Junior library program exposes minority high schoolers to new worlds, careers

By Franklin Crawford

A summer job that lets you earn money while you learn vital educational skills at a major Ivy League school in your own backyard? It sounded too good to be true to the eight local high school students who applied and were chosen for the six-week Junior Library Fellows Program at Cornell. But the unprecedented program, which began in July, is introducing minority students to the field of library science while teaching them how to better utilize library resources.

Chris De Cicco, Cornell University Library conservation technician, explains how books are repaired to local high schoolers Josh Drew and Naro Lokuruku. Drew, a ninth grader at Ithaca's Alternatives Community School, and Lokuruku, a sophomore at Ithaca High School, are working as CUL Junior Library Fellows. The first-ever program recruited eight local minority high school students, introducing them to the field of library science and information technologies, while providing them with new skills and a summer income. Charles Harrington/University Photography

"Usually in school I try to stay out of the library unless I have papers to write," said Joshua Drew, a ninth grader at Ithaca's Alternative Community School and junior fellow. "Now I'm learning more about computers and how to explore databases for research. So far it's been great."

While it sure beats serving fries and clerking for a summer paycheck, Drew and his cohorts are participating in a program designed to get them thinking about library science as a possible career choice.

"Many high school students never consider working in a library because it's not what's considered as 'cool,' but this initiative provides students with an understanding of the unlimited job possibilities that exist in libraries," said Ira Revels, librarian for educational technologies in Olin Library, who conceived the Cornell summer program. "Quite often, once they understand that they can potentially know anything they want to know and that there's exciting new technology to access that information, the idea starts to have appeal."

While the eight junior fellows may never become librarians, the skills and experience they acquire this summer will prove invaluable, said Robert Harris, vice provost of diversity and faculty development, whose office is helping to support the program.

"The introduction to information technology will be of great benefit to these students, and that knowledge is something they can take back to school and even share with other students," Harris said. "And it lets them know that they have options in choosing a career."

In addition to wages, Junior Fellows receive a Cornell Dining pass during their first two weeks of employment, a TCAT Summer Fun bus pass and a newly refurbished computer. They will also receive career counseling. The program is supported through the Cornell Work Force on Diversity, Equity and Life Quality, the vice provost's office, the Youth Employment Service of Tompkins County and the Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library.

The Junior Library Fellows Program is unique to a major research university -- and most library schools rarely offer a high school recruitment program, said Revel. But it was Revels' mentor, E.J. Josey, who tirelessly advocated for recruitment of minority students into the library profession. Josey, professor emeritus of library science and information services at the University of Pittsburgh, was only the second African American to serve as president of the American Library Association (1984-85). Now in his 70s, he continues his recruiting efforts and for lobbies for greater African American representation in the ALA. It now happens that Josey's legacy may in part get a boost from another champion of the library -- Laura Bush.

In June, the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries was established by the First Lady, a librarian herself. Designed to encourage support of libraries and the recruitment of librarians in general, it parallels a more focused program being launched by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Called "Recruiting and Educating Librarians for the 21st Century," the IMLS proposal directly addresses the current shortage of professional librarians and library-related services in minority and poorer communities and proposes steps to avert a "looming crisis" in the field of librarianship.

Revels, who received the E.J. Josey Endowment Scholarship for Minorities to attend the University of Pittsburgh, said Josey was her mentor, and she is simply carrying the message.

"I am trying to show them that almost every career you can think of has a parallel career in librarianship," Revels said, "and that whatever career they choose, they can use library skills to enhance their knowledge of just about everything."

The program highlights Cornell Library's ongoing commitment to promoting library science as a career choice for African Americans, Latinos and Latinas and Native Americans. In fact, the summer initiative is modeled on CUL's current Library Fellows Program, started in 2000. The CUL program, launched by University Librarian Sarah Thomas, recruits minority library school graduates for a two-year appointment as assistant librarians. CUL was one of the first university library systems to create a program that encourages the growth and professional development of underrepresented minorities in academic research libraries. Revels is among three current library fellows.

After two weeks of tours and job shadowing, the junior library fellows are preparing for a variety of specific projects that will train them to use library resources. The projects will be presented as four- to six-page research papers with visual components.

Shantelle Brown, a junior at Ithaca High School, is researching the role of women in rap videos and how women are stereotyped and exploited. Phally Ny, the daughter of Cambodian refugees and a senior at the Alternative Community School, is researching her family background and the paths of immigration from Southeast Asia.

"I want to tell the story of their escape from the war and to let people know what the immigrant experience is like," Ny said.

Ciarra Hickling, a sophomore at IHS, is interested in learning how to make a web site. The ultimate goal for Hickling, a singer, is to learn how performers sign onto record labels. Aris Giles, an IHS senior, and Sarneadd Abdur-Razzaaq, an IHS sophomore, have teamed up to do a presentation on African-American fashion. Joshua Esnard, an IHS junior, is designing a junior fellow web site as his project. Naro Rachel Lokuruka, a sophomore at IHS who was born in Kenya and whose parents are graduate students at Cornell, is researching the effects of drug and alcohol abuse in teens. Drew is researching the history of the CUL system itself.

Each student expressed newfound respect for the librarian's job as well as an understated awe regarding the vast resources of CUL.

A library task force got the junior library fellows program up and running. Barbara Eden, a preservation and conservation librarian in Olin Library, served on the committee. "One of the major goals of this program is outreach," said Eden. "We want to get the word out to students in the area that the Cornell libraries are available to them and that they are a good place to get your work done."