Diversity of LIS School Students: Trends over the Past 30 Years
Yoon, JungWon; McCook, Kathleen de la Peña
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, v62 n2 p109-118 2021
Using the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2018 statistical reports, this study reports the current diversity status of LIS students. The findings are as follows: (1) overall LIS graduates' diversity has improved from 6.79% to 17.47% over the past 30 years, and particularly, the increase in the number of Hispanic graduates is noticeable; (2) however, LIS graduates' diversity does not follow the trends of the US population diversity: whereas 37% of the US population is minority, 17.43% of LIS graduates are minority students; (3) the ratio of LIS minority graduates (17.43%) is lower than the ratio of LIS minority students (20.70%); (4) larger disparities among LIS students are noticed in the most ethnically diverse states; and (5) the rate of minority students among the top ten LIS schools is lower than those of overall LIS schools, except the Asian group.
