Diversity: Political and Societal Barriers

Abstract

This essay describes the many political and societal barriers that impede libraries from having a staff that reflects diversity. The efforts to kill affirmative action programs, the diminution of civil rights laws and other laws to protect minorities, the small number of minorities that are recruited to the profession have been barriers quite difficult to overcome. It was President Johnson who was very firm in his belief that affirmative action was necessary. Presidents who have followed him have given lip service; or we have had a president such as Prsedient Reagan, who ran on a platform to do away with affirmative action. During the decline in affirmative action activity, the corporate section of America began to call their affirmative efforts diversity management. Libraries followed the lead of the corporate community and began to call their efforts diversity managemen to replace affirmative action. The author contends that if the affirmative action programs had been carried out as President Johnson envisioned we would not be riding the wave of diversity in 1998. The author asserts that the greatest societal barrier is racism, which permeates all of American society's paradigms. Jesey calls for an increase in the number of minorities attending ALA accredited library schools. In addition he calls for more libraries to recruit minorities so that library staffs will mirror the people they serve