Chapter 6: Diversity and Inclusion: Better Serving International Students at Academic Libraries

With the globalization of education and immigration, international students have become a large population group at universities in the United States. However, language issues, adjusting to a new educational system, and culture shock are still big challenges for most international students. As a former international student majoring in Library and Information Science, the author deeply understands the difficulties that these students go through to achieve academic success in the United States. Therefore, when the author began working as the Liaison Librarian for International Students at the University of South Alabama in 2014, her first goal was to develop a relationship with related departments on campus to provide library services for these students. This chapter will provide a glimpse of the library outreach program created especially for international students at the University of South Alabama. This chapter will also share the author’s professional experiences reaching out to different groups of international students and creating long-term collaborative working relationships with related departments on campus. The goal is to enable universities to create a welcoming library environment and provide services to support the academic success of all students.