Diversity in Law Librarianship - Broadening The Pipeline

Law librarian David Whelan explores the issue of The Law Librarian Pipeline in a recent post on LexBlog:

"Diversity is a challenge for lots of reasons. Smarter people than me have already looked at, discussed, and identified tools or methods to improve the diversity of law library staff. It’s an obvious and positive goal for organizations but it’s not an easy one to solve. There are some things, though, that as a hiring manager, seem like opportunities to change."

In the post, Whelan looks at different ways to find candidates that would broaden the diversity of the candidate pool.

He identifies three strategies that could prove useful for managers who are looking for practical solutions:

"It may be some time before I’m in a position to hire again but when it comes around, I’ll be more successful at reaching a diverse candidate pool if I can:

• eliminate or make optional the degree credentials (MLS, JD, and library technician) to allow experienced candidates to apply
• identify candidate pools (through professional associations or informal references) that would not normally apply, to encourage them to do so
• communicate to our organization that every new hire requires training and acclimation to fit into the team and environment, and a more flexible approach may require, short term, a longer learning curve, but the pay off is a permanently more diverse team"