Categories: Context | Goals | How to Use this Document | Suggested Timeline
Context
In 2022-2024, San José State University’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, San José State University’s School of Information (iSchool), and San José Public Library (SJPL) collaborated to establish BIPOC Become Librarians (BBL), a pilot mentorship and internship program that introduced undergraduate students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to careers in Library and Information Science (LIS).
BBL was created in response to the ongoing lack of diversity in the library and archives professions. In 2022, just 4.3% of librarians identified as Black or African American, 8% as Hispanic or Latino (of any race), and 5.1% as Asian-American or Pacific Islander (see the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the most up to date information).
Reasons for the lack of diversity in library and archives professions are as numerous as they are nuanced. Studies over the years have noted the social, economic and cultural barriers, as well as the lack of support BIPOC students face when entering library and archives professions. As a result, graduates of LIS programs often do not reflect the communities they serve, which impacts how librarians engage, provide services to, and represent their communities.
BBL’s primary objective was to expose BIPOC undergraduate students to Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) career paths by focusing on the two areas with the most impact on increasing diversity: mentorship and internship.
BBL’s project goals benefited from SJSU and SJPL’s location in Santa Clara County and the City of San José, one of the most diverse metro areas in the country, which directly enhanced our ability to conduct outreach to BIPOC undergraduate students both in schools and in the community.
Across the two years of the grant, we worked with 20 undergraduate students who were paired with seven mentors. Students were also given the opportunity to participate in a paid internship program that exposed them to library operations.
The project began with a research phase consisting of focus groups with BIPOC undergraduate students with the purpose of understanding their perception of 1) librarianship as a profession, 2) skills needed to become a librarian, 3) perceived barriers to entering an MLIS program, and 4) expectations about librarianship career prospects. We held eight focus group sessions with a total of 38 participants. The focus group questions entailed seven open-ended qualitative perception and experience questions: 1) Have you ever visited a library; if so, at what age? 2) When you think about libraries, what comes to mind? 3) Have you considered librarianship as a career pathway? Why/Why not? 4) What type of support would you need to consider a career in librarianship? 5) What skills make a good librarian? 6) Becoming a librarian requires a master's degree. In your opinion, what barriers exist to earning a master’s degree?, and 7) What are your expectations about career opportunities in librarianship?
When we asked participants if they had considered pursuing a career in librarianship, 55% (21) said they had not while 45% (17) said they had. Of the participants that had not considered librarianship a career path, 47% (10) of these participants mentioned that they lacked sufficient information. In addition, the majority recognized that they would like a mentor or to learn more about what librarians do as there is a lack of knowledge about this due to minimal marketing. Nearly every participant referenced financials and/or additional schooling being a barrier due to the cost, and they were not aware of some of the funding resources available to them. Lastly, as far as expectations, most notable was that of a lack of information about librarianship to even comment on the expectations (13); while others noted working with kids and adults, having "a lot of your own space", worrying about financial security with rising costs, working with technology, or working in a variety of settings including alternative librarianship jobs. For more details on focus group findings please see the BIPOC Become Librarians project website for our publications and presentations.
The cohort of students who participated in our BBL mentorship program benefited from this program, but the beneficiaries of BBL also include our immediate partners, who gained visibility in the short-term, and the broader community, which gained richer engagement with more diverse perspectives. We anticipate our partner SJSU iSchool will experience a higher number of applications for its MLIS program, which will lead to an increase in BIPOC graduates holding MLIS degrees entering the librarian and archival professions. This will result in our partner SJPL, along with many other library systems nationwide, to be able to recruit and hire from a larger pool of MLIS graduates who are BIPOC, which will help them increase diversity in their own libraries as well as in the librarian and archival workforce.
What is more, in the long-term, our work with BIPOC undergraduate students in BBL will help expose more students to an MLIS degree and LIS as a viable career choice. Participants’ potential entry into LIS careers will increase diversity in the librarian profession and expand the community’s engagement with librarians from diverse backgrounds. Public library patrons of large library systems similar to SJPL will be able to engage with librarians who represent the BIPOC community and can bring a deeper and richer perspective to the LIS workforce. As a result, libraries overall will benefit from diversity in their workforce to meet the needs of the broader communities they serve and represent. Other sectors that hire MLIS graduates will also benefit from a growing pool of BIPOC candidates.
Goals
The overarching goal of the BIPOC Become Librarians program is to provide BIPOC undergraduates with meaningful exposure to career pathways in librarianship in order to introduce the MLIS as a viable option for graduate school, and thereby increase the number of BIPOC MLIS holders.
How to Use this Document
Each section provides an overview of a key project component, along with a detailed description of how we implemented, adapted, or addressed that component during the 2022-2024 IMLS-funded pilot. Look for these details under the heading “NOTES FROM THE PILOT .” This section sometimes also includes notes on things we did not do, but in retrospect wish that we had.
We also provide a recommended timeline for implementing this program, revised from the pilot to incorporate insights gained for improving future iterations of the project.
Suggested Timeline
This timeline does not reflect the actual timeline of the pilot, but rather the timeline we would follow if implementing this program again, using lessons learned from the pilot. Action Items are divided into three categories, “Before You Begin,” “Before Launching Mentorships” and “Before Close of Program,” as anchor-events to build the timeline around. Each action item corresponds to a section of this Toolkit. The timeline assumes a timeframe of two academic years for both planning and implementation, though the program could be implemented in more or less time.
Before You Begin
- Consider funding needs and potential resources
12 Months Before Mentorship Launch (e.g. October of year 1)
- Establish your team
- Prepare for paperwork
- Build your community
- Build your calendar
6 Months Before Mentorship Launch (e.g. April of year 1)
- Identify and schedule a trainer
- Recruit BIPOC undergraduate participants
4 Months Before Mentorship Launch (e.g. May of year 1)
- Engage your participants
3 Months Before Mentorship Launch (e.g. July of year 1)
- Recruit mentors and pair with undergraduate participants
- Prepare mentorship resources
1 Month Before Mentorship Launch (e.g. September of year 1)
- Conduct mentor/mentee trainings
8 Months Before Close of Program (e.g. October of year 2)
- Launch mentorships
- Establish internship opportunities
Ongoing in year two
- Check-in and recalibrate
At Close of Program (e.g. June of year 2)
- Celebrate!