36 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 295 2018 There are modest disparities in diversity by region, with western ARL libraries exhibiting the smallest percentage of Caucasian professionals. (See Table 2.) Northeast North Central South West Native American or Native Alaskan 0.2% 0.3% 0% 1% Asian or Pacific Islander 7% 5% 5% 13% African American 4% 5% 6% 3% Caucasian 86% 87% 85% 78% Hispanic 2% 2% 3% 5% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% Table 2: Race/Ethnicity of Professional Staff in US ARL University Libraries by Region, 2015 Another measure of diversity across US ARL libraries is the distribution of racial and ethnic groups across these broad regions. (See Table 3.) If these groups were equally represented according to region, we would expect to see 25% throughout. There are some notable disparities throughout, however, possibly the result of regional differences in the distribution of racial and ethnic groups in the broader US population.4 While ARL libraries routinely recruit nationally for most professional positions, regional and local labor markets surely play an important role. Northeast North Central South West Total Native American or Native Alaskan 17% 20% 20% 43% 100% Asian or Pacific Islander 31% 18% 23% 27% 100% African American 24% 24% 42% 10% 100% Caucasian 31% 24% 32% 14% 100% Hispanic 25% 17% 32% 25% 100% Table 3: Proportional Distribution of Professional Staff in US ARL University Libraries by Race/ Ethnicity and Region, 2015 In analyses of previous ARL data sets, examining the age of racial and ethnic groups gave some hope that normal retirements might
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