A Statistical Essay on Diversity in the Library Professions Compared to Other Occupations in the United States

Abstract

Abstract: Exploratory analysis is a major benefit of data science and a promising way to investigate diversity. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupational segmentation by racial groups was examined in order to discover the full story behind the lack of diversity often reported in library occupations. The story of diversity is more complex than simple racial ratios for library occupations alone can reveal. This paper combines aspects of data analytics with complexity science to understand the library professions in the context of other occupations in the United States, specifically where they stand in terms of racial and ethnic diversity and statistical variances. Complexity profiles uncover diversity relationships and associations among the occupations. The findings show that librarians and library assistants belong to large groups of other occupations that have similar racial ratios; they do not stand out as outliers in terms of their ratios of races. Data used and additional interactive information visualizations are available on GitHub.