Serving the Underserved

Focusing on needs and services outside the library walls, this book outlines a fresh approach to how libraries can think about and effectively reach underserved populations.

Readers will discover strategies for identifying information needs where underserved populations are and learn about many successful services, programs, and partnerships. Underserved populations frequently do not have access to a library—or they may even be unaware that they have an information need. How can we as a profession effectively reach them? This text, geared to both graduate and undergraduate LIS students as well as practicing librarians and library staff, provides contextual information on historically underserved populations as defined by the ALA Office for Diversity, Outreach, and Literacy Services (ODLOS), explores information use behaviors for these groups, and presents examples of successful strategies and programs.

Author Biography

Dr. Catharine Bomhold is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been teaching graduate classes in LIS for more than 17 years and taught classes on serving the underserved for more than 10 years. She is the co-author of Twice Upon a Time: A Guide to Fractured, Altered, and Retold Folk and Fairy Tales (Libraries Unlimited, 2008) and Build It, Make It, Do It, Play It!: Subject Access to the Best How-To Guides for Children and Teens (Libraries Unlimited, 2014), as well as scholarly articles on information seeking.