Shaneka Morris always knew she would be the first in her family to attend college. Now she has her bachelor’s degree and is half-way finished completing her master’s in library science at the University of North Texas’ College of Information, Library Science and Technologies.
Morris has also just been named a 2008-10 Association of Research Libraries Diversity Scholar, part of an initiative to encourage more minorities to enter the research library field. When Morris graduates she will be part of only 5 percent of academic librarians who are Black, according to statistics from the American Library Association.
Yet Morris says she is not intimidated by such a daunting statistic. She says that her life experiences have prepared her for any challenges she may face.
Morris grew up on a farm in a small northeastern city in Texas. Her father was functionally illiterate, raised beef cattle and is now a mechanic; her mother worked as a secretary and is now a bank teller. Both, however, emphasized the importance of education. “From the time I was little my mom read to me, taught me the alphabet and how to count. I was speaking by the time I was six months old and reading by the time I was three or four,” says Morris.
Morris read the encyclopedia and dictionary for fun. “The stereotypical nerd — that was me.”
In elementary school Morris says she was the only Black student in her gifted and talented classes. Again in high school she says she was among a small handful of Blacks in her Advanced Placement courses and then the only Black graduating in the top ten students of her class of 350. Some in the community didn’t like that, once her mother even overheard a woman say the only reason Shaneka graduated in the top ten of her class was because of affirmative action, not because she excelled in school, the UNT student recalls.
