IDEAL19

Individual presentations are approximately 15 minutes each. There will be time at the end for Q&A.

Individual Presentation A:  They Just Aren't a Good Fit: Interrogating and Challenging Recruitment Strategies in Academic Libraries That Perpetuate Whiteness (Sojourna Cunningham, Jennifer Stout, Samantha Guss)
Academic libraries claim to value diversity and inclusion, yet we remain a profession that is 88% white. This presentation will interrogate academic libraries hiring practices and assumptions about looking for a good fit and reveal how these practices replicate whiteness within libraries.This paper will ultimately make recommendations on what libraries should be doing to create more equitable practices in hiring.

Individual Presentation B:  Diverse Libraries Put their Strengths to Work: StrengthsFinder as an Inclusion Tool (Donald I. Crews, MLIS)
Diversity in libraries should assure that a wide variety of positive attributes are represented in the staff. Inclusion should assure those attributes are ingrained in the library to provide the best possible services to the widest variety of users. Strengths is all about positive attributes. It provides a great way to bridge gaps and understand colleagues and patrons as people. This workshop introduces the StrengthsFinder assessment, explaining how it increases engagement and collegiality within a library's staff and how that positively influences service.

Individual Presentation C:  Challenging Assumptions and Increasing the Diversity in our Applicant Pools (Kimberly Burhop Service, Jennifer Garrett, Lisa Ruth, Teresa Tillman)
Discussions around best practices to increase diversity in our candidate pools are plentiful. We attend conferences, read articles, and see similar lists each time. But do those practices actually work? What else are libraries doing to challenge assumptions and unconscious bias to recruit a more diverse and inclusive workforce?