Title

Mapping Race and Racism in U.S. Library History Literature, 1997–2015

Authors

LaTesha Velez
Melissa Villa-Nicholas, University of Rhode IslandFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2017

Abstract

This paper is a critical bibliography which examines U.S. library history literature from 1997 through 2015 to map the current research around race, ethnicity, and racism in such literature. Seventeen years ago Wayne Wiegand (2000) examined fifty years of published research literature (1947–1997) in American library history looking for varied theoretical perspectives. He argued for the use of more critical theories, and for library historians to join with social and cultural historians to help contextualize library history within broader cultural and social forces in the United States. The paper examines the progress of histories around race, racism, and people of color in libraries since Wiegand's call, and discovered that theoretical perspectives around library histories have broadened into the areas of race and ethnicity, but that there is still much research to be done. Many topics and time periods are still underresearched. For example, the paper found few or no articles that focus on race or ethnicity in the histories of U.S. private libraries, the predecessor to the public library, special libraries, or library education; it also found many articles in ethnic studies journals rather than LIS journals.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Velez, L. and Villa-Nicholas, M. (Spring 2017) “Mapping Race and Racism in U.S. Library History Literature, 1997-2015.” Library Trends. 65.4

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2017.0017