This is the second of a two-part podcast on journal articles. In the first cast, Kaetrena D. Davis-Kendrick discussed her experience publishing original research in an academic, peer-reviewed journal for the very first time. In this second cast, we talk in detail with Kaetrena about the research she published on African American male librarians in Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian.
In her article, “The African American Male Librarian: Motivational Factors in Choosing a Career in Library and Information Science,” Kaetrena discovers some of the motives of African American males for pursuing a graduate degree in library and information science. According to her research, less than 1% of credentialed librarians are African American males. In fact, according to ALA’s 2007 Diversity Counts report, only .5% of 109,958 librarians are African American males.
“The African American Male Librarian” examines their views on such topics as gender advantage, career goals, perceived triumphs, workforce challenges, and job satisfaction. Issues of recruitment and retention, and feminized stereotypes are discussed as well.
The complete reference for her article is:
Davis-Kendrick, Kaetrena. (2009) ‘The African American Male Librarian; Motivational Factors in Choosing a Career in Library and Information Science’, Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 28:1,23-52.
Kaetrena Davis Kendrick is a reference librarian at the University of South Carolina-Aiken and received her MSLS in 2004 from Clark Atlanta University. For a complete listing of her work experience, her scholarly and service activities, and her awards and honors, please see her CV (PDF).We hope you enjoy this episode of the Newbie Dispatches. Stay tuned for our next podcast coming in June. We’ll be discussing graphic novel reading groups with Bonnie Brzozowski, reference librarian at Faulk Central Library in Austin, TX. Don’t forget: we accept requests for discussion topics. Just send us an email using our contact form.
-Megan and Kiyomi
Great piece! I found a link to the presentation that inspired the speaker’s article [referenced ~ 0:37]: http://www.scribd.com/doc/15102539/Black-Male-Librarian .
There is another link to the NPR write-up, but this works just as well. I’m glad you liked the podcast. We have more in the works. Stay tuned. 🙂