A Survey of the Experiences of African Librarians in American Academic Libraries

Ibraheem, Abiodun I.; Devine, Christopher J.

doi:10.5860/crl-292

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Because 20% or more of the cells in the contingency tables had expected counts of less than five, Fisher's exact tests were run rather than chi-square tests (Kim, 2017). When the test involved more than two-row by two-column contingency tables, the Freeman-Halton Extension of the Fisher's exact test was employed (Ibraheem & Devine, 2013). Moreover, this study examined Chinese Canadian librarians' experiences of microaggressions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese Canadian Librarians

2023

IJoL

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Based on the data from the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada Network (ViMLoC) 2021 Survey, this research examined the leadership roles held by Chinese Canadian librarians and their perceptions of inclusivity of work climate, job satisfaction, and race as a career barrier. Their encounters with racial microaggressions and mentorship experience were also explored. Of the 38 respondents, 79% (n=30) were in non-management positions. 82% (n=31) felt very satisfied or satisfied with their jobs; however, their work climate was not found to be inclusive to all respondents. 87% (n=33) indicated that race was a barrier to their career. Fisher’s exact tests were run to compare the management group and non-management group. The results showed that those in management positions were less satisfied with their jobs and less likely to feel free to express their views openly. They experienced various forms of racial microaggressions. Nearly half of the respondents sought mentoring support and two-thirds of them found mentorship extremely helpful or very helpful. To increase representation in librarianship, library school students and first-generation immigrants of Chinese descent need to be inspired to enter librarianship and reach higher professional goals. Chinese librarians would benefit from leadership programs tailored to minority librarians in Canada.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese Canadian Librarians

2023

IJoL

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“…To explore the factors that might be associated with librarians' experience in each form of microaggression, Fisher's exact tests were conducted rather than chi-square tests because the expected counts were less than five in 20% or more of the cells in the contingency tables (Kim, 2017). The Freeman-Halton Extension of Fisher's exact test was employed for more than two rows by two-column contingency tables (Ibraheem & Devine, 2013). STATA 13 was used to perform all data analyses.…”

Section: Researchers Examined If Librarians' Microaggression Composit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Dalton et al (2018), the Black female law librarian's competency and authority as a supervisor were questioned; a White patron, in a separate event, showed surprise knowing that she had attended law school. A survey of the experiences of African librarians in American academic libraries revealed that more than 40% of the respondents had encountered workplace discrimination (Ibraheem & Devine, 2013). The qualifications of Black librarians for a job were often questioned, as indicated by Curry (1994):…”

Section: Microaggression #7: a Colleague Showed Surprise At My Profes...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reiterating Visibility: Canadian Librarians’ Experiences of Racial Microaggressions via Findings from a Minority Librarians Network Redux Survey

Li,

Kumaran,

Cho

et al. 2023

IJIDI

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Based on the data from the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada 2021 Redux Survey, this study examines experiences of racial microaggressions among visible minority librarians in Canada. This research fills the gap in the library and information science (LIS) literature regarding racial microaggressions in librarianship in the Canadian context. Of the 148 respondents, 69% (n=102) experienced at least one stated racial microaggression. The result of a Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed a significant association between years of experience as a librarian and a librarian’s overall experiences with microaggressions. A post hoc test based on Bonferroni correction was run, which indicated that librarians with less than five years of work experience encountered microaggressions less frequently compared to those with 11–15 years of experience. For the ten stated types of racial microaggressions, the most frequently reported type was “I was told that people of all racial groups face the same barriers in employment or promotion,” and the least frequently reported type was “A colleague claimed that he/she felt threatened because of my race.” Fisher's exact tests were further performed to examine how the respondents differed in their experiences of each microaggression. The test results revealed that the librarians with different personal attributes (ethnicity, disability status, gender identity, language used) and employment attributes (librarian experience, management position, library type) had significantly different encounters with eight forms of microaggression. Professional library associations and libraries must strengthen education about racial microaggressions and offer support to visible minority librarians when they are confronted with microaggressive behaviours.

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Experiences of Visible Minority Librarians and Students in Canada from the ViMLoC Mentorship Program

Li,

Ly,

2023

EBLIP

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Objective – The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of mentors and mentees in the formal mentorship program offered by the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada Network (ViMLoC) from 2018-2022. Findings from this research will help mentors and mentees understand how to establish an effective mentoring relationship. Professional library associations and libraries can also gain valuable insights to support the visible minority library professionals within their own mentorship programs. Methods – Between 2018 and 2022, 113 mentors and 145 mentees participated in four sessions of the ViMLoC mentorship program. The ViMLoC Mentorship Committee designed and delivered a survey for mentors and a survey for mentees at the end of each session. Over four sessions, 81 mentors and 82 mentees completed the surveys, representing a 72% and 57% completion rate, respectively. Fisher's Exact Tests were performed to examine if there were significant differences between mentors and mentees in their perceptions regarding ease of communication, relationship, helpfulness of mentorship, likeliness of keeping in contact, and importance of having a visible minority partner. Results – The mentees perceived mentoring support to be more helpful than the mentors perceived it themselves. The mentees were more likely to keep in contact with their mentors beyond the mentorship program while the mentors did not show as much interest. The mentees who had a positive experience from the formal mentorship program were found to be more likely to mentor others in the future, whereas the same effect did not hold true for the mentors. On the other hand, some findings were the same for both mentors and mentees. Both stated that effective communication would facilitate a good mentoring relationship, which in turn, would lead to positive outcomes and greater likelihood of keeping in contact beyond the mentoring program. There was also consensus of opinion about the most important areas of mentoring support and some essential skills for building a successful mentoring relationship. Conclusion – This research contributes to the literature by using an empirical research method and comparative analyses of the experiences between mentors and mentees over four sessions of the ViMLoC mentorship program. The study focuses on the perceptions of participants regarding their communication, relationship, helpfulness of mentorship, associations between their past and present mentoring experiences, areas of support, importance of having a visible minority partner, and essential skills for building a successful mentoring relationship. Mentors and mentees differed significantly in how they perceived the helpfulness of mentorship support and how likely they would like to maintain the ties beyond the program. For both sides, effective and easy communication was found to be critical for building a good mentoring relationship and achieving a satisfactory experience.

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A Survey of the Experiences of African Librarians in American Academic Libraries

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Chinese Canadian Librarians

Chinese Canadian Librarians

Reiterating Visibility: Canadian Librarians’ Experiences of Racial Microaggressions via Findings from a Minority Librarians Network Redux Survey

Experiences of Visible Minority Librarians and Students in Canada from the ViMLoC Mentorship Program

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