Who’s asking?: Perception, success, and negotiation dynamics in library acquisitions

“Women don’t ask.” The titular phrase of a groundbreaking work from Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever that cemented the popular belief that women are bad negotiators. But are women bad negotiators? Does the gender divide in negotiations intersect with a racial divide? In a field defined by its history of feminization and white women majority, how does this affect librarians? This presentation will draw a line through two decades of literature to examine trends of negotiation outcomes currently underrepresented in library research and share the results of an interview study exploring experiences in academic library acquisition negotiations.