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Achieving racial and ethnic diversity among academic and research librarians: The recruitment, retention, and advancement of librarians of color—A white paper

At the 2006 ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, the ACRL Board of Directors outlined the focus of a white paper using the 2002 ACRL white paper Recruitment, Reten­ tion and Restructuring: Human Resources in Academic Libraries as a guide. The proposed white paper would focus primarily on “workforce diversity, with an emphasis on the recruitment, retention, and advancement of groups traditionally underrepresented in the academic library workforce.” The Board also specified the white paper should: • discuss efforts to promote, develop, and foster workforces that are representative of a diverse population, and • address the development of a climate in the workplace that supports and encourages advancement. The growing labor gap in librarianship, a result of an “increasing demand for library and information science professionals, and a declining supply of qualifi ed individuals,” provided the framework for the 2002 white paper. It also included a review of the environment at that time and strategies for the “recruitment, retention, and the potential for [the] restructuring of library education and the library workforce.” The 2002 white paper did not address diversity specifically, but dealt with the broader recruitment, retention, and restructuring issues. Racial controversy in the United States provides a backdrop for the issue of recruitment by race and ethnicity within the profession of librarianship. Additionally, the research literature reveals a historical shortage of librarians. The current environment for the recruitment, retention, and advancement of people of color in academic librarianship remains virtually unchanged since the appearance of the 2002 white paper. The published professional and research literature provides some insight into the barriers to recruitment and reasons why librarianship is a chosen career path. For decades, advocates for increased racial and ethnic representation in the profession of librarianship have relied primarily on U.S. Census data and subsequent statistical data as justification for the goal to increase ethnic diversity in the library workforce. A more realistic agenda for recruitment and retention is needed by the profession at large, and ACRL in particular. Accompanied by specific goals with justification, preferably empirically based and/or logically determined, a revised agenda should address not only the library profession, but also the communities being served. This is not to say that demographics are not key, however, the agenda should be grounded in strategic goals. In 1996, Camila A. Alire wrote: “[All of this is further translated into] a need for more minority library professionals who can identify with people in the minority communities; who can assist in the necessary outreach efforts to serve those minority residents; and who can serve as role models for minority children using the library.”2 John W. Berry’s 2002 ALA