Help Wanted at Our Libraries.

Black librarians are growing scarce, just like black teachers. Low pay scales stymie African American recruitment and retention, so it's time for community action

Black librarians are disappearing. These gatekeepers of African American culture, around whom many community activities revolve, are exiting the profession in droves, with few replacements in sight, and the decimation of the ranks is leaving a cultural vacuum that gets increasingly hard to fill.

At the center of the crisis is a nationwide dilemma--low pay. In New York City, for example, where some of the most prestigious libraries are housed, the average starting salary for candidates with advanced degrees is $31,296.

Gladys Bell, president of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and assistant director for Public Services at Hampton University, says many children's librarian jobs go begging because the pay scale is so paltry. Yet, it is these types of positions that most impact the lives of our youth by getting them to love reading at an early, impressionable age.

Sheila Johnson represents a dramatic example of how the low pay scale has repercussions that ripple out into the black community. Armed with a master's degree in library science from Atlanta University and a commitment to the profession, Johnson joined the Brooklyn Public Library System 20 years ago. She climbed her way through the ranks until she became Chief of Science and Industry, the only African American chief of a major subject in a central library.

While she relished her position, her advanced education and decades of experience still only merited a $40,000 salary. Drawing from reserves of dedication, and knowing the difference she was making, she continued to serve. But after awhile, even her dedication to the children she served was not enough. "Finally," she says resignedly, "I threw up my hands." She recently enrolled in law school.

Johnson's exit is devastating because she brought an African American perspective and cultural sensitivity to her position. She was a literacy tutor for an initiative to benefit African Americans and worked to get her library to contribute funds to activities that offered exposure to a pantheon of black writers. She also introduced a health initiative and led her library to sponsor a health fair that attracted African Americans from all over the community.

Johnson held court over a budget of $200,000, spending $11,000 to promote African American authors and give them exposure, visibility and marketing leverage. "If African Americans are not directing any of those budgets and involved in decision making," she explains, "it directly impacts African American writers since the mass market doesn't push [their work]." Johnson remains at the library on a part-time basis, but she understands that without her persistent presence, the programs she fought and advocated for could be easily diluted.

While black librarians leave the profession in growing numbers, little significant efforts are being waged to recruit them. The statistics dramatize the severity of the dilemma. In 1996-1997 for example, 5,068 people graduated from American Library Association-accredited libraries and information studies programs. Of that figure, only 444 were minorities and African Americans only accounted for about 17--a frightening reality when placed against the backdrop of need.

Sam Morrison, Director of Florida's Broward County Library System, which was hailed by the Library Journal and Gale Research as the 1996-97 Library of the Year, acknowledges librarian recruitment in the last five years has not kept pace with other professions. With low salaries and accredited graduates possessing the skills eager to start their own businesses, or be lured into dot-coms as information technologists, many librarians, regardless of race, are opting to leave the field.

E.J. Josey, professor emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh's School of Information Sciences, the first black male president of the ALA, founder of the Black Caucus of the 30-year-old American Library Association and an icon in library circles, is a one-man recruitment dynamo at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been hailed for bringing a high proportion of African Americans to the library program at the University and says this type of concentrated effort is one way to address the dilemma.

Due to the persistence of Josey, past ALA president and current Rutgers University library school professor Dr. Betty Turock and past ALA executive director Elizabeth Martinez, the ALA launched the Spectrum Program where 50 minorities each receive $5,000 for the first three years toward their library education. Despite this noble effort, some blacks still veer away from librarianship because only a master's degree can reap true career growth.

This is yet another hurdle to jump in the race for widespread African American recruitment. Many blacks have to get loans just to get through their BA degree, argues Josey. When they have to get another degree, they have to be convinced that it is an investment in their future.

Another area of concern is the digital divide. By and large, inner city and rural areas don't have access to the Internet in their homes, says Morrison. Public libraries are the last hope for them to access the Internet. Therefore, black librarians are the standard bearers in making sure blacks are given passage to the information superhighway.

Racism is another dynamic that douses black interest in the profession. Gladys Bell recounts the story of a children's librarian in the New York Public Library system who was never allowed to interact with the young people because the library didn't want blacks out in such a highly visible position. This tale, with different characters within different systems, is often repeated.

Racism also factored in a fight in Savannah, Georgia. A white Savannah Public Library director closed down four branches, in black neighborhoods without consulting the black community when a new super library was constructed. The director maintained that blacks could simply travel to the main library. Members of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association railed against the move and countered that traveling was not only a hardship for young children but would force them to leave the comfort of their neighborhood. Because the library is a recreational hub where the love of reading is nurtured this had overarching implications. The fight of the Black Caucus resulted in the reversal of the decision to close the branches.

Without our black librarians, who will fight for us? It is clear that when African Americans are a part of the planning our interests are woven into the cultural blueprint. Morrison, who is playing a lead role in the Broward County System by overseeing the construction of a new 58,000-square-foot library building in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is a case in point. The facility is being named the African American Research Library and Cultural Center and is the third public library of its kind in the United States. This Center will be a magnet for people of color, says Morrison. It will be an addition to the 36 libraries in the system and is emblematic of Morrison's personal commitment to improving service to minorities.

Those intimately and passionately involved in the black librarian dilemma believe a turnaround is possible. Josey believes that if the 58 ALA-accredited library programs mounted a more aggressive effort to recruit African Americans, their numbers would swell significantly. He urges the public to join local organizations and lobby to serve on library boards where they can influence public policy. Sheila Johnson agrees that there is a lack of knowledge of the depth and breadth of the crisis. There's not that community outcry and urgency from elected officials. It's not because they don't care, it's that they just don't know.

Melody M. McDowell is a Chicago-based freelance writer and the owner of Melodys Service, a public relations firm. This is her second assignment for BIBR. Melody holds a masters degree in library science from Chicago State University and worked as a librarian in the Chicago public school system for six years before leaving the profession to become an entrepreneur. Ms. McDowell looks at the dangerous trends that threaten the African American presence in our libraries on page 78.