Diversity Research Grant
The ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services sponsors this grant program which began in 2002 to address critical gaps in the knowledge of equity, diversity, and inclusion issues within library and information science.
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Details
Frequency: Annual
The Diversity Research Grant consists of a one-time $2500 award to support a one year original research project and complimentary registration for one conference in conjunction with a presentation of findings at ALA Annual Conference or the ALA Midwinter Meeting.
Grant Information
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Library Advocacy Work by Library Workers of Color
2020 - Winner(s) This exploratory research aims to highlight experiences and stories of library workers of color who participate in library advocacy work in the local and/or national... |
2020 - Winner(s) | |
| Retention of Academic Librarians of Color
2020 - Winner(s) This project will conduct oral history interviews of at least twenty people - including those who left academic librarianship when they considered themselves mid-career. Its... |
2020 - Winner(s) | |
| EDI Open Data
2020 - Winner(s) This project investigates how libraries might better serve the needs of diversity scholars as they think critically about the products of their research (scholarly communication... |
2020 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Decision-Making About Drag Queen Storytimes
2019 - Winner(s) Results will provide much needed insight regarding whether, how, and why public libraries implement drag queen storytimes and have implications for informing public libraries' decisions... |
2019 - Winner(s) | |
| Ni-Vanuatu Librarians
2019 - Winner(s) This project can provide a baseline data on the applicability of ALA Diversity Standards in the Pacific. This project hopes to open doors for future... |
2019 - Winner(s) | |
| Campus Learning Analytics
2019 - Winner(s) Recent scholarship has documented growing interests in identifying correlations or associations between the use of library services and resources and improved student GPA and retention... |
2019 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Searching for First Generation LIS Student Success
2018 - Winner(s) This project will analyze the experience of First Generation masters students enrolled at San Jose State University’s School of Information. This research will then address... |
2018 - Winner(s) | |
| Silence or share: how bilingual librarians use language to support or resist hegemony
2018 - Winner(s) “Callar o compartir: cómo los bibliotecarios bilingües emplean el idioma para apoyar o resistir la hegemonía | Silence or share: how bilingual librarians use language... |
2018 - Winner(s) | |
| Black Girls Dreaming
2018 - Winner(s) This project will examine the current offerings of speculative fiction for black girls and create guidelines for literacy stakeholders and parents seeking to select books... |
2018 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Examining Youths of Color's Perceptions of Library Inclusiveness
2017 - Winner(s) This project seeks to develop preliminary guidelines that library staff can use to increase youth of color’s access to (and ownership of) the library as... |
2017 - Winner(s) | |
| Information Behaviors Among LGBTQ Students at Single-Sex HBCUs
2017 - Winner(s) This project studies information seeking and sharing behaviors of LGBTQ students attending HBCUs and seeks to identify common themes or shared experiences that may assist... |
2017 - Winner(s) | |
| Minority Student Experiences with Racial Microaggressions in the Academic Library
2017 - Winner(s) This project uses surveys and focus groups to garner further insight into the specific experiences surrounding racial microaggressions directed at racial and ethnic minority students... |
2017 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| American-Style Research
2016 - Winner(s) This project explores foreign-born students’ perception of research practices in the United States using in-depth semi-structured interviews, building on responses to an initial survey question... |
2016 - Winner(s) | |
| Bilingual Family: Reaching the Next Generation of Immigrants and their Families through Public Library Services
2016 - Winner(s) This project will be used to improve the programs and services offered to immigrants and their families at public libraries. |
2016 - Winner(s) | |
| Creating a Model Policy for Trans-inclusiveness in the Libraries
2016 - Winner(s) This project will examine existing library polices, civil rights settlement agreements and best practices for transgender individuals to draft a model policy for libraries. This... |
2016 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Facilitating the Learning and Academic Performance of Student Veterans
2015 - Winner(s) This project will utilize mixed-methods to examine library services to veteran student populations to understand information needs, library services, and challenges to working with this growing... |
