Librarianship: Nicole Cook, University of Illinois Library and Information Sciences Professor, Writes Textbook On Diversity Issues For Librarians

From the University of Illinois News Bureau:

Nicole Cooke, a University of Illinois professor of library and information sciences, wrote a recently published textbook to help librarians and library students better understand the importance of serving diverse groups of people. “Information Services to Diverse Populations: Developing Culturally Competent Library Professionals” was published in December. It discusses, among other things, the political, social, economic and technological divides among library patrons, and evaluating outreach and services to diverse populations.
“To my knowledge, it’s the first textbook addressing these diversity issues. It’s a missing piece for a lot of programs,” Cooke said. “I hope the book is interesting not just to students but to librarians out in the field.”
The book grew out of a course Cooke developed and teaches at the School of Information Sciences. The course, “Information Services to Diverse Populations,” looks at groups of people that include racial and ethnic minorities; LGBT people; veterans; people with physical and mental disabilities; senior citizens; immigrants and international students; the hungry,

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