Despite the growing focus on diversity and recruitment by library
schools and institutions like ALA, SAA, ACRL among others, the
demographics have only narrowly shifted. The focus of many of these
programs tends to be on current LIS students or those with expressed
interest in the profession. But how can institutions build and foster
diversity programs that aim to support prospective undergraduate and
graduate students and library staff and student workers?

From
the perspective of two budding LIS diversity programs at CSU, Los
Angeles and CSU, Dominguez Hills designed to expose student workers to
the profession, we argue that at the heart of starting and sustaining
these type of programs, institutions must identify and leverage their
individual strengths. The student bodies of CSU, Los Angeles and CSU,
Dominguez Hills are overwhelmingly comprised of students of color, many
first generation and working class. Many of the library student
assistants come from diverse backgrounds and have the potential to be
successful in library school graduate programs. Igniting student
interest and preparing them to be competitive in the field requires a
strong commitment from institutions in the form of time, resources, and
collaborative partnerships.

In this round table session, the
discussion will revolve around how to start and sustain a diversity
program by identifying institutional strengths, recruitment,
intentionality, mentorship, and building meaningful
collaborations/partnerships.