Cooke’s updated text on information services to diverse populations

CHICAGO — The development of cultural competency skills and social awareness benefits LIS students, their future employers, and the library profession at large―not to mention library customers and society as a whole. Nicole A. Cooke's freshly updated second edition of “Information Services to Diverse Populations: Competent Humility for Library Professionals,” published by ALA Neal-Schuman as the newest volume in the Critical Cultural Information Studies series, introduces readers to the contexts and situations that promote the development of empathy and build cultural competence. It marshals cutting edge research and relevant best practices to give readers a strong grasp of the political, social, economic, and technological divides among library patrons. It also covers outreach and library services to diverse populations, how to evaluate such services, and many other key topics. Complete with an updated syllabus, lesson plans, and exercises ready-made for course use, Cooke’s text:

• demonstrates why social responsibility is a foundational value of librarianship;
• considers library services to members of marginalized racial or ethnic groups, older adults, people with mental health or physical disabilities, neurodiverse library users, refugees and immigrants, people experiencing homelessness or hunger, those growing up in or experiencing poverty, members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, and people who are incarcerated;
• features a myriad of testimonials drawn from a wide variety of settings that highlight the experiences of library and museum practitioners who are working with diverse populations;
• introduces a new model of cultural competence and cultural humility;
• authoritatively covers such essential concepts as intersectionality, privilege, marginalization, cultural competence, cultural humility, and counter-storytelling along with discussions of how they interplay in the communities that libraries serve;
• explores the impact of overwhelming whiteness of the library profession and what can be done to recruit, welcome, mentor, and retain racially and ethnically diverse library workers; and
• identifies potential employment and networking opportunities related to diversity and social justice in librarianship.

Examination copies are available for instructors who are interested in adopting this title for course use.

Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. She was named a “Mover & Shaker” by Library Journal in 2007 and was the 2016 recipient of ALA's Equality Award and the 2017 Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award presented by ALA's Office for Diversity, Literacy & Outreach. She has edited and authored several books, including “Fake News and Alternative Facts: Information Literacy in a Post-Truth Era,” “The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful,” and the forthcoming textbook “Foundations of Social Justice.” Dr. Cooke was honored with the 2024 Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service in the profession of librarianship. She is also the editor of ALA Neal-Schuman’s Critical Cultural Information Studies series.

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