Racial and ethnic diversity in academic library collections: Ownership and access of African American and U.S. Latino periodical literature

African American Studies Collections and the American Season of Redemption

“…This is to say that when diversity in library settings is discussed, the focus is seldom on the collections or acquisitions. Vega García's study concludes echoing Johnson-Cooper's view of libraries' responsibility: "racial/ethnic periodicals representing cultural and gender differences, as well as diverse perspectives within minority groups are being excluded or marginalized from ARL collections and indexes and abstracting services" (Vega García, 2000).…”

“…In the September 2000 article "Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Academic Library Collections: Ownership and Access of African American and U.S. Latino Periodical Literature," Susan A. Vega García writes that "there is a dearth of empirical research that has examined multicultural diversity in terms of actual collecting patterns of academic and research libraries [. .…”

“…African American Studies is germane not only to Black people, but rather to everyone with any sort of stake in U.S. society or the Western world. As Susan A. Vega García wrote in one of the few articles that address African American Studies collections specifically in the LIS literature: "The viewpoint that racial and ethnic materials are relevant only to their respective populations is an outdated and erroneous approach to collection development, especially for ARLs that must help prepare students for their entry into the real world" (Vega García, 2000). There are two fundamental reasons for this: there is no American culture without African American or Black culture, to begin with, and because, actually, there is no West at all without Black people.…”

Diversity collection assessment in large academic libraries

“…Pettingill and Morgan (1996) focus on building a retrospective multicultural collection. Vega Garcia (2000) examines African-American and Latino periodical collections at ARL member libraries. Buttlar (1994) points out that most academic libraries were increasing the diversity of their collections by purchasing "multicultural" materials, but that there was difficulty in acquiring and maintaining the diversity of cultures represented at an academic institution.…”

Strategic Planning as a Prerequisite to Strategic Marketing Action in Libraries and Information Agencies

“…For example, public and academic libraries in communities on the U.S.-Mexico border try to attract and retain bilingual librarians and work to develop collections with a good mix of books and other library resources in both English and Spanish. African American and Latino collections are being evaluated in terms of their cultural and linguistic relevancy and content (Vega Garcia, 2000). Native Americans are being provided with computer literacy (Dorr and Akeroyd, 2001).…”