Master's students Caitlin Herrera and Isabel Ryan have been selected to participate in the 2024-2026 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Kaleidoscope Diversity Scholars Program. With the goal of attracting MSLIS students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to careers in research libraries and archives, the Kaleidoscope Program offers financial support to scholars as well as leadership development through the ARL Annual Leadership Symposium, a formal mentoring program, career placement assistance, and a site visit to an ARL member library.
Herrera was born and raised in Aurora, Illinois, but is of Mexican heritage. She earned a BA in anthropology and Latin American and Latino studies with a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois Chicago. As an undergraduate, she interned at the National Museum of Mexican Art, where she realized that “cooperation with communities is essential to creating a space for marginalized populations to tell and preserve their own histories.” Meeting and talking with a BIPOC librarian from the Newberry Library in Chicago inspired her to pursue a career as an archivist. Herrera decided on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for graduate school because of its excellent MSLIS program and indigenous studies minor. After earning her master's degree, she would like to work in the areas of repatriation and indigenous archival material. After working in the U.S. for a few years, she would love to settle down in Mexico to be close to family and work at the National Archive of Mexico.
Originally from Bristow, Virginia, and of Vietnamese heritage, Ryan earned her BS in neuroscience with minors in poverty and human capability studies and creative writing from Washington and Lee University. After graduation, she worked in nonprofit science research and health advocacy organizations. This experience, combined with her previous internship as a nurse assistant, helped her realize that she “wanted to work with people in taking care of themselves throughout their lives, not only in the healthcare provider's office.” Ryan decided to pursue her MSLIS to contribute to the creation and organization of meaningful public resources for health. She was drawn to the iSchool because of the prestige of its MSLIS program and interdisciplinary research. After she earns her master's degree, she would like to work as a medical librarian or health sciences librarian for a values-driven research organization, designing accessible curricula and resources to improve learning or health outcomes for diverse audiences.