Clara M. Chu

EDUCATION: Ph.D., University of Western Ontario, Library and Information Science, 1992; M.L.S., University of Western Ontario, Library and Information Science, 1985; B.A., University of British Columbia, Spanish Language and Literature (Psychology, French), 1982. Plus: Monterey Institute of International Studies (California), Translation and Interpretation (English/Spanish/French), 1982-83, one year in M.A. program; National Autonomous University of Mexico, Spanish Language and Literature Program, Summer 1981. AREAS OF SPECIAL COMPETENCE IN LIS EDUCATION: Social Construction of Information and Information Institutions, Multicultural Library and Information Services and Education, Information Seeking Behavior, Research Methodology, International and Comparative Information Services. Other Areas of Competence: Planning of User Services, Crosscultural Communication, and Organization of Information. LANGUAGES: English, Spanish, French, and Cantonese (spoken). RESEARCH IN PROGRESS on Information Barriers of/Access by Culturally Diverse and Underserved Populations: --Libraries, Information and Social Change; --ICT, access and underserved communities: digital divide, Web-based communities; --Immigrant Children as Cultural, Linguistic, and Informational Mediators; --The Role of Librarians and Educators as Facilitators; --Information Infrastructure for the Preservation of Chinese Culture in Latin America. RESEARCH IN PROGRESS on Barriers/Access to Systems and Multicultural Information: --Know, Care, and Act: A Paradigm for Information Services in an Evolving Multicultural Society; --A Holistic Framework for Multicultural Library and Information Science Education; --Triangulation in LIS Research: From Exploratory Studies to Grounded Research; --Cultural Bias and Sexism in Research: Implications for Library and Information Science; --Information Sources on the Chinese in Latin America [Research/bibliographic guide].

There are 24 included publications by Clara M. Chu :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Asians in Latin America: A Selected Bibliography, 1990-2002. 2002 6766 During the last decade, interest and research on Asians in Latin America has shown a remarkable growth. This is demonstrated by the breadth of works now available—books, journal articles, journals, conference proceedings, dissertations, master's thes...
Ask Dr. Chu: An Interview with a Peruvian-born Chinese Canadian Living in the U.S. 2007 1842 Clara Chu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests include multicultural library and information services, information seeking behavior and critical inform...
The Case of Tweddie-Dee and Tweddle-Dum: Authority Control in a Retrospective Database 1987 1331 Authority control is increasingly becoming an accepted element in the design of online catalogues and databases. Much of the literature on this topic focuses on online catalogues and considerably less attention is given to databases of retrospective ...
Commitment to Multicultural Library and Information Science Education: Part 1 - Current Status 1995 1779 In her review of curriculum and teaching styles, Grotzinger (1986) noted that "curricula of library schools have always responded to the needs of society, whether it was in service to special groups, to its own constituency through continuing educati...
Commitment to Multicultural Library and Information Science Education: Part 2 - A Model for Success 1995 1762 Welburn's (1994) persuasive case for including cultural diversity in the educational preparation of library and information science (LIS) professionals is based on the rationale that the foremost function of LIS educators is their involvement "in pro...
Do ICT Create Academic Departmental Identity and Community?: Navel Gazing 2005 1518 Most universities have access to information communication technologies (ICT) that enable the professoriate to interact beyond hallway discussions and faculty meetings. Professors have access to ICT for conducting their duties: research, instruction ...
EPILOGUE: Meditations on the future of Latina/o archival and memory practice, research and education. 2009 1774 Since the Memoria, Voz, y Patrimonio (MVP) Conference (2003), the archival literature continues to grapple with issues pertinent to Latina/o archives. Extending the work of the MVP Conference, drawing on the archival and cultural studies literature, ...
Four I’s of Internships for the New Information Society: Intentional, Interconnected, Interdisciplinary and International 2011 2781 Internships in library and information studies (LIS) for the New Information Society are re-examined taking into consideration four concepts: (i) international and (ii) interdisciplinary that allow them to expand beyond the local and disciplinary, an...
