Recruiting Minorities to Librarianship

http://www.ala-apa.org/newsletter/vol4nospecial/recruitment.html#world

The World Is Changing: Why Aren’t We? Recruiting Minorities to Librarianship (v1n4, April 2004)
By Jenifer Grady and Tracie Hall
Few would argue that there is a need to recruit into the field of librarianship, at all levels. Several sources report the dearth of library workers, such as the 2001 survey conducted by ALA’s Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR).1 Respondents, members of the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) cited difficulty in filling positions in technical services, children’s/youth services, and managers. In the space given for comments, recruitment of diverse candidates was one clear theme. Increasing diversity in the ranks of the profession is of critical concern. Data collected over the last decade indicates that nearly 9 of 10 public, academic, and school librarians are White (ALA Office for Research and Statistics , 1998; National Center for Education Statistics, 1993-94). In 1991, racial and ethnic minorities comprised only 9% or 344 of the 4,032 graduates receiving accredited MLIS degrees. In 2001, they accounted for less than 13% or 504 of the 4,109 MLIS degrees awarded (ALISE Library and Information Science Education Statistical Report) an increase that woefully fails to parallel the combined 152% growth increase experienced by these populations between 1990 and 2000 (U.S. Bureau of the Census). It is clear that more assertive measures are called for within librarianship. Library support staff seems to be much more representative than the librarian ranks.
There is growing evidence of higher than average attrition among ethnic minorities in the librarianship due to limited opportunities for professional mobility and access to positions of leadership (Jones, 2003; Reese and Hawkins, 1999). In March, Tracie Hall, Director of ALA’s Office for Diversity, received startling statistics detailing the dwindling numbers of minority librarians in Kentucky. In 1980, there were 160 African-American librarians in Kentucky. Today there are less than 25. Recruitment without retention is folly, which will be discussed in a future issue of Library Worklife. The Census Bureau reported that the number of librarians overall diminished by more than three percent (3%) from 1990 to 2000, but for African-Americans, the number was nearly twenty-seven percent (26.7%). For Native-Americans, the drop from 904 to 700 represented a loss of almost twenty-three percent (22.6%). Rather than tangibly multiplying the numbers of librarians of color, existing minority recruitment and education programs have simply provided for the replacement of retirees and those leaving the profession prematurely.
Why Is This Important?
Demographers predict that by the year 2050, the United States will become a "nation of minorities" (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Population increases among African-Americans and Native-Americans, and particularly among Asian Pacific-Islanders and Latino/Hispanics are projected to result in a society more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse than ever before.
Why it is important to have profession that has representation from all ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures? Why should library workers be reflective of the communities they serve and the world at large? For some, that is reason enough, that the profession should look like and change like the demographics of the country. Others posit more concrete benefits. ALA is committed to raising awareness about diversity as one of its key action areas. Tracie Hall is one of proponents for increasing the number of diverse candidates in the profession. If libraries are to remain relevant, exceed existing capacities, predict and provide new service areas, they must work to build a workforce reflective of our shifting demographics. This is important for understanding how individual and intermingling forces like values, familial relationships, sociology, politics, economics, education, culture influence minority community participation in library programs. Besides obvious language differences, there may be cognitive and communication styles that are unique to a cultural group and relevant in library contexts.
There is also the concern of ensuring that minority librarians are afforded the same comfort level as their non-minority peers. There are many who wish to have mentorship and collegial relationships with librarians of color that will allow them to discuss issues that are particular to their minority experience in the profession. Teresa Y. Neely, co-editor of In Our Own Voices: the Changing Face of Librarianship, said the book of testimonials was conceptualized because:
We, the new breed of librarians, who happen to be librarians of color.tentatively enter graduate school and even more tentatively enter the profession, fighting our own private demons on the job and off. A number of new librarians are fortunate enough to have important mentors and role models before entering the profession and other receive mentoring while in school, and/or while in the first professional position. Still others have no mentors at all, and that is a tragedy.This volume is our Olive Branch.a tool that can be used to bridge the distances between classmates, professors, and colleagues; to reaffirm that they are not the only ones who are having difficulties and will not be the last.
Neely goes on to say that "library administrators, personnel librarians, department heads, search committees, and anyone with a hand or interest in the decision-making process to recruit.take note [of this book]."
What Is Being Done?
There are recruitment programs created by libraries, library schools, and associations across the country that target audiences at different age and educational levels. These programs offer a broad range of activities and some incorporate several components, such as giving interested candidates an opportunity to work in libraries, for a day or several years, scholarships, or attendance at conferences. For example, Philadelphia Free Library begins its recruitment with teenagers who are trained and paid to help students attending the LEAP after school program. Chicago Multi-type Library System invites Chicago high school students from predominantly minority schools for a Job Shadow Day, through Junior Achievement. It’s goal is to "demystify the profession and dispel stereotypes," according to Veronda J. Pitchford, CMLS Assistant Director. Oberlin College (OH) received an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to establish a Diversity Intern Program to attract undergraduates into the profession. The Louisiana Library Association offers a scholarship for students attending library school at Louisiana State University. The State University of New York at Buffalo library offers a two-year post in the academic library for recent MLS graduates.
