Achieving Diversity: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians

Library Journal

Editors Dewey (dean, Univ. of Tennessee Libs., Knoxville; Leadership, Higher Education and the Information Age) and Parham (director and CEO, Robert W. Woodruff Lib., Atlanta Univ. Ctr.) have collected articles from over 30 librarians presented at the National Diversity in Libraries Conference, organized into three sections: How To Create a Successful Diversity Plan; How To Recruit and Retain a Diverse Work Force; and How To Improve Diversity Through Services, Collections, and Collaborations. A fourth part consists of sample documents, including recruitment brochures, strategic plans, and questionnaires. While a reference is made to a study on diversity done by Fairfax County PL, VA, the emphasis is on academic libraries, with all the authors involved in or associated with higher education. Even the two chapters that discuss special collections are framed with higher education as a backdrop. Thus, the principal audience are those connected to postsecondary institutions; it may be of lesser interest to large public libraries/library systems or those who like to engage in extrapolation.-B. Susan Brown, formerly with Pamunkey Regional Lib., Hanover, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.