Library student assistants account for approximately one-fourth of the staffing in academic libraries in the United States. Each student assistant plays an important role in the daily operations of today's college libraries by providing desk coverage, technical support, and customer service. This article discusses the advantages/disadvantages of…

The proportion of ethnic minorities in the LIS school student population has remained significantly lower than in the U.S. population: in 2002, ethnic minorities constituted only 11.3 percent of the LIS student population, compared to 31.3 percent of the U.S. population. Despite efforts by LIS schools and associations in recruiting and retaining…

In 2003 at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 11th National Conference in Kansas City, the AASL Task Force on Recruitment for the Profession noted that 68 percent of school librarians will retire by the year 2015. They also reported extremely severe shortages of school librarians in ten states and severe shortages in 30 states…

This handbook for the Mentor Program of the California Librarians Black Caucus (CLBC) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) begins by stating that the purpose of the program is to increase the number of African American librarians and other information professionals in…

The effective use of library student staff offers an opportunity to model both library instruction and student participation. This book details the process of effectively training student library staff. Chapter 1 lays the groundwork by helping the librarian determine the main functions and needs of the library, the role of library student staff,…