The ALA Office for Diversity is one of many forces working to bring racial and ethnic representation in librarianship into alignment with the changing face of the American public. Hall manages the Spectrum Initiative. Launched in 1997 by the American Library Association, the Spectrum Initiative disseminated its first scholarships the following year. Originally intended to last only three years, the Initiative exceeded early targets in recruiting students and raising diversity awareness in library schools and librarianship as a whole. Just two years after it had dispensed its first scholarships, noted library educator and researcher, Kathleen de la Peña McCook would write, "new energy fueled by the Spectrum Initiative.has been infused into the thinking about the kind of profession librarianship needs to become." Two hundred and fifty-four scholars have gained valuable leadership and research skills that many are now putting to use in managerial positions in libraries. In 2004, the ALA Office for Diversity launched the "Grow Your Own" campaign, an effort aimed at targeted recruitment of students and library support professionals on college campuses serving significant populations of ethnic and racial minorities. Inaugural co-chairs of this campaign are Khafre Abif, Columbus Public Library, who will direct the campaign’s recruitment efforts at Historically Black Colleges and Universities; John Ayala, Fullerton College Library, who will oversee the Hispanic Serving Institutions recruitment efforts; Joy Chase, Evergreen Valley College Library, who will focus on recruitment of Asian Pacific Islanders, and Richenda Wilkinson, Oregon State University, Valley Library, who will lead tribal college recruitment efforts.
What Can Be Done?
Gregory L. Reese and Ernestine L. Hawkins are two advocates who told the profession to Stop Talking, Start Doing in their book, published in 1999. They suggest small steps as well as major initiatives that libraries can take. Library professionals and libraries can both embark on a recruitment effort, since this can be an individual as well as an institutional commitment.
Once the commitment is made, the next steps are either who or how to recruit. For a public library, you might recruit minority junior or high school students who frequent the library. Reach out to them, noticing those who show an interest in reading, teaching others, or who have great leadership and organizational skills. Be purposeful and let them know that you see promise in them when you form a club for them, develop a volunteer program, hire them as pages/shelvers, or invite them to local library conferences. In an academic library, your efforts might be targeted towards undergraduates who work in the library, exposing them to how interesting and challenging the field can be and how their majors and minors will benefit them in librarianship, and show them resources for finding library schools and funding. In any library, the conventional wisdom is to look within and "grow your own." There may be minority support staff that would appreciate and take advantage of being encouraged to attain a master’s degree in library science.
Your marketing efforts might grow in stages, from one-on-one discussions and mentoring to a full public relations campaign. When marketing to minorities, Reese and Hawkins caution libraries against believing 5 myths:
Minorities are the same as Caucasians
Minorities are homogenous
Libraries and library professionals can effectively utilize mass media to reach all minority populations
Language isn’t important
Minorities are only interested in certain careers and services.
It is critical to research the cultures of the people you wish to recruit. It is as important as research the cultures of the people you wish to serve in your communities. The detrimental effects of stereotyping should be obvious to librarians, since they play a role in the reason we must work so hard recruit. Addressing and correcting personally-held negative stereotypes will make your efforts more genuine and make your message more likely to be heard.
As Judith Siess says in her article about becoming more visible, get out of the library and go to elementary, junior high and high schools where there are students of color. Make appointments through guidance counselors and teachers to speak to individual classes. Become a mentor. Make presentations across your campus. Volunteer to attend, or even host, job fairs and other career-related events in the community where minorities will be present. If you work at a library school, sponsor a talk with the larger body of support staff on campus.
One of the most important things to remember when working on a recruitment campaign, for anyone, is to BE EXCITED ABOUT THE PROFESSION! Your attitude, as well as your words, must convey your enthusiasm and heartfelt desire to bring more people of color into your field of choice.
Reference
www.ala.org/ala.hrdr/libraryempresources/alarecruitment.htm.
Recruitment Tools
ALA Office for Diversity—Planning for Diversity.
ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment—Careers in Libraries.
Association for College and Research Libraries Recruitment Page.
Become a Librarian (Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative).
Ethnic Librarians Library Associations.
Neely, Teresa Y., and Khafre K. Abif, eds. In Our Own Voices: the Changing Face of Librarianship Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Pr., 1996.
Reese, Gregory L., and Ernestine L. Hawkins. Stop Talking, Start Doing: Attracting People of Color to the Profession. Chicago: ALA, 1999.
Tracie Hall is the Director of the ALA Office for Diversity. Jenifer Grady is the Director of the ALA-APA.