Ebony McDonald has joined the LSU Libraries faculty as African and African American Studies Librarian, as part of LSU Libraries' participation in the ACRL Diversity Alliance program.

McDonald holds a B.A. in international studies and history from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an M.S. in library science with a Diversity Advocate Certificate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previous to joining the LSU faculty, she worked as a librarian at Salem Academy & College and Mitchell Community College and as a Refugee AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator. She is moderately fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, French, and Spanish.

"My previous positions were at much smaller nonprofit institutions than LSU," McDonald says, "While that difference in some ways can be intimidating to someone like me who is still so new to the profession, I see LSU as a new window of professional opportunity and the Residency Program as the key to unlocking it."

Besides working closely with the African and African American Studies program at LSU, McDonald will work in a variety of areas in the Libraries, beginning with Special Collections.

"I will be gaining a novel mosaic of new experiences with the intention of using them and those that I came with to assist LSU Libraries in its attempt to more closely reflect the diverse needs and interests of the academic community that it serves," McDonald says, "This goal is where I see that the 'diversity' part of my job title will be reflected."

The ACRL Diversity Alliance residency program aims toward hiring librarians who come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to increase diversity in academic libraries. LSU Libraries' goal in participating in the program is to increase diversity to give faculty, staff and students an inclusive environment to make them feel welcomed and important.

Per ACRL Diversity Alliance requirements, libraries who wish to participate must provide a residency program for at least one individual that lasts a minimum of two years.