Outreach librarian to black students : A de facto role

Katrina Spencer

doi:10.33011/newlibs/9/3

Abstract

While some predominantly white institutions can offer unique and laudable educational experiences to Black college students, they can also lack resources that provide these same students with a culturally affirming milieu. Black faculty and staff can organize their time, energy and resources to offer culturally enriching experiences for Black students. However, this additional labor is not systematically seen, cataloged or recognized as a core or essential duty. The author describes some effective forms of outreach from her personal experience and simultaneously asks whose job it is to meet the cultural needs of this population.

Highlights

Middlebury College Abstract: While some predominantly white institutions can offer unique and laudable educational experiences to Black college students, they can lack resources that provide these same students with a culturally affirming milieu
The author describes some effective forms of outreach from her personal experience and simultaneously asks whose job it is to meet the cultural needs of this population
Staff and faculty to share their experiences and perceptions of race in voluntary, recorded interviews that would be archived in Special Collections, with StoryCorps and through the Library of Congress

Summary

Introduction

Middlebury College Abstract: While some predominantly white institutions can offer unique and laudable educational experiences to Black college students, they can lack resources that provide these same students with a culturally affirming milieu. Black faculty and staff can organize their time, energy and resources to offer culturally enriching experiences for Black students. Studying in rural New England offers fewer opportunities for cultural affirmation, engagement and celebration for Black college students than places like Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Much of this is a numbers game: less than 1.5% of the population in Middlebury, Vermont is Black.

Results

Conclusion