Student in the stacks at the Benson Latin American Collection.

Libraries Launch Castañeda Diversity Residency

The University of Texas Libraries is pleased to announce the creation of a new pilot residency program to encourage participation in library professions by historically underrepresented populations.

The Consuelo Artaza and Dr. Carlos Castañeda Diversity Alliance Residency Program will align with efforts of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Diversity Alliance to increase the hiring pipeline of qualified and talented individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. By working together and thinking more broadly, ACRL Diversity Alliance institutions will help diversify and enrich the profession.

A recent membership survey of ACRL members revealed that 83 percent of respondents identified as white. The ACRL Diversity Alliance was established to collaborate with institutions in the creation of programs that could combat the diversity disparity in library professions.

The Diversity Residency Program will be designed to help tackle this challenge. University of Texas at Austin alumnus and Libraries Advisory Council Member Gustavo Artaza has generously contributed the $100,000 toward the establishment of the program in honor of his mother, Consuelo Artaza, and his grandfather, Dr. Carlos Castañeda, who was the original librarian of the university’s Latin American Collection and namesake of the Perry-Castañeda Library.

Artaza’s contribution will go toward the overall challenge to raise $133,000 in order to obtain a matching grant from the university. The Libraries will focus on raising the remaining $33,000 this year’s 40 Hours for the Forty Acres fundraising campaign, taking place April 4-5.

If you would like to contribute to the Consuelo Artaza and Dr. Carlos Castañeda Diversity Alliance Residency Program, please visit the Libraries’ 40 Hours for the Forty Acres giving page.

 

 

 

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