2015 - Winner(s) | |
| We Don’t Employ Colored People in the Public Libraries:The Baltimore Civil Rights Movement & the Color Line Behind the Desk at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1926-1946
2015 - Winner(s) This project will look at the struggle of African-Americans to train and subsequently be employed in the Enoch Pratt Free Library System in Baltimore, Maryland. The... |
2015 - Winner(s) | |
| Exploring library perceptions, reading habits and library usage of the South Asian Population in BC
2015 - Winner(s) This project will provide an understanding of the reading needs and library usage among the growing South East Asian Community in the Metro Vancouver Area... |
2015 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Development of Texts that Mediate and Facilitate Diversity in Adolescent Classrooms
2014 - Winner(s) This project will form the basis for creating “refereeing texts” for use in the adolescent classroom to help serve as a reference point in classroom... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
| “They Kind of Rely on the Library”: School Librarians Serving LGBT Students
2014 - Winner(s) This research examines school librarians’ perspectives on collecting LGBT materials. Based on qualitative interviews with thirty-one school librarians, this project found generally strong support for... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
| Including the Voice of Librarians of Color in Reference and Information Service Research
2014 - Winner(s) This project examines the behavioral aspects of reference and information service (RIS) among professionals representing diverse racial/ethnic groups. This study will allow the voice of... |
2014 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| The Role of Chinese American Librarians in Library and Information Science Diversity
2013 - Winner(s) This research will expand the understanding of the Chinese American librarian community in terms of their unique cultural experience and expound on best practices and... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
| Role of Information in Social Inclusion for International Students
2013 - Winner(s) This project investigates international students’ information seeking behaviors in both their campus and everyday lives and informs libraries with guidelines for promoting the social inclusion... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
| Exploring Library Programs to Support English Language Learner (ELL) Students’ Academic Success in Urban High Schools
2013 - Winner(s) This project will help to continue to raise awareness of the critical teaching role of school librarians, identify promising practices and areas of need for... |
2013 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| This Hallowed Place: The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the American South, 1954-1968
2012 - Winner(s) This project will analyze primary source materials like African American newspapers; local, state and federal court records; and interviews with participants still alive to create... |
2012 - Winner(s) | |
| LIS Diversity: A Longitudinal Study of the ALISE Statistics
2012 - Winner(s) This project will analyze more than 30 years of data gathered for the annual Library and Information Science Statistical Report to determine and analyze trends... |
2012 - Winner(s) | |
| Beyond Broken Borders: Examining Library Services to Latino & Spanish-Speaking Populations in New Latino South States with Anti-Immigration Laws
2012 - Winner(s) This project will investigate the connection between library services to Latino and Spanish-speaking residents and anti-immigration laws that promote racial profiling and negative community attitudes... |
2012 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Information Needs and Barriers of Southeast Asian Refugee Undergraduates
2011 - Winner(s) Through survey and focus groups, the project seeks to discover the information needs and access barriers of Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese undergraduate students. Resulting... |
2011 - Winner(s) | |
| Achievement Gap of Asian American Professional Librarians at the Top of Career Ladders
2011 - Winner(s) The project will focus on the representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) at the chief executive level of libraries as compared to other... |
2011 - Winner(s) | |
| Diversity in Technology Integration Leadership
2011 - Winner(s) This project seeks to document the leadership potential of school librarians, often catalysts for technology integration in schools, and the impact of diversity (age, gender... |
2011 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Promoting Equity in Literacy Instruction for Adolescent African American Males through the Use of Enabling Texts
2010 - Winner(s) The project is influenced by work of Alfred W. Tatum, who argues that educators are failing to engage African-American male students with meaningful texts that... |