Harnessing ICT to Develop Community and Identity: A Model for Academic Departments. 2006 2649 Universities have been early adopters of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). However, does availability imply use? How is ICT being used by academic departments? This article addresses these questions, and discusses the use of ICT to su...
Hear, and Speak No Evil: A Content Approach to Evaluating Multicultural Multimedia Materials. 2000 3699 In this article, I offer evaluation criteria for librarians, teachers, parents, and others who are responsible for selecting and providing multicultural multimedia materials (text, sound, and graphics). These criteria can be used to evaluate multicul...
IFLA Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations Adopts Ten Reasons to Offer Multicultural Library Services. 2005 1408 As library and information professionals we are often asked what are "multicultural library services" (MLS) and why should such services be provided. The IFLA Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations has been grappling with these ques...
Immigrant Children Mediators (ICM): Bridging the Literacy Gap in Immigrant Communities 1999 5743 Studies and observations of immigrants with limited dominant language literacy reveal their use of various literacy strategies to communicate with and function in the dominant society. One of these is the interpreter strategy whereby immigrants rely ...
Latino/a Archival Resources. 2009 3101 This Latino/a Archival Resources guide is divided into eight sections which include: (1) Latino or Ethnic Archives, (2) Latino and Ethnic Sound Archives, (3) Latino Film and Video Resources, (4) Filmmaking Resources, (5) Latino Museums and Art Galler...
Literacy Practices of Linguistic Minorities: Sociolinguistic issues and Implications for Literacy Services 1999 4503 Literacy, as it applies to linguistic minorities, is examined as a discourse of power in this theoretical article. Literacy needs to be redefined in order for librarians to be able to provide people whose languages are not the domi- nant or official ...
Literary Critics at Work and their Information Needs: A Research-Phases Model. 1999 5624 This article focuses on the information needs of literary critics when producing literary criticism. A fundamental aspect of this research, the six-stage model of producing literary criticism, was developed from interviews with literary critics. Usin...
Memoria, voz, y patrimonio: Considering Latina/o Film, Print and Sound Archives. 2009 2257 An introduction to the section of this InterActions special issue on archives and record- keeping that focuses on Memoria, voz y patrimonio: The First Conference on Latino/Hispanic Film, Print and Sound Archives and Sixth Institute of the Trejo Foste...
Multicultural Information Services: Collective Action. 2000 1014 Shared leadership and effective partnering were proposed by Sandra Balderrama, ALA Diversity Offices in the last issue of the EMIE Bulletin as a strategy to advance the work of diversity and libraries. In our continuing expl?ration on "Uniting Multic...
Raison d’être for Multicultural Library Services. 2004 1419 There is no denying that almost every nation around the globe has a multicultural population. The evidence is clear when one examines the sociodemographic data of each country) and sees the diversity in language, ethnicity, religion, among other vari...
(Re)considering Literacy and Linguistic Diversity in a Multicultural Society. 2007 1673 Literacy has traditionally been conceptualized as functional literacy, which is generally defined as the ability to read and write in the majority language. However, this concept has been challenged (Chu 1998, 1999) within our contemporary societies,...
The Road Ahead: Organizational Vitality and Digital Access. 2000 1200 This past year as EMIERT Chair I have advocated libraries as a gathering place or conduit for the diversity of voices found in multicultural communities. Librarians play a valuable role in education and community relations by recognizing, respecting,...
Subject Analysis: The Critical First Stage in Indexing. 1993 8966 Studies of indexing neglect the first stage of the process, that is, subject analysis. In this study, novice indexers were asked to analyse three short, popular journal articles; to express the general subject as well as the primary and secondary top...
A Survey of the Growth of Canadian Research in Information Science. 1991 1957 The development of information science in the United States has been discussed in a number of papers. ln comparison to the United States very little is known about the development of information science in Canada. This paper presents a survey of the ...
Uniting Multicultural Voices in Libraries 1999 1404 ? multicultural society is constituted not just by culturally diverse groups but it consists of the individuals who make up each distinct group. In such a rich and dynamic society, a diversity of voices is found. For example, the unified voice of a g...
What is in a Name Change? EMIERT is Still EMIERT 1998 744 We have kept our acronym but have made a name change.