Article Reflection #1 - Jaeger, et al.

The article Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in LIS research by Jaeger, et al. examines the issue of underrepresented populations within the LIS community—including LIS students, professionals, and scholars. The current LIS community doesn’t accurately depict the user community at large. The United States is an incredibly diverse country, and many populations are underrepresented within the information community. This inequality may imply that the LIS community isn’t properly serving the population.

What can be done to repair this underrepresentation within the LIS community? The article gives several solutions, starting with the recruitment of more diverse LIS students. According to Jaeger et al., only sporadic attention has been focused on recruiting and retaining ethnically diverse master’s students (2010). Implementing a more rigorous, long-term campaign to recruit diverse individuals could improve the levels of diversity among LIS students. The next step is to include more of an emphasis on diversity in LIS programs. A stronger focus on diversity helps those from underrepresented populations identify with the field, which in turn creates more interest in the LIS community from those groups (Jaeger et al., 2010).

“Issues of information related to diverse and underrepresented populations are so prevalent that they can seamlessly fit into the work of any LIS scholar, either as a specific focus or as an aspect of an area of research.” This quote illustrates what can be done within the larger LIS community to decrease the number of underrepresented populations in the field. If all LIS scholars included issues of diversity or underrepresentation in just one aspect of their research, the gap between the LIS community and the actual user community might shrink.

References

Jaeger, P. T., Bertot, J. C., & Franklin, R. E. (2010). Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in LIS research. Library Quarterly, 80, 175-181.