"Making the Starting Line-Up:

Best Practices for Placing Diversity

at the Center of Your Library"
Tracie D. Hall, Director: American Library Association Office for Diversity
50 East Huron Street, Chicago IL 60611
(800)545-2433 ext. 5020, thall@ala.org, www.ala.org/diversity

ƒ Get in the Game

So you want in? You’re tired of lukewarm response to or support for
your diversity/affirmative action initiatives. You’re tired of suiting up only
to languish on the sidelines waiting to be called in. Or if you’re called in at
all you notice that it’s only during the last minutes of the game when a
win or loss is already inevitable. You know that you are good or important
enough to make the team, but you know that you can bring
something to the game, some skill or viewpoint that can bring real
value to your organization. You feel that rumble in your stomach; you’re
hungry for some real playing time.

That’s right, pull off those warm-ups and get off the bench you’re ready
to become a STARTER!

But even the most naturally gifted player must invest in some pre-game
preparation. Before you are deemed worthy of the starting line-up, you
must study your team. Re-run the video. What are your overall
organizational strengths and weaknesses? Now think specifically about
Diversity/AA what (or who) are your credits and your deficits? When your
organization is down and in foul trouble, are you one of the players the
team goes to for leadership or are you consigned to the bench. Think
about how you answered the question. What skills and drills do you
need to master to stay in the game? To be effective, top players
must be willing to expand their playing ability. If they tend to favor their
left side when shooting or passing, they’ll have to learn to be just as
effective using their right side. If they love the running game, but freeze
at the free throw line they’ll find themselves ineffectual to the team
whenever they’re fouled. Often a good coach will work with a promising
player in identifying and overcoming holes in their game. What is your
relationship to your coach (the individual to whom you report)?
Optimizing your impact can often hinge on developing this crucial
relationship. Some players find themselves benched while others with
similar or lesser skills enjoy playing time. Sometimes this is simply
because the benched players don’t realize the importance of asking.
Express Intent. Demonstrate to the coach and to the rest of the
team that you are ready to play and that you mean business.

Do understand that once you get in the game, the perks will be
consistent with the sacrifices, i.e. greater visibility/greater responsibility,
higher profile/higher scrutiny, this is the duality that comes with all
 positive action. Great players are able to convert both positive and
negative energy into the fuel necessary to optimize their play and realize
a higher good for themselves and for their teams.
Now that you have mapped your assets and listed your gaps, its time to
maximize your skills.

ƒ Be a Stand-out player
David Garvin’s instructions on building organizations also apply to
those skills necessary to those seeking team leadership positions.
Standout players must:
-Engage in systematic problem solving
-Experiment with and adapt new approaches
-Be able to evaluate and learn from past experiences
-Transfer knowledge throughout the organization
These qualities are why Kareem Abdul Jabar was able to have such an
enormous impact on the Lakers championship teams when he was
arguably well past his prime.

ƒ Play by the rules

“Five Laws of Diversity/Affirmative Action”
(Adapted from S.R. Ranganathan’s “Five Law’s of Librarianship)

First Law: “Diversity/AA is for practice.” (Ensure that information,

recommendations, programs, and services offered are practiced and
practice-able)

Second Law: “Every unit of the organization has its own Diversity/AA
information or training needs” (Strive to get pertinent information into the
hands of the unit that needs it, whether they know it or not.)

Amtrak and Rental car companies began doing direct marketing to African
American community when they realized that the tapping into the trend
towards large and fairly elaborate family reunions could prove profitable.
Realizing that the average Asian household earned $55,000 a year, more
income than any other racial or ethnic group white, black, or Hispanic and
that 40% of the national Asian population lives in California, Farmer’s
insurance has been aggressively recruiting Asian agents in the quest to
gain a corner of that market. This is the kind of proactive information that
Div/AA Office can provide or act upon.

Third Law:“Every aspect of diversity is relevant to the organization or

one of its units. (Expand the comfort zone of the diversity/AA office and
provide information, training, programs and services that reflect the
broader range of issues.)

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 Fourth Law: “Save the time of the organization” (Aggregate, organize,
and update information, statistics, and fast facts so they are available for
ready reference or quick dissemination.)

Fifth Law: “Diversity/AA initiatives are a growing organism” (Emphasize

evolution and growth)

ƒ Own Your Position: Create the Specialist Effect

-The Specialist vs. Practitioner: “Everybody knows that a specialist
knows more about his or her specialty than a general practitioner does.
Whether it’s true or not doesn’t really matter. The perception is reality.”—
Harry Beckwith. Specialize, specialize, specialize.
-Have a focus/Become a Maven: In the Tipping Point, author Malcolm
Gladwell points to three types of people who have the ability to exert a great
amount of influence: connectors, mavens and salesmen. Connectors
bring people together, salespeople have the