LAMP Round Table Discussion

Well, It was a dark and rainy Seattle morning today and unfortunately Katherine, Erin, and I had low turnout for our round table discussion session. Granted it was Saturday, 8 A.M. , raining, and there were 49 other tables; but I think we all hoped for more.

Its not the end of the world. The battle is not lost. We will live to present again… I think one of the best lessons to take from this is that it is important to not be defeated by minor setbacks…We didn’t reach the audience we wanted to THIS TIME…but giving up shouldn’t be an option. Instead we should work harder to present more…maybe in different forums or with different methods…maybe a discussion of diversity issues is still too uncomfortable for those who don’t feel they have a card in the diverse population discussion card game. I wish I knew the answer…someday it will come.

We did still talk with a participant. We didn’t focus on the questions we had developed. Instead we focused more on spreading the awareness about the program and issues important to us. We told our stories, how we got into the field, why we did, why we are staying, what our aspirations are. Noteworthy conversation if you ask me.

Important to note (especially for those of us interested in recruiting a diverse workforce) is that it seems almost no one considers librarianship as a career option initially. The three of us LAMPers all described what we called the “click” which was really an epiphany of sorts. That we all were destined for careers in something else while we worked in libraries for money. Then we realized … we are good at this library stuff and we genuinely enjoy it…and…maybe…maybe we could do it…like as a career.

This is extremely important. In order to recruit a diverse work force we cannot wait for students to come to our nurturing dens…we need to go out and engage them. We need to say ( as supervisors, mentors, and friends) “You know, you do good work here,” or “you have a unique set of skills…have you considered librarianship?” Regardless of the answer we need to show them what we do…what they can do…what they can make(salary)…the lives they can be a part of…and the rewards that they will endure as a professional in this field. This IS an effective strategy…I haven’t done a literature review… I lived it…no scholarly research needed…I am the primary source.

More on this later as it relates to my other presentation of the day…a poster session about the UW-Madison General Library System’s Information Specialist Internship Program…stay tuned.

-Roy