2010 - Winner(s) | |
| Selecting Racially Diverse Literature for Elementary School Libraries
2010 - Winner(s) The project will investigate the way school librarians in elementary schools conceptualize diversity and select racially diverse materials for their collections. Having piloted the study... |
2010 - Winner(s) | |
| Helping Teens Help Themselves: A National Survey of Library Services to Juveniles in Detention
2010 - Winner(s) This project will collect and compile comprehensive information on library services to juveniles in detention, an at-risk population whose information needs are both urgent and... |
2010 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Library and Information Center Accessibility: The Differently-able Patron’s Perspective
2009 - Winner(s) This study aims to understand library services and accessibility in public and academic libraries from the differently-able patron’s perspective. By giving voice to differently-able patrons... |
2009 - Winner(s) | |
| Bringing the Library to the People: Addressing the Job Related Information Needs of Day Laborers
2009 - Winner(s) The project will study the information needs of day laborers, a critically underserved community in Los Angeles. By creating a library to address the specific... |
2009 - Winner(s) | |
| Creating Accessible Resources with Technologies at Hand
2009 - Winner(s) The project seeks to build a model to measure the ability and potential of libraries to serve special-needs populations. The growth in the number of... |
2009 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus on MY Family: An Analysis of Gay-Themed Picturebooks & Public Library Services for LGBTQ Children and Children with Same-Sex Parents
2008 - Winner(s) His research project will focus on analyzing the quality of gay-themed picturebooks available in the U.S., as well as selected public library holdings of these... |
2008 - Winner(s) | |
| Cultural Authenticity Portrayed in Picture Books: A Systematic Approach Toward Diversity Education for Children
2008 - Winner(s) The project seeks to analyze the issue of cultural authenticity portrayed in picture books in order to provide a new direction for diversity education for... |
2008 - Winner(s) | |
| LGBT Book Discussion Groups in Public Libraries: Seeking Compatibility
2008 - Winner(s) The study aims to learn how public libraries and LGBT book discussion groups together can construct a positive gay community and identity. By understanding the... |
2008 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Archival and Grey Literature Use Patterns in Library and Information Science Journal Articles with a Focus on the African American Experience (1986-2006)
2007 - Winner(s) This project highlights the importance of studying and tracking the trends of LIS scholars who are researching African American issues. Gauging the need for the... |
2007 - Winner(s) | |
| The Relationship Between Social Identity(ies) and Role Performance Among Academic Librarians
2007 - Winner(s) This study intends to fill the gap in the literature that theorizes on the importance of diversity by providing empirical data and analysis of how... |
2007 - Winner(s) | |
| (Re)envisioning Multicultural Librarianship and Pedagogy in the Post 9/11 Context
2007 - Winner(s) This research project will focus on (re)envisioning diversity and multicultural librarianship and pedagogy in the post 9/11 context, by expanding on prior research which has... |
2007 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Analysis and Adaptation of 'Earphone English': A Public Library Program for Limited English Proficient Youth
2006 - Winner(s) This project is an action research exploration and adaptation of a public library-based audiobook club for teenaged speakers of English as a second language. The project... |
2006 - Winner(s) | |
| End-User Searching: Comparing ESL Students and Native English Students
2006 - Winner(s) Objectives for this project are to determine whether searching habits are different, how and possibly why, for students with English as a second language compared to... |
2006 - Winner(s) | |
| Shaping Institutional Change: Assessment of Diversity Programming at a Comprehensive University Library
2006 - Winner(s) This project will attempt to measure institutional change in Randall Library by assessing the impact that the library diversity committee and diversity programming have on... |
2006 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Native American Protocols for American Libraries, Archives, and Information Services
2005 - Winner(s) This project proposes to develop a common framework of ethical “best practices” for handling Native American archival collections and information resources that will benefit libraries... |
2005 - Winner(s) | |
| Touchable Online Braille Generator
2005 - Winner(s) Through surveys and experiments with the blind and the visually impaired, this project will work to identify optimal conditions for combining force feedback technology with... |
