Yesterday the SLO program hosted a webinar about Recruiting for Diversity. Guest speakers, Loida Garcia-Febo, Jerome Offord, Luis Chapparo, and Tracie Hall shared informative statistics, made the case for why libraries need to focus on diversity recruitment, and provided examples of programs that are working.

One the big take-aways for me was a story that guest speaker, Tracie Hall, told about growing up in a tough neighborhood in L.A. During the holidays, the police would drive down her street and toss out candy canes to the kids. They didn’t stop. They didn’t talk to the kids. They just sped through the neighborhood throwing candy out their squad car windows! Tracie pointed out that the police were missing out on a great opportunity to connect positively with kids and other residents and that this form of “drive-by” community outreach didn’t work.

Drive-by recruitment doesn’t work either. Libraries need to approach recruiting for diversity strategically with the long view in mind. Libraries also need to focus their efforts not only on recruitment but on keeping librarians from diverse backgrounds in the profession for the long-term.

For more information, check out the webinar archive and recommended resources. You can also join the discussion board topic we started on Recruiting for Diversity to pick up the conversation where the webinar left off.