ALA awards 2007 Diversity Research Grants
Contact: Karen Brown Letarte
Office for Diversity & Spectrum
312-280-5020
kletarte@ala.org
For Immediate Release
September 18, 2007
ALA awards 2007 Diversity Research Grants
The American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Diversity is delighted to announce the recipients of the Diversity Research Grants for 2007. The Diversity Research Grants consist of a one-time $2,000 annual award for original research and a $500 travel grant to attend and present at ALA’s Annual Conference.
Each year the Office for Diversity and the Diversity Research Grant Jury identify three areas of scholarship where research is needed; typically one proposal is chosen from within each topic for a total of three awards. Grant recipients are expected to compile the results of their research into a paper and are asked to present and publish the final product in conjunction with the ALA.
Due to a lack of submissions under one topic, three grants were awarded under only two topics this year.
The first grant has been awarded to Karen E. Downing, Foundation and Grants librarian at the University of Michigan's Hatcher Graduate Library. This study entitled, "The Relationship Between Social Identity(ies) and Role Performance Among Academic Librarians," intends to fill the gap in the literature that theorizes on the importance of diversity by providing empirical data and analysis of how social identity(ies) relating to race and gender (and other emergent identities) influence the role performance of academic librarians. The project was submitted under this year's Research Topic 1 - Diversity Within Diversity - Intersections of Identity.
The second grant was awarded to Mark Winston, associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science and Allison Rainey, MLIS student at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science. 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 analyzed demographic trends, measured levels of under-representation and identified a model for the study of diversity in libraries. The research will address issues of race, as well as language, culture and religion, considering all four types of libraries, providing the basis for recommendations related to LIS education. In addition, the research will provide an analysis of curricular offerings in LIS education, in relation to the needs of employers and the basis for recommendations for enhancing course offerings and encouraging program flexibility, in preparation of future graduates. The project was submitted under this year’s Research Topic 2 – (Re)envisioning Multicultural Librarianship and Pedagogy.
The third grant has been awarded to Allison M. Sutton, assistant professor and psychology & social work subject specialist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Allison’s project, “Archival and Grey Literature Use Patterns in Library and Information Science Journal Articles with a Focus on the African American Experience (1986-2006),” highlights the importance of studying and tracking the trends of LIS scholars who are researching African American issues. Gauging the need for the rare, obscure, narrowly distributed and sometimes elusive materials is increasingly important as technologies advance, increasing the possibilities for online access. This study seeks to answer questions and convey the importance of using a systematic approach to identify the use patterns for archival and grey literature type materials within a focused area of study. African American studies, other ethnic studies and subject specialist librarians will be surveyed to more thoroughly assess if and how the results inform their collection development, digital preservation and metadata related projects. Using both citation analysis and a survey, results are expected to provide a model for subject specialists working with ethnic studies scholars. The project was submitted under this year’s Research Topic 2 - (Re)envisioning Multicultural Librarianship and Pedagogy.
The 2007 recipients will be presenting their research at a program during the ALA 2008 Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. For more information on the Diversity Research Grants, please visit the Office for Diversity’s website at
http://www.ala.org/diversity or contact Karen Letarte at 312-280-5020,
kletarte@ala.org.
