37 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 295 2018 diversify the population. As an example, in 2000, 48% of Caucasian professionals in US ARL university libraries were aged 50 and above, compared to just 35% of African Americans, and 39% of Hispanics. Other factors being equal, the African American and Hispanic populations should have risen slightly in subsequent years as a result. By 2015, however, it was African Americans who were slightly older: 53% aged 50 and above compared to 49% of Caucasians. “Normal retirements” in this context now constitutes another diversity challenge for ARL. If the percentage of Caucasian professionals is inadequate as an indicator of the success of diversity efforts among ARL libraries, a better indicator can be found in the percentage of underrepresented groups among new hires. In 2015, we find halting progress: a slight improvement in African American recruitment, and fairly disappointing numbers of Asian and Hispanic new hires. The number of Caucasian new hires is almost identical to the portion of the larger ARL population, 85.5% compared to 85.1%. (See Table 4.) The 2015 class of new hires can’t be said to be diversifying the population. N % of professional staff % of new hires African American 416 4.7% 6.0% Hispanic 259 2.9% 2.1% Asian or Pacific Islander 619 7.0% 5.7% Native American or Native Alaskan 35 0.4% 0.7% Caucasian/Other 7,576 85.1% 85.5% Table 4: Race/Ethnicity of Professional Staff in US ARL University Libraries, Overall and as a Portion New Hires, 2015 Diversity is of particular importance in leadership positions, and examination of positions with supervisory responsibilities yields Diversity is of particular importance in leadership positions, and examination of [ARL] positions with supervisory responsibilities yields disappointing results.
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