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Library and information science (LIS) literature about workplace bullying and burnout in academic libraries continues to grow, and a recent study has revealed the experience of low morale in the same environment. Concomitantly, research focusing on continuing recruitment, promotion, advancement, and retention problems for ethnic and minority librarians; links between North American library values and workplace abuse; and historiographies on the historic marginalization of minority librarians has also appeared in LIS literature. Citing aforementioned developments in LIS literature and the racially homogenous participant make-up of Kendrick's 2017 study of low morale in academic libraries, this follow-up qualitative study focuses on racial and ethnic minority academic librarians to understand this group's experience of low morale. Emerging data validate the development, trajectory, and health-related consequences of low morale; center the load of additional impact factors; and highlight the impact of low morale on recruitment and retention efforts of racial and ethnic minority librarians employed in North American colleges and universities.

In the U.S., strong ethnic/racial, socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic breastfeeding (BF) inequities persist, and African American and Hispanic women are less likely to meet their breastfeeding goals compared to White women. This systematic review (SR) was designed to answer the question: What is the impact of breastfeeding interventions targeting ethnic/racial minority women in the U.S. on improving BF initiation, duration and exclusivity rates? The SR was conducted following the Institute of Medicine Guidelines and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist. The study protocol was developed and registered a priori in PROSPERO (ID#CRD42020177764). The electronical databases searched was MEDLINE All (Ovid). Search strategies were led by the team's expert public health librarian using both controlled vocabulary and free text queries and were tested against a validated set of relevant papers included in existing reviews. The GRADE methodology was used to assess the quality of the studies. We included 60 studies that had randomized (n = 25), observational (n = 24), quasi-experimental (n = 9), or cross-sectional (n = 2) designs. The studies focused on populations that were multi-ethnic/racial (n = 22), only Hispanic (n = 24), only Black (n = 13), and only American Indian (n = 1). The study interventions were classified following the socioecological model: macrosystem/policy level (n = 6); community level (n=51), which included healthcare organizations (n = 34), The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (n = 9), and community organizations/public health institutions (n = 8); and  interpersonal level (n = 3). Policy and community level interventions delivered through WIC, healthcare facilities, and community agencies) are likely to improve BF outcomes among women of color. The combination of interventions at different levels of the socioecological model has not been studied among minority women in the U.S. Implementation science research is needed to learn how best to scale up and sustain effective BF interventions, taking into account the needs and wants of minority women. Thus, it is strongly recommended  to conduct large scale implementation research studies addressesing how to strengthen the different health and social environments surrounding women of color in the U.S. to improving their BF outcomes.

This article examines racism and the culture of Whiteness in academic libraries in three major areas of public services: space, staffing, and reference service delivery. The authors perform a critical discourse analysis, drawing on critical race theory, critical geography, critical education, and social psychology to examine foundational library scholarship and professional standards. Academic libraries, as products and representations of their parent institutions, are situated within the well-documented systemic and institutional racism of higher education in the United States. This is reflected in the monocultural geography and spaces of academic libraries. It is seen in the organizational culture and hiring practices of libraries, which are overwhelmingly staffed by White workers, while serving an increasingly diverse student body. Finally, it is reflected in the traditional tenets of reference service delivery, including approachability, responsiveness, and objectivity. The authors argue that racism is embedded in academic libraries through a culture of Whiteness. Consistent with social justice traditions in librarianship, they offer tools and suggestions to realign the profession with antiracist values and practices that will enable libraries to better serve their communities.

This scoping review examines the literature on pregnancy and perinatal outcomes among Pacific Islander women in the United States (U.S.) and U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. Our aim was to identify research that disaggregated Pacific Islanders from other population groups. We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), and PsycINFO (Ovid) databases and a hand-search of grey literature. Forty-eight articles published between January 2010 and June 2020 were included. The majority of studies were conducted in Hawaii and utilized clinical record data. Infant outcomes were more commonly reported than maternal outcomes. We highlighted several limitations of the existing literature that included aggregation of Pacific Islanders with Asian American and other ethnic groups; limited comparison between Pacific Islander sub-groups; inadequate definitions of the nationality and ethnic composition of Pacific Islander groups; a lack of hypothesis-driven primary data collection and clinical trials; and underrepresentation of Pacific Islanders in population-based studies. Researchers should address these limitations to improve pregnancy and perinatal outcomes among Pacific Islanders, who comprise the second fastest growing ethnic minority in the U.S.

