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Guess how many black male librarians there are in Delaware
July 17, 2008
The News Journal up in Delaware today runs a story with a familiar-sounding headline. Alex Guillén's article, "Libraries aim for more diverse staff," features the thoughts of Tom Miller, director of a public library in Wilmington, and PJ Grier who runs a medical school library in Stanton.
They and only five others account for all the library-degreed African-American men working for the state's libraries.
Besides Weaver and Grier, three black male librarians work at the University of Delaware, one at Brandywine School District's Mount Pleasant Elementary School and one at Delaware State University.
Grier, who was the only black man in his library school class at Drexel, observes that, "if the folks that are serving the population reflect the general demographics of the population, there will be more community interest and involvement." .
For his part, Weaver says,
"I'd like to see more men brought in just so that the curriculum is more reflective of society as a whole," he said. "One of the things I found very attractive here in Delaware was the diversity and cultures that you would see."
The article reminds us again of the peculiar demographics of librarianship in the US:
According to a 2007 report from the American Library Association, of the nation's almost 110,000 credentialed librarians -- that is, librarians with master's degrees -- 19 percent are men, 4.5 percent are black, and 0.5 percent are black men. The number of Latino men is just slightly higher -- 25 more nationwide.
By comparison, black women make up 4.2 percent of credentialed librarians, with Latina women at 1.4 percent.
Posted by Bruce Jensen on July 17, 2008 | Comments (0)
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