In the 20-year reboot of Neely and Abifs 1996In Our Own Voices,fifteen of the original contributors revisit their stories alongside the fifteen new voices that have been added. This Collective represents a wide range of life and library experiences, gender fluidities, sexualities, races, and other visible, and invisible identities.

In addition to reflections on lives and experiences since the 1996 volume, chapters cover the representation of librarians of color in the profession at large, and more specifically, those among them who are still the only one; the specter of us serving themstill; and migrations from libraries to other information providing professions. These authors reflect on their careers and lives in libraries and other school and workplace settings, as activists, administrators, archivists, library students and information professionals. They share stories of personal and professional abuse, attempts to find and secure gainful employment, navigating the profession, and how they overcame decades of normalized discrimination to complete their educational and career pursuits. They write about the need for support systems, work-life balance, self-care, communities of support, and the importance of mentoring and being mentored. And above all, they persist, and continue to disrupt systems.

These essays are from contributors from a variety of libraries and library related environments, and provide answers to questions professionals new to LIS havent even asked yet. The inclusion of a new group of librarian his-, her-, and their-stories provides a voice for those currently finding their way through this profession. These essays bring honesty, vulnerability, authenticity, and impactfulness to the diversity conversation in libraries and beyond. And more importantly, these voices, from a variety of races, ethnicities, genders and sexualities, matter.

Dr. Teresa Y. Neelyis professor of librarianship, and assessment librarian in the College of the University Libraries& Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. Dr. Neely has worked in academic research libraries for more than 20 years, and is the author or co-author/editor of six books and conference proceedings and has authored/coauthored numerous scholarly peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, conference papers, and a white paper for ACRL. Her research interests include African American and Native American rap and hip-hop lyrics as activist narrative; women and the economic enterprise in the19th century southwest, text and sentiment analysis in social media data.

Jorge R. López-McKnightwas most recently the First-Year Experience Librarian at the College of the University Libraries& Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. In that role, he participated in numerous teaching and learning activities with freshman and transfer students to support their growth and educational processes. His research interests include critical race theory and library& information science, educators of color identities and teaching practices, and university/college libraries-high school relationships.

Foreword by Camila A. Alire
Part I: Back in the Day
Introduction: The Struggle Renewed by Teresa Y. Neely and Jorge R. López-McKnight
Chapter 1: Still Ambiguous After All These Years: Reflections on Diversity in Academic Libraries by Deborah Hollis
Part II: They Have Magic
Chapter 2: Malore the Explorer: Becoming Global with a Library Touch by Malore I. Brown
Chapter 3: The Less Than 1%: Native Librarians in Conversation by Sarah Kostelecky and Lori Townsend
Chapter 4: Moving on an Upward: Keeping the Doors of Possibilities Open by Dexter R. Evans
Chapter 5: Boundaries of the Body: Finding My(whole)self by Jennifer Brown
Chapter 6: Do it For the Culture: My Life as an Archivist by Rachel E. Winston
Part III: Strength
Chapter 7: You are Not Alone by Joanna Chen Cham
Chapter 8: How I Got Over by Evangela Q. Oates
Chapter 9: The Jackie Robinson of Library Science: 20 Years Later by Teresa Y. Neely
Chapter 10: The Shoe is Too Small, and Not Made for You!: Racial Covering and the Illusion of Fit by Silvia Lin Hanick
Part IV: Leading by Reflection
Chapter 11: While I Have the Floor. by Mark D. Winston
Chapter 12: What Have I Learned From the Past, Present, and Future? by Jose A. Aguiñaga
Part V: Family
Chapter 13: Like Our Lives Depended on It: Reflections on Embodied Librarianship, Counter-Chapter 14: Spaces, and Throwing Down by Nicholae Cline, Jorge López-McKnight, and Madelyn Shackelford Washington
Part VI: Disrupting the System
Chapter 15: Uno de Solamente Cuatro: Overcoming Barriers to Minority Recruitment in Appalachia by Monica Garcia Brooks
Chapter 16: How Does It Feel to be a Problem? The School-to-Prison Pipeline by Sheree D. White
Chapter 17: ...I Shall Become a Collector of Me. And Put Meat on My Soul by Kimberly Black
Part VII: They Persisted
Chapter 18: Serving the Sons and Daughters of Mechanics and Farmers in the Crossroads of America by Madelyn Shackelford Washington
Chapter 19: Grief in Five Stages: Post Librarian Degree by Leni Matthews
Chapter 20: Confessions of a Retired Librarian by Lisa Burwell
Chapter 21: Being a Super Token at the American Heritage CenterUniversity of Wyoming by Irlanda E. Jacinto
Part VIII: Warrior Women
Chapter 22: Shi Shei Iiná Naaltsoos Bá Hooghan: "My Library Life" by Monica Etsitty Dorame
Chapter 23: The Skirt Revolution: Speaking Out as a Mexicana Librarian by Jimena Bretón
Chapter 24: Reflections of a Long Journey by Mee-Len Hom
Chapter 25: What Do I Have to Be? by Tanya Elder
Part IX: Bringing Us Home
Chapter 26: My America by Ngoc-My Guidarelli
Chapter 27: Im Still Here: An Addendum to A Personal Perspective of Academic Librarianship by Lisa Pillow
Chapter 28: How Never to be a Librarian by Zora J. Sampson
Chapter 29: Letter to a New Librarian of Color by Sofia Leung
Epilogue
Chapter 29: Letter to a New Librarian of Color by Sofia Leung