We need to find a way to somehow gleam young Black men to understand that they are social information scientists already,” Austin added. “It’s just becoming manifested in music, its becoming manifested in other socio-cultural things that are being invented by young Black males and their culture.”
Role models are also needed, Jefferson says. He not only had Schomburg as an inspiration, but he had two Black male role models at Howard University when he was studying to be a librarian, one of which was Dr. Thomas Battle, the director of Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.
“I was fortunate to have some individuals around me that pushed me in that direction,” Jefferson says. “As Black male librarians, we have to continue to mentor these younger students in undergraduate and high schools as we direct them towards a career in librarianship.”
Dawson is hopeful that there will be a renewed and aggressive recruiting campaign coming out of this past weekend’s panel to diversify the profession of librarianship.
“There are some national initiatives that all programs can apply for assistance, but ultimately it comes down to individuals who care about this issue and LIS programs, and libraries at the local level to make Black male library recruitment a priority,” Dawson says. “The potential benefits will be great for all involved.”
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