MONTGOMERY, Ala.

Librarians have long been portrayed as the little old White lady with her hair in a bun and glasses on a chain around her neck, “shushing” noisy people, but Deborah Lilton represents a more modern image.

In a profession that in fact has been largely White, Lilton is a Black student at the University of Alabama who is pursuing a degree to become an academic librarian. She is one of a disproportionately small number of minorities entering a field that is trying to get past stereotypical images of the “bun lady.”

“Until this perception is changed, people who would make fine librarians will undoubtedly choose another career choice,” says Lilton, who decided to pursue her degree after teaching English as an adjunct faculty member.

In a 2004 study called “Diversity Counts,” the American Library Association found that Blacks are difficult to among the most difficult group to recruit. According to the study, there were 190,255 professional librarians in 2000, 90 percent of whom were White. Only 8 percent of the librarians that year were Black.

“We need to do more work to attract individuals to the profession that actually look like the U.S. population, because we want our profession to look like the people we serve,” says Denise Davis, director of ALA’s office for research and statistics.

ALA President Leslie Burger agrees that it is important to let young people know that the profession isn’t just for middle-aged White women.

“There may be some perceptions that this isn’t a field that welcomes or encourages diversity,” she says.

But efforts are being made by ALA and colleges to encourage minorities to pursue a library degree. ALA’s Spectrum project provides scholarships, fundraising, recruitment, mentoring, leadership and professional development for future minority librarians. It provides a one-year, $5,000 scholarship and more than $1,500 in professional development opportunities to students planning to attend an ALA-accredited graduate program in library and information studies.