ALA awards 2012 Diversity Research Grants to Naidoo, Simpson, Wallace, Wiegand

CHICAGO — The American Library Association’s Office for Diversity has announced the recipients of the Diversity Research Grants for 2012.

The grants consist of a one-time $2,000 award for original research and a $500 travel grant to attend and present at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference. Recipients are expected to conduct their research over the course of the year and compile the results into a program for the 2013 American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago.

The first grant will be awarded to Dr. Jamie C. Naidoo, associate professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alabama and Lance Simpson, graduate student, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alabama for the project, “Beyond Broken Borders: Examining Library Services to Latino & Spanish-Speaking Populations in New Latino South States with Anti-Immigration Laws.” 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 towards new and “foreign” residents. In addition, the project will result in a current anti-immigration toolkit for librarians struggling to serve all the residents of their communities.

The second grant will be awarded to Danny P. Wallace, professor and EBSCO chair of library service, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alabama, for the project “LIS Diversity: A Longitudinal Study of the ALISE Statistics.” 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 in diversity among LIS students and faculty and examine diversity as it is reflected in LIS courses and curricula. This analysis will provide library and information professionals with much needed hard data to inform the essential ongoing discussion of diversity.

The final grant will be awarded to Wayne A. Wiegand, F. William Summers professor of library and information studies emeritus, Florida State University, for the project “This Hallowed Place: The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the American South, 1954-1968.” 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 a general interest book addressing this crucial period.

ALA’s Office for Diversity offers thanks to the jurors of the 2012 Diversity Research Grants: Robert J. Bremer (chair), Ismail Abdullahi, Karen Cook, Nicole Cooke, Roberto C. Delgadillo, Paul T. Jaeger, Cheryl Knott, and Patty Wong; and to the Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee for their work in planning the 2012 Diversity Research Grants: Robert J. Bremer (chair), Eileen K. Bosch, Nicole A. Branch, Elizabeth Jean Brumfield, Denyvetta Davis, Kim L. Eccles, Michael Gutierrez, Sylvia D. Hall-Ellis, Cheryl Knott and R. Niccole Westbrook.

For more information on the Diversity Research Grants, please visit the Office for Diversity’s website.