and attendees with several oppor­ tunities for socializing including during a book sale and author signing after dinner. W. Terrell Jones, associate vice provost for educational equity at PSU, kicked off the con­ ference by describing three differing views of diversity: one in which we focus on num­ ber-counting (we have x alligators and y cam­ els), another one driven by high morals but focusing too much on qualitative assessment and not on making things happen, and the one that works where there is a clear plan of goals and strategic issues that aims at behav­ ioral change. Keynote speaker E. J. Josey, professor emeritus at UP, in his address, “Whether Di­ versity?,” spoke about the permeation of rac­ ism throughout society. He believes that “if affirmative action programs had been en­ forced and carried out as President Lyndon Johnson had envisioned, we would not be riding the diversity horse today.” He ques­ tioned if America will do away with the bar­ riers that plague minorities. Despite the progress we think we are making, the statis­ tics show that minorities account for approxi­ mately ten percent of the graduates of ALA- accredited MLS programs and ARL librarians in 1996-97. Teresa Neely of Colorado State, in the ses­ sion “Unequal Opportunities: Race Does Mat­ ter,” presented hard data from a recent sur­ vey that found while the percentage of fe­ male library deans at major institutions more than doubled between 1986 and 1997, few . are African American. In stating that “diversity is as American as apple pie” (and it doesn’t end when you leave the library building and enter the real world), she suggested gathering cred­ ible information about colleagues of color and not believing the hype that things are working out. In citing the ALA Spectrum Initia­ tive, Khafre Abif of Mount Vernon PL reinforced Josey’s premise of the pau­ city of minority scholarship opportu­ nities. He spoke about some of the ob­ stacles: the pecking order of what is re c o g n iz e d as tru e s c h o la rs h ip (Eurocentric views) and mainstream conser­ vative ideas in promoting whiteness over oth­ ers in employment and admission to Ph.D. programs. He advocated the idea of starting early to recruit and retain librarians of color. What began in California with Proposition 209 is gaining momentum on a national basis and may result in even fewer minorities attending library school. Kevin Harwell of PSU led an emotional session on “Hate Groups, the Internet and Libraries.” Most hate groups reach large au­ diences and easily recruit members through the Web. Their information often relies on misquotations of the Bible, and the Web sites exhibit a similarity in choice of graphics and colors. Harvard’s homepage on hate groups http://hatewatch.org/ has helped to meet us­ ers’ needs on studying hate crimes, particu­ larly for primary source material. There was discussion of whether we should collect hate group material (if we don’t, where will schol­ ars get this in the future?) and the criteria one must use to collect material, particularly that which may greatly offend many. In a session on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered library collection s, Ellen Greenblatt of the University of Colorado/Den­ ver, Cal Gough of Atlanta Fulton PL, and Polly Thistlethwaite of Colorado State described col­ lection development strategies and resources to make collections more inclusive. Gough said the biggest barrier is librarians not get­ ting necessary materials because many don’t know what to purchase. He noted that many users feel confidentiality is broken when searching for this type of material. Then he asked how many libraries have displays for lesbian/gay/bisexual month in October (very http://hatewatch.org/ 842 / C&RL News ■ December 1998 few did). Greenblatt’s presentation and other resources are available at http://carbon. cudenver.edu/public/library/libq/diversity/. Lo o kin g ahead Conference participants suggested in their evaluations that future conferences focus on practical implementation strategies to improve diversity in libraries, best practices, mentoring, how to get diversity committees started, train­ ing issues, behavior modification techniques, and networking to strengthen existing diver­ sity programs. PSU organizers updated the conference Web site http://www.libraries. psu.edu/divers/conf/ to include abstracts, session papers, Powerpoint presentations, and links to additional diversity Web sites. PSU Libraries is hosting a diversity chat room linked to the Web site to continue discus­ sions. Attendees strongly recommended that ARL coordinate a biennial diversity in libraries con­ ference that would rotate through different regions across the country. By keeping the momentum going with open communication and sharing best practices, librarians can meet the challenge to change. ■ (Internet Resources con tin u ed fr o m p a g e 83 7) at this large site. Within this site the various agency divisions have their own homepages. This site also includes state and local EPA contacts. A ccess: http://www.epa.gov/. • U.S. Geological Survey. A wealth of in­ formation can be found here on the earth sci­ ences and the environment. The environment section of the site features a large collection of resources on USGS studies on policy, glo­ bal change, energy and the environment, ecosystems and management, and anthro­ pogenic and natural contaminants. A ccess: http://www.usgs.gov. • USAID Environm ental and Natural Resources. USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is an indepen­ dent agency that provides economic devel­ opment and humanitarian assistance to de­ veloping countries. Part of this effort is to encourage countries to work toward envi­ ronmental protection. This Web site provides detailed information on USAID’s environ- ment-related projects, education efforts, and publications. Access: http://www.info.usaid. gov/environment. ■ http://carbon http://www.libraries http://www.epa.gov/ http://www.usgs.gov http://www.info.usaid C&RL News ■ Decem ber 1998 / 843