Information Services to Diverse Populations: Developing Culturally Competent Library Professionals, Second Edition

Providing a clear and comprehensive survey of the landscape of diversity in librarianship as a profession and service, this updated text is an important orientation tool for LIS students and current library workers alike.

The development of cultural competency skills and social awareness benefits LIS students, their future employers, and the library profession at large―not to mention library customers and society as a whole. The inaugural book in ALA Neal-Schuman's Critical Cultural Information Studies series, Cooke's freshly updated text introduces readers to the contexts and situations that promote the development of empathy and build cultural competence. It marshals cutting edge research and relevant best practices to give readers a strong grasp of the political, social, economic, and technological divides among library patrons. It also covers outreach and library services to diverse populations, how to evaluate such services, and many other key topics. Complete with an updated syllabus, lesson plans, and exercises ready-made for course use, Cooke’s text

• demonstrates why social responsibility is a foundational value of librarianship;
• considers library services to members of marginalized racial or ethnic groups, older adults, people with mental health or physical disabilities, neurodiverse library users, refugees and immigrants, people experiencing homelessness or hunger, those growing up in or experiencing poverty, members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, and people who are incarcerated; 
• features a myriad of testimonials drawn from a wide variety of settings that highlight the experiences of library and museum practitioners who are working with diverse populations;
• introduces a new model of cultural competence and cultural humility;
• authoritatively covers such essential concepts as intersectionality, privilege, marginalization, cultural competence, cultural humility, and counter-storytelling along with discussions of how they interplay in the communities that libraries serve;
• explores the impact of overwhelming whiteness of the library profession and what can be done to recruit, welcome, mentor, and retain racially and ethnically diverse library workers; and
• identifies potential employment and networking opportunities related to diversity and social justice in librarianship.

Examination copies are available for instructors who are interested in adopting this title for course use. An e-book edition of the text will be available shortly after the print edition is published.