Stop Talking Start Doing! Attracting People of Color to the Library Profession.

Abstract

Library administrators, human resources personnel, and librarians serious about diversifying their library's professional workforce should read this book. Stop Talking Start Doing! is a practical guide to finding, nurturing, and retaining a diversified workforce for all libraries. The library and information science professions must position themselves for the changing demographics occurring in our society. The populations served by our nation's libraries have enlarged and expanded, and this change must be addressed in staffing needs. In chapter one, “The Browning of America,” Reese and Hawkins use statistics to show that in the year 2000, minorities will make up approximately one-third of the United States population. This number will steadily increase during the twenty-first century. However, minorities—including African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native American—currently make up only 10% of new library school graduates and less than 12% of the total number of librarians working in academic, public, and health sciences libraries. This book demonstrates the importance of having a racially and ethnically diverse workforce in the library profession, and it recommends strategies for recruitment. The authors note, “We must develop a strategic plan of recruitment with objectives and activities that will include marketing the profession in such a manner that it piques the interests of our minority population, beginning with our minority youth population (junior and senior high school students) through undergraduate and graduate level students” (p. 42). One of the marketing techniques discussed in the book is the use of ethnic minority library professionals to promote career opportunities available in the library and information science profession through advertising campaigns, video presentations, and career fairs. Schools of library and information science must realize how critical it is to adopt a comprehensive program to recruit, fund, and train underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in their programs. This book contains information from the 1997 Association for Library and Information Science Education Statistical Report that represents in chart format the need for more participation by ethnic minorities as students and as faculty members. The American Library Association, through its affiliated ethnic caucuses, has made significant contributions concerning issues involving ethnic minority participation in the library and information science profession. Other professional library organizations, including the Medical Library Association, should also be encouraged to undertake an effort to attract ethnic minorities to the profession. Formal mentoring initiatives, such as the one offered to Clark Atlanta University School of Library and Information Studies students through the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Georgia Chapter Mentor Program, provide an excellent means of support for individual minority students. This program offers students opportunities for enhancement, enrichment, and encouragement by forming partnerships with members of the Georgia Chapter of SLA. This reviewer currently participates in this program and finds it both satisfying and rewarding. Reese and Hawkins give examples of electronic mentoring programs already in progress. Stop Talking Start Doing! uses a combination of personal experiences, interviews, commentary, suggested strategies, and statistics to encourage readers to become a part of the solution to the problem of a lack of minorities in the library profession. The book makes for enjoyable reading and will serve as a resource for those individuals interested in creating a diverse workplace. It is recommended for library directors, library school deans, and personnel recruiters to help them understand the crucial role they can play in attracting people of color to the library and information science professions. To further emphasize the importance of diversity awareness for library administrators, the Journal of Library Administration has devoted an entire issue to the theme, “Managing Multiculturalism and Diversity in the Library: Principles and Issues for Administrators,” edited by Mark Winston [1]. The manner in which the profession embarks upon this challenge should be of significant importance to all library professionals across the nation.

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