The immediate past presidents and current president of the Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group write to raise awareness of the American Library Association Spectrum Scholarship Program, share their approach to supporting Scholars in their region, and encourage Medical Library Association (MLA) chapters and MLA at large to build stronger infrastructures to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color librarians who are in school and recently graduated.

Despite the presence of programs such as ALA’s Spectrum Scholarship and the ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce, library and information science (LIS) has not been successful in increasing the number of racial/ethnic minorities in the profession, especially in academic libraries. Though the LIS literature addresses recruitment and retention of people of color, very few articles acknowledge that some individuals from underrepresented populations may experience the profession as chilly or even hostile due to racism, especially as it is manifested in the form of racial microaggressions. Although often delivered unconsciously, these seemingly benign exchanges convey to the recipient negative and denigrating messages about that person’s race or ethnicity. The burden of work relating to diversity and inclusion in the profession has typically been placed on people of color, but those of us who are White also have a responsibility to engage in these endeavors. This article will identify steps that White academic librarians can take to prevent and address racial microaggressions in order to become better allies to our colleagues of color.

Public libraries have an extensive population reach in the United States, with public library services available to the vast majority of the US population. A Public Library Service survey conducted in 2016 found that nearly 311 million people in the United States, or 96% of the US population, lived in a public library service area, the geographic area for which a public library offers services.1 In many cases, the accessibility of public libraries extends to an online presence that can be accessed remotely, such as 400 million e-books that are available to US library patrons annually.1 Further, US public libraries are used by a broad segment of the population. In fact, it was estimated that 171 million registered users, or 52% of the US population, visited public libraries more than 1.35 billion times over the course of one year.1 Lower-income Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans are more likely to affirm that public libraries positively affect their lives and communities than are other Americans.2 US public libraries and public library staff have provided safe spaces and intensive support for people experiencing mental illness and substance abuse, homelessness, immigration challenges, and trauma. Even in disenfranchised communities, such as many in the segregated neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois, amid area gun violence, deep poverty, and isolation, libraries offer a safe space, and librarians are well trusted to support information access across racial/ethnic and other diversity divides. Some Chicago area libraries have added social workers to their staff and tailored their programs to meet local community needs, such as homelessness and applying for public aid programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public librarians, such as those the Chicago Public Library (CPL) employs, have continued serving the community in a variety of ways, including providing traditional library services such as making e-books available, disseminating COVID-19 resources, and connecting those in need with food. In essence, public libraries are emerging in key roles for improving the health of underserved communities. We describe a budding academic-library research partnership formed between Northwestern University and the CPL to equip the city with resources and tools to reach diverse populations who seek health and wellness information, including information and resources about clinical trials and preventive services. We put forth this example to encourage similar partnerships with public libraries to address identified community needs.

In this article, we seek to seed an honest conversation about how librarianship needs to meaningfully address systems of structural oppression in order to actualize diversity and inclusion initiatives at large. We will investigate issues of recruitment, retention, education, and mentorship within the library and information science profession through the lens of our experiences as women of color, and as early-career librarians; we will also weave relevant insights reflected from within the literature to support our narratives. Central to this work is an understanding of the barriers that people of color (POC) face in our workplaces and the profession at large; we will discuss this at length throughout. Finally, we will conclude with recommendations on how the profession, as a whole, can do better at retaining and supporting its marginalized workforce. This is a call to action for librarians at every level to hold themselves accountable for the ways in which they are complicit within systems of oppression and inequality. Concurrently, this article aims to generate momentum in coalition building as a tool for POC attempting to navigate the overwhelming whiteness evident within the profession.

Classification and the organization of information are directly connected to issues surrounding social justice, diversity, and inclusion. This paper is written from the standpoint that political and epistemological aspects of knowledge organization are fundamental to research and practice and suggests ways to integrate social justice and diversity issues into courses on the organization of information.