Developing diverse professional leaders

Diversity issues pervade a world connected by electronic advances that have closed distances and made possible millisecond communication. In the USA, and throughout the world, the seeds of one of the major challenges for library and information science reside within these diversity issues. Even as demographic ballasts are shifting around the globe, our professional moorings remain static. Data on the student body of the American Library Association accredited master's programs in library and information science located in the USA illustrate insufficient gains to respond to the heightened diversity of the nation in the twenty‐first century. This paper sets out the development of a diverse professional workforce and diverse professional leaders within four streams of research and theory, which point the way to a model for the future. The first arises from a feminist perspective combined with the second, the historical conceptualization of leadership over time, which overlooks or obscures the contributions of minority populations. The third stream identifies factors impacting the recruitment of minority groups, taken together, are currently emerging as the majority in the USA. The fourth focuses on interdependence between educators and practitioners as a key to increasing diversity in educational programs and professional leadership. A model arising from the four streams is presented. The creation of a global program that advances interdependence and equity is outlined.