#bcala

This post was written by Dr. Theodosia T. Shields & Doris Johnson and submitted on behalf of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Last year’s post on Amanda Rudd was also brought to us by BCALA.

For over forty years Dr. Barbara Williams Jenkins greatly contributed to the library profession on a local, regional and national level. Even after retiring, she continues to contribute to her beloved profession.

Barbara was born in Union, South Carolina but grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where she received her high school diploma from Wilkinson High School. She graduated from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a B.A. degree and earned a MSLS from the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. Her post-Master’s work included advance study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Atlanta University and Clemson University. These subsequent educational experiences were followed by her studying and receiving her Ph. D. in Library and Information Sciences from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick in 1980.

Her professional career began in her hometown of Orangeburg as a Reserve and Circulation Librarian at South Carolina State in 1956. After serving in this role for two years, she became the Reference and Documents Librarian. This was followed by her becoming Library Director at South Carolina State in 1962 where she served until 1987. In 1987 she was promoted to Dean of Library and Information Services at South Carolina State. She served as Dean until her retirement in 1997.

During her tenure at South Carolina State (now known as South Carolina State University), Barbara served with distinction in all roles. At the only public supported Historically Black College and University in South Carolina, Barbara worked diligently to provide leadership on the campus, in the state and beyond. She was an advocate for the library program.

Some of the leadership roles that she assumed included the following: the first African American  President of the South Carolina Library Association 1986-1987;  Southeastern Library Association-  College Section Director 1978 – 1980;  American Library Association Council 1978-1982; Association of National Agricultural Library, Inc. 1890 Land -Grant Library Directors’ Association Tuskegee University (President 1979-85); American Library Association  Black Caucus – Chairperson 1984-85, Southeastern Library Network ( SOLINET)  -  Board of Directors  1989-92; and South Carolina Governor’s Conference on Library and  Information Services  (1978 – 1979) and National Endowment for the Humanities – Evaluator – 1979.  In 1969 she served as a Library Evaluator – Institutional Self- Study for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). She continued to serve in this capacity until her retirement in 1997. She also served on the College Consulting Network in 1991 and served until retirement.

Because of her love of African American history and her passion for preserving that history, she was a member of the African-American Heritage Council and the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation. As a collector of African American history and a researcher, she played a significant role in the establishment of the institution’s historical collection.  Her work extended beyond campus by her affiliation with the South Carolina Archives & History Commission. She was instrumental in locating and identifying campus historical sites and buildings in Orangeburg along with providing training sessions on how to preserve this history.   Her actions led to her becoming a charter member of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission.

For her service to the campus community and beyond, she received many accolades and awards during her career.  She received the “Boss of the Year Award” in 1980 from the Orangeburg Chapter of the Professional Secretaries International; 1890 Land-Grant Director’s Association Award 1978-84; President’s Award, South Carolina Library Association, 1987; South Carolina State College Distinguished Service Award, 1991; SOLINET Board of Directors Service Award, 1992 and the college’s First President’s Service Award in 1997.  Additionally, on February 27,2000 at the Founders’ Day program, Dr. Leroy Davis, President of South Carolina State University bestowed upon Dr. Jenkins the first emeritus award.

As a leader and advocate for the profession, Dr. Jenkins worked diligently to share and instill these values with her staff and others in the profession.    She served as a role model for many librarians.

In addition to a very active professional life, she also held memberships in many civil and social organizations including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. (Past Regional Director for the South Atlantic Region). She is also a member of the Williams Chapel AME Church.  

She was married to the late Robert A. Jenkins and they had two children and five grandchildren.  As a retiree she continues to devote her time to African American and local history.  She also loves to talk about the library profession and continues to serve as a role model for librarians and aspiring librarians.

Works Cited:

I'm sharing my submission for the 2018-19 E.J. Josey Scholarship contest. The topic for the 2018-2019 essay was: What is the library's role in the current political climate as it relates to issue around social justice and the community? I was not one of the main winners for this award, but rather a second tier awardee who was lucky enough to win a scholarship when the BCALA obtained additional funding for this scholarship. I hope you enjoy reading my submission!

Please note that no changes have been made to this essay since it was submitted in 2018.

-Michelle

The ALA Code of Ethics states that libraries are responsible for and should be committed to the intellectual freedom, freedom of access to information, and equitable services for all library users (“Professional ethics”). Many of these ideals harken back to the establishment of the ALA Library Bill of Rights in 1939; serving our patrons, communities, and society has been a core value of librarianship for decades (Rubin, 2016). Modern libraries contribute to their communities by providing services for patrons, safeguarding intellectual freedom, and providing a safe space for marginalized peoples (Ettarh, 2018; Gustina & Guinnee, 2017). It is important that we continue to provide these values to the communities and populations we serve, especially during fraught times. The current political climate has increased tensions within American society, such as concerns surrounding illegal immigration, refugees, sexual assault and misconduct, and police brutality against minority individuals. These topics illustrate how diverse the American people and their needs are, but this diversity and the difficulties that come along with it can also create challenges that library staff may not be equipped to handle.

