Ana Ndumu

Introduction. The study explores the relationship between information and acculturation in the lives of immigrants living in the United States, with consideration given to immigrants’ information assets as well as bidirectional dimensions of acculturation whereby immigrants inform US-born neighbours. Method. Initially intended as a mixed-method explanatory study, this preliminary insight is based on survey data. As the researchers discuss, recruitment was disrupted due to factors including sweeping US legislation that culminated in federal research defunding, punitive measures toward higher education, and especially threats to immigrant communities. Analysis. The preliminary survey findings offer a glimpse into how immigrants adjust informationally. Respondents prefer speed and accuracy of resources and ranked educational/career, health/wellness, and entertainment as top information reasons, while friends and family are the premier information sources. Many respondents share cultural information with US-born neighbors. Yet barriers such as the lack of recent, accurate, or accessible information impact acculturation. Results. Based on available data, immigrant information acculturation is hardly straightforward and reflects a myriad of decisions related to information seeking, finding, using, sources, problem-solving, and contributions. Conclusion. Information decision-makers who partner with immigrant groups should account for how community members navigate US acculturation, information ecosystems, and their own self-perceptions. Knowledge of immigrant information acculturation can further both the study and provision of information, particularly in rapidly changing information and political landscapes.

Historically, information professionals have advocated for intellectual freedom, specifically the rights to free speech and expression. The unrestricted flow of information has been foundational to library and information science practice. Yet, free speech at times is protected to the detriment of vulnerable communities. In this panel discussion, four library and information science researchers discuss the scholarly and pragmatic tensions surrounding LIS ethics and anti‐hegemony. Using Chatman's (1996) concept of information poverty and Gibson and Martin's (2019) theory of information marginalization as discursive guides, the panelists will describe how they negotiate ethical principles, information justice, LIS professionalization, and social inclusion.

This perspective essay explores Gasman & Arroyo’s (2014) HBCU-inspired framework for Black student success as a prism for re-envisioning LIS education. In response to calls for anti-hegemonic LIS education, the authors discuss a potential tool for Black student success and suggest its benefits to LIS education. The framework can introduce non-white, anti-racist educational practices to the work of educating the U.S. library workforce; it is relevant in light of ongoing racial and political strife in U.S. society.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have trained Black librarians and strengthened the library profession since 1927 when the first HBCU-based library school was founded at Hampton University. However, HBCU professors, library directors, and alumni are often overlooked in conversations on librarian professionalization. In this article, four distinguished HBCU-affiliated library leaders provide critical perspectives on LIS practice. Their collective insight illustrates the value of HBCUs in LIS and demonstrates opportunities for new directions.

The purpose of this study is to probe biased library and information science (LIS) presumptions of digital divides among U.S. immigrants. The stance of the foreign-born as “digital immigrants” departs from migration and population research which hold that gaps in immigrant Internet and technology access are rapidly closing, even when accounting for immigrant type. The research is based on analysis of the 2016 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data. Black immigrant households’ ICT device and Internet access were determined and then compared to those of the general population. Findings suggest that Black immigrant households primarily access the Internet through smartphone and laptop devices along with mobile and at-home hi-speed Internet plans. When compared to the general population, Black immigrant households demonstrate significantly greater smartphone access, and they maintain comparable levels of hi-speed Internet and computer/laptop device access. This study adds to a growing body of research on the narrowing digital divide gap among U.S. immigrants. Immigrants rely on the Internet to transition and integrate into U.S. society.

Purpose: Immigration dominates much of the current US sociopolitical discourse. The research on US-based immigrant information behavior, however, remains scant. To understand the role of information in immigration, this study explores information overload among Black immigrants in the US.Design/methodology/approach: The researcher developed a literature-derived information overload scale to investigate participants' information access along with experiences and response to information overload.Findings: Results suggest that participants experience information overload due to behavioral (e.g. the demands of needing, seeking, or using information), quantitative (i.e. volume or length), and qualitative (e.g. authority, diversity, or urgency) indicators. Most participants mitigate information overload by turning to intermediaries and filtering resources.Research limitations/implications: The information overload scale can advance knowledge of the role of information in immigrant acculturative stress.Social implications: LIS researchers and practitioners can utilize findings to foster social inclusion and well-being among immigrants.Originality/value: Scholarship on immigrant information behavior must reflect the centrality of information in migration and how it shapes integration and acculturation.

The recorded evidence of the killing of unarmed Black people by excessive police force in the last few years has brought attention to the institutional racism in the United States, but the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, at the hands of U.S. police was the tipping point, sparking protests worldwide calling for racial justice in a global display of solidarity.

This study examines the information behavior of Black immigrants in the United States and specifically investigates possible linkages between information overload and acculturative stress. Focus groups were conducted with African, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Latinx immigrants in Florida. When analyzed according to Jaeger and Burnett’s theory of information worlds (Burnett and Jaeger, 2011; Jaeger and Burnett, 2010), the data supports that participants experience information overload as a result of the voluminous and dispersed nature of information in the US; perceptions of belonging and transnationality; and undertaking high-stakes tasks such as immigration procedures, finding employment, and understanding cultural norms. Participants felt that the large, stratified, and complex US information landscape can prompt stress. Since information overload poses a barrier to immigrant social inclusion, it can be interpreted as acculturative stress.