2005 - Winner(s) | |
| Collaborating with Reforma Librarians to Study Emerging Latin@ Readership: A Participatory Action Research Approach
2005 - Winner(s) The major objective of this study is to gather and document the knowledge that Reforma librarians have about Latinos as readers. The rationale for this... |
2005 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop Computers for the Bedridden
2004 - Winner(s) Selected under Topic 2- Equity of Access and Diverse Populations, Karp's LEO project, based out of the St. Johns County Public Library System in St... |
2004 - Winner(s) | |
| Recruiting and retaining minorities for LIS schools: perspectives from the minorities
2004 - Winner(s) Selected for its research properties under Research Topic 3 - Recruitment and Retention of Library and Information Studies (LIS) Students and Faculty, Kim's project will... |
2004 - Winner(s) | |
| Diversity and Library Service to Children
2004 - Winner(s) The research proposal, submitted under Research Topic 1- Diversity and Library Service to Children, is designed to establish a template for use in discovering aspects... |
2004 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Access for All: Working to Eliminate Cultural Biases in the Organization of Information
2003 - Winner(s) This research project was designed to serve as a catalyst to generate ongoing interest in eliminating cultural biases in the organization of information and ultimately... |
2003 - Winner(s) | |
| Promoting Information Literacy Through Coalition Building
2003 - Winner(s) Their project examines strategies for partnering with existing UWM mentoring programs to increase the utilization of the library instruction program, including a Library Research Series... |
2003 - Winner(s) | |
| A Study of Career Development patterns of Library Managers and Directors of Ethnic Minority in Selected ARL Member Libraries
2003 - Winner(s) This study is designed to track the career development path of librarians of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and to assess the overall organizational environment... |
2003 - Winner(s) |
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| From the Inside Out: Collaborating for Recruitment, Outreach and Diversity through the Promotion of Literacy
2002 - Winner(s) From the Inside Out refers to the underlying idea that Information Age literacies can be generated and enhanced "from the inside out," that is, from... |
2002 - Winner(s) | |
| Strategies for Promoting Mentoring among Minorities
2002 - Winner(s) Statistics reveal that even though graduation rates of minorities from accredited library and information science programs have gradually increased over time, the library profession must... |
2002 - Winner(s) | |
| Integrating Diversity into Library School Curriculum
2002 - Winner(s) Integrating Diversity into the Library School Curriculum will survey ALA accredited schools in the United States, including Puerto Rico, and Canada on how issues of... |
2002 - Winner(s) |
Grants should not be sought for work leading toward the completion of a degree, thesis or dissertation. The principal investigator submitting a proposal must be a current member of the American Library Association, it is not required that all project personnel hold membership. If you are not presently a member of ALA but wish to submit a proposal please visit the Membership Website for more information on the benefits of joining ALA. You will be required to supply your membership ID number with your proposal.
Grants should not be sought for work leading toward the completion of a degree, thesis or dissertation. Once a proposal has been deemed both complete and clearly in fitting with the Diversity Research Program, it will be evaluated on the following criteria: Need for Support (relevance to the DRG program goals): measures whether or not the research will be undertaken without this support and how the project is original and addresses gaps in the conceptual and/or practical knowledge of equity, diversity, and inclusion in LIS. Need for Research (professional impact): measures the potential of impact on diversity research and practice in the LIS professional. Project Design (effectiveness): measures if the project is designed to effectively carry out the proposed work. Note staff training, general operating or overhead expenses, and other indirect costs are not funded and should not be included in the budget request. Sustainability (adaptability): measures if project has the potential for being expanded upon in the future and/or encouraging further research in diversity in the LIS profession. Also measures if the project can be adapted by libraries with similar interests or concerns.
The Diversity Research Grant consists of a one-time $2500 award to support a one year original research project and complimentary registration for one conference in conjunction with a presentation of findings at ALA Annual Conference or the ALA Midwinter Meeting.
This grant is currently on hiatus.