The library profession in the United States lacks racial diversity; 88% of MLIS-holding librarians are white (Morales et al., 2014). Many concerns in our current political climate relate to minority or marginalized populations, which makes them social justice issues. Since the profession is a majority white, many librarians may feel that they have no personal stake in these issues, do not have the background to combat these difficulties, or are not aware enough to take part in social justice initiatives. These opinions do not change what is written in our code of ethics or the Library Bill of Rights. As professionals within the library and information science field, we are obligated to provide “the highest level of service to all library users (“Professional ethics”)”. Even if we cannot identify with all patrons, it is our duty to support them equitably through library services. Supporting our users does not mean we need to be experts in the various aspects of social justice, but it does mean that we need to be aware of these challenges and how they are affecting our users and communities.

We may not have firsthand experience or extensive knowledge of issues like immigration status and rights for illegal immigrants, but we cannot deny that these are concerns for some of our patrons. The current political climate has caused some of these individuals to feel isolated from society and resources that could be helpful to them because now there is a higher level of fear and risk of being exposed and subsequently deported. Our code of ethics not only obligates us to provide resources for these groups within our communities, but it also requires us to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our users when they seek out information on or related to these topics (“Professional ethics”). Exemplifying these obligations, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Illinois created a civic engagement workshop called “Know Your Rights” which aimed to inform users of their legal rights within the United States (Peet, 2018). Amidst rumors that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives would be present at the workshop, the library canceled the event due to concerns about the safety of the participants, their patrons, and their staff (Peet, 2018). Community members protested the cancelation of this program, and in response the library dedicated a webpage that not only explained the reasoning behind the cancellation, but also provided the program content so their patrons would still be able to access this information (Peet, 2018). In this example, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library not only provided much needed information to their users, but they also took steps to protect their user’s privacy and ability to access this information.

Librarians and library staff may find topics like police brutality against minorities or racial injustices difficult or uncomfortable to discuss, especially when most members of our profession are white. A librarian’s race does not mean they can avoid or ignore these topics, but it is also important to remember that they don’t have to confront these issues all on their own. Librarians can, and should, use their position within society to bring information and resources together within a space that is safe and open to all who need access to these resources. Staff may not have the knowledge or experience needed to comment on or confront all of the injustices within our society, but we can provide a space for people who do have this knowledge to meet and share what they know with others within the community.

The question shouldn’t be what role libraries have in relation to social justice within our communities, because the ALA Code of Ethics clearly states that our role is to provide information and resources for all within our communities. The real question is if we will allow our lack of diversity, lack of experience with social justice, or discomfort with these issues to be excuses for us to sidestep our responsibilities to the populations and communities we serve. To ignore social justice issues that individuals in our communities must deal with in their daily lives is the same as ignoring these people, their struggles, and their needs.

References

Ettarh, Fobazi. "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves." In the Library with the Lead Pipe, 10 Jan. 2018, www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/.

Gustina, Margo, and Eli Guinnee. "Why Social Justice in the Library?" Library Journal, vol. 22, no. 4, 1 June 2017, pp. 52-55.

Morales, Myrna, et al. “Diversity, Social Justice, and the Future of Libraries.” Libraries and the Academy, vol. 14, no. 3, 2014, pp. 439–451., doi:10.1353/pla.2014.0017.

Peet, Lisa. "City of Library Love: PLA 2018 in Philadelphia." Library Journal, vol. 143, no. 8, 1 May 2018, pp. 12-15.

"Professional Ethics", American Library Association, May 19, 2017. http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics (Accessed December 12, 2018). Document ID: 39f580a8-833d-5ad4-f900-53ecfe67eb1f.

So I've been thinking about papers I've written for contests and scholarships in the last few years and how much time I've committed to such projects only to have a limited number of people read the finished product. While some of these essays are nothing to write home about (pun definitely intended!), I've been particularly proud of some of them, so I've decided that these essays should get another chance to see the light of day (or the internet) and be read by others. I'll be starting with an essay I wrote for the 2018-19 E.J. Josey Scholarship, which is organized by BCALA and held annually. While the scholarship committee typically only list 1-2 winners per a year, sometimes they give out additional scholarships if they have extra funding. I was a recipient of one of these additional scholarships, and I'll be sharing the essay I wrote for the scholarship in my next post. Hopefully I will continue to share essays from contests or scholarships I've applied for (whether I win or lose), as others might enjoy reading my perspectives on different topics or seeing example essays.

Another post(s) I am planning for the near future is related to the NISO Plus 2022 Conference. A couple of years ago I applied for a scholarship to attend the NISO Conference in 2021 and become part of their NISO Plus Scholars group for 2021. I had practically no idea what NISO did a couple of years ago, but I applied because at the time I was a staff member in an academic library and we didn't get much money for professional development, so I applied to many scholarships to attend a variety of professional development opportunities in an effort to expand my skills. While I haven't gained too many new skills through the NISO Scholars program, I have made some great connections across libraries, the publishing industry, and information technology industry that have helped me learn about topics that were barely on my radar previously, but definitely interest me. Okay, but what does this have to do with the post(s) I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph? Well the NISO Plus 2022 Conference is this week (Feb. 15 - 17), and I'll be attending it and presenting at it (I'm part of a panel session with other scholarship winners), and I thought it would be a good time to try writing about a conference I'm attending. So hopefully I'll have at least 1 post about the conference, but more if possible. Look out for these upcoming posts and wish me luck at keeping up with my blog and not setting unrealistic expectations for myself!

And here's some pretty moths for a change of pace: