“Diversity” is well set to become the buzzword for the profession in the UK following, as we do, the trends set by our US cousins. The USA has recognised the problems (and the promise) of ethnic diversity and multiculturalism and is addressing these issues vigorously and successfully. We in the UK are only slowly waking up to the fact that we live in a vibrant multicultural society, and librarianship should recognise and celebrate that diversity and richness of experience – not least by recruiting and retaining many more library staff from the ethnic minorities.
This interesting and timely collection of accounts by US librarians provides a good overview of how the US LIS profession is tackling the issue of ethnic diversity as a central professional concern. If only the LA could afford (and have the political will) to institute a system similar to the American Library Association’s “Spectrum” scholarships for ethnic minority LIS students. The ALA has appointed also a “Diversity Officer” to “foster diversity initiatives at grassroots level”, a truly brave and innovative concept.
Professor Alice Robbin’s interesting account of the USA as a multicultural society provides good basic information on the ethnic diversity of the USA – even though data from the National Census of 2000 emerged too late to be included. The demographics for the USA reveal startling changes underway in the US “melting pot”, for instance a “digital divide” on access to information and the explosive growth of the Hispanic origin peoples to become nearly a third of the population of the USA by 2050. Libraries are going to have to deal with diversity or be by‐passed, and this thoughtful collection of papers sets the scene very well. Perhaps the Library Association might even create a “Diversity Officer” for the UK LIS profession? A useful offering from the well established Library Trends stable, if, inevitably, very USA centred.
