SLA Kentucky chapter presence at African-American conference

It all began when the Kentucky chapter realized that in order to recruit more African-American librarians into SLA, there first had to be more African-American librarians. According to research conducted by chapter member Reinette Jones, there were only 47 African-American librarians in Kentucky in

On April 23, 2003, the Kentucky chapter sponsored a booth at the Kentucky attorney general's annual conference, "Empowering the Black Community for the 21st Century." The conference was attended by community and business leaders, students, and educators, and was an excellent opportunity to talk about careers in librarianship to people who could make a difference.

"African Americans are sorely underrepresented in librarianship, both statewide and nationally," said Elizabeth Smigielski, KYSLA director-at-large and librarian at Kornhauser Health Sciences Library at the University of Louisville. "This was an ideal and welcome opportunity to promote our field as a career choice."

The Kentucky chapter will continue its efforts to recruit Kentuckians, especially African Americans, to librarianship by sponsoring booths at career fairs and events in Kentucky. For more information, contact: Susan Brown, subrown@transy.edu.