Priming the Pipeline: From High School to Professional Employment

Description

Librarianship is a STEM field rife with women. White women. Aging white women, and no inclusive pipeline to diversify the profession. In 2017, the University of Virginia Library launched three outreach initiatives designed to tap into under-represented communities. It is an effort to dig our own pipeline.

The first initiative relies on research showing most librarians stumble into the work. They typically find jobs through college work-study and realize they have found their tribes. We jump-started that process by offering generously paid summer internships for rising high school juniors and seniors, and college freshmen.

The second initiative is in its embryonic stages and targets students in library school. Virginia does not have one, making diversity recruitment even more problematic. We took aim at the only HBCU that offers a master’s degree in library and information science, North Carolina Central University. What we are learning is to: a) create alliances with faculty, b) partner with NCCU alums, c) persist, and d) extend efforts to more minority-serving institutions such as the University of Puerto Rico–Rio Pierse.

The third initiative launches this summer: a three-year program for two resident librarians (RLs) from underrepresented populations. The RLs start on July 1. We have (we hope) designed a self-directed, project-based residency with a capstone component. The RLs will receive competitive salaries, benefits, and professional development funding.

Drop in to hear more about our growing pains, successes, and near misses.

Learning Outcomes:

• Create, plan, and implement—multi-foci inclusion strategy
• Attract, develop, and leverage—relationships between the university and communities and community libraries
• Recruiting and hiring—strategies and best practices