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Diversity Statistics

Diversity Counts - A National Study of Diversity in Library Workforce:

In October of 2006, the American Library Association (ALA) released "Diversity Counts," a comprehensive study of gender, race and age in the library profession.  The study was conducted by the ALA Office for Research & Statistics, ALA Office for Diversity and Decision Demographics, a research firm based in Arlington, Va. and confirms the need for continued recruitment of people of color. "This study is a call to action for the profession," said ALA President-Elect Loriene Roy. "While we have made progress, the findings confirm the need to commit additional time and financial resources to recruit a more diverse workforce. If libraries are to remain relevant to all of our users, our staffs must reflect our country's demographics."  Review the findings at www.ala.org/diversitycounts.

Get Counted - ALA Member Demographics Survey:

The American Library Association is currently in the midst of its first membership wide demographics survey. This information is critically needed to effectively advocate for ALA members, and to better provide services such as those offered by the Office for Diversity.  By undertaking this member survey ALA takes a big step toward knowing itself and being able to describe itself to others.  The key to success in the effort is, of course, member response so we encourage all members to access the survey on the ALA Office for Research and Statistics website. 

Additional Resources

Further information on diversity in the library profession can be found in the following reports:

• Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Librarians: A Status Report (1998)
  Overview published in 1998 by the ALA Office for Research and Statistics.
• Library and Information Science Education Statistical Report, ALISE (ongoing)
  ALISE maintains ongoing statistics on LIS and IS degrees awarded by race and ethnicity, the most recently published full report is from 2003, access the table on degrees and certificates awarded by gender and ethnic origin here.
• Salary Survey Trends, Association of Research Libraries (2004)
  ARL's Salary Survey Trends looks specifically at minority librarians in the top 100+ academic research libraries.

For questions about information appearing on this web page or for more information on any of the Office for Diversity programs, please direct comments to diversity@ala.org!

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