Dorothy Porter: A Black Woman Pioneer in Library and Information Science

Penelope Wright

Conley, Z. (2023). Dorothy Porter: A Black woman pioneer in library and information science. Arkansas Libraries Fall/Winter 2023, 80(3/4), 24-26.

Summary:

Dorothy Porter was born in 1905 in Virginia. She attended Howard University and in 1930 became a librarian there. In 1932 she was Columbia University's first Black student to earn a library science degree. When she began as a librarian, there were two numbers in Dewey that all materials by (or about) Black people went: 326 (slavery) or 325 (colonization). A book of poetry by a Black author would be assigned either 326 or 325, it would not go in 811. Dorothy changed this, putting materials by Black authors in the sections in which they fit best in the wider Dewey system, not just in the two numbers. Porter's system pushed back on racism and challenged the bias of the Dewey system. She was the curator of the Moorland Foundation and amassed a collection of more than 180,000 materials. Her contributions to Black history and literature were immense. She received numerous awards and accolades, including the Frankel Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She published many scholarly works and helped set the standard for collections focused on Black lives and culture. Porter's indomitable will and trailblazing nature brought resounding positive change to libraries worldwide. 

Evaluation/Opinion

I read a lot of different articles this semester but this is the one that I kept coming back to, that stuck in my mind the most. Porter challenged the status quo, and shook up the way things "had always been done" because the way things had "always been done" was wrong. I'm glad I learned about her, she was an amazing woman. I'd recommend this article to anyone who wants a quick, informative read about notable librarians, the history of libraries, or overcoming institutional racism. 

Race, Place and Information Technology

Bradley, Rebecca
INFO 266
Fall 2016

Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. J. & Gilbert, M. (2006). Race, place and information technology. Urban Affairs Review, 41(5), 583-620. doi: 10.1177/1078087405283511


This article attempts to study the different causes of lower technology use among African-Americans and Latinos. Borrowing from earlier research done by one of the authors, Mossberger, along with many other studies, the current article determines that “place matters” when it comes to the causes of the digital divide. To my surprise, this article was published in 2006 and almost mirrors research carried out within the same time period as found in the article that I reviewed previously called “(Generation 1.5) Latinos and the Library: A Case Study.” Basically, although African-Americans and Latinos have more positive attitudes towards technology than whites within the same socio-economic level, both minority groups are less likely to have a computer, Internet access, or tech skills.



Using rather complex hierarchical linear modeling, the authors’ research concludes that the digital divide is due to the fact that many African-Americans and Latinos live in areas of “concentrated poverty,” in which 40% or more of the population is living at or below the poverty line. More shocking is the fact that 94% of these areas of concentrated poverty are in major U.S. cities. The authors suspect that dense urban municipalities are forced to spend more money on fire, police, and court services leaving smaller amounts to spend on other services such as public libraries. Also, the authors suggest that poor African-Americans and Latinos end up in large urban city school with inferior tech access and instruction. This is precisely what the authors of “(Generation 1.5)” concluded as well after conducting surveys among 105 Latino Freshman attending California State University, Los Angeles in 2006. All of the articles I have read so far go on to propose that language could be an additional issue for Latinos, further widening the digital divide. Once again, as a teacher-librarian working in a poor urban neighborhood with a large Latino population, this article only deepens my understanding of the many barriers to technology and success in higher education faced by my young students and inspires me to search for solutions to these obstacles.