“We were awarded from the Institute of Museum and Library Service in 2007 for $750, 000,” Owens says. In a relatively short period of time, Owens has recruited three cohorts of minority students totaling 27 students.
The problem of recruiting and retaining minority students is an intricate one, Owens admits. “Almost all service professions are having challenges. It seems that people want to go into professions where they can make a lot of money. But we are in a digital age ... an information age. There is no discipline that can operate without library and information science,” Owens says.
This summer, the ALA will host more than 50 college students from underrepresenteg groups at its national conference in Chicago.
"We will have the students in small group. A team of librarians will be with these students all day, hopefully Spectrum alumni. At the ALA exhibit [hall], these students will see the full array of possibilities that this profession has to offer," Rettig says.
Owens contends that visibility of libraries must be raised. Public libraries must continue to publicize the services that they offer, she insists.
"People think that we have the internet, and it has everything. It, [the internet], does not.
Owens recommends that more HBCUs apply for more grants and fight for the resources to fund this expensive program. She also urges traditionally White institutions with library science programs to work closely with local HBCUs to produce librarians of color.
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