Diversity and Research: Impact on Decision Making in Libraries and LIS Education
Recap by Dr. Michele A. L. Villagran

Do you care about research? Are you aware of the role that diversity-related research plays in our profession of library and information science? Drs. Mark Winston, Denise Agosto, Karen Downing, and Haipeng Li discuss an overview of diversity, general literature on diversity research, and focused research of academic and public libraries. Finally, they concluded with future directions for further research and collaborations.

The social and political environment often informs us when considering public discourse, power/interpersonal dynamics, implicit bias and civility, economic inequality, and public policy. There are a lot of events going on within our climate that focus on issues of diversity. The public discourse reflects reality in terms of what is happening right now. A few examples are presented next. In terms of power/interpersonal dynamics, there are issues of workplace microaggressions, sexual harassment, bullying and police shootings, and killings. There is an economic inequality when it comes to access to information related to public policy issues which as very important to our society (i.e., Medicare). There are internalized perceptions about poor people – seen as lazy, and most poor people are Hispanic or Black. Your health and quality of life are impacted due to these situations. We have seen many organizations address issues of diversity including Starbucks, CVS, NBC, CBS, and universities.

In an overview of diversity research, it was found within the literature that diversity is often defined differently. There has been a growth in the last decade of research within a wide range of areas including team diversity, gender, non-profits, schools, higher education, etc. Diversity research in higher education has a primary focus on education leadership, affirmative action, student and faculty, recruitment & retention, and curriculum & research.

In libraries, the diversity research focuses on diversity leadership, organizational research related to success, workforce diversity, workplace climate, collections, and services. In academic libraries, the diversity is mainly focused on diversity programs, residency programs, and efforts in grassroots efforts mainly with research conducted by academic librarians. For public libraries, the literature is much less encompassing. Far less empirical research has been conducted in the industry. Staffing, collections, services and the organizational climate are all discussed with studies looking at the level of underrepresented groups and limited programs over time. Fundraising and philanthropy were examined in the context of libraries. Majority of the research uses academic libraries as a case study with few studies looking at connecting communities. When examining philanthropy positions on HigherEd.com, no position included diversity within the description and only one include cultural competence as a skill.

There are two reoccurring research themes related to LIS education & diversity research. They include 1) the need for more diversity among LIS students and 2) the need for more diversity-related content in LIS degree curricula. Future research opportunities are boundless. There is a lack of empirical studies within our practice overall. Public libraries have far less empirical research on a majority of diversity-related topics. It has been challenging to conduct intersectional work, so this is an opportunity for us to collaborate. There can be more collaborations between public libraries, academic libraries, and LIS faculty to contribute to the literature.