UA Professor Named Library Diversity Research Honoree

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The American Library Association named The University of Alabama’s Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo as its 2016 Achievement in Library Diversity Research honoree.

Naidoo, a UA associate professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, has focused on services to diverse families and children in his career. His research interests include the portrayal of underrepresented groups in children’s and young adult literature and library services to gender-variant and LGBTQ children and parents.

These interests have resulted in the publication of books such as: “Diversity Programming for Digital Youth: Promoting Cultural Competence in the Children’s Library,” and “Rainbow Family Collections: Selecting and Using Children’s Books with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Content.”

In addition, he has published and/or edited numerous other books, peer-reviewed articles, papers and book chapters.

“I am extremely honored that the award committee has recognized my body of diversity research and scholarship,” said Naidoo. “It is validating to know that the work I do makes a national impact on the profession and is of the caliber to be deemed an achievement. I plan to continue my diversity research with a focus on visual and textual representations of LGBTQ characters in international children’s literature.

“With the changing legislation related to LGBTQ populations in states such as North Carolina and Mississippi, I am also interested in examining how libraries are effectively serving these patrons.”

Naidoo will be recognized as the Achievement in Library Diversity Research Honoree at the 2016 ALA Annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

He will receive the honor at the beginning of the program, “Let the Circle be Unbroken: Meditation on a Successful Mentoring Circle in 2014,” from 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, June 25 in the Orange County Convention Center, room W102A.

As part of its ongoing support of the propagation of library-based diversity research, the American Library Association’s Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of the ALA Council Committee on Diversity, and the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services began designating this honor in 2004.

The School of Library and Information Studies is housed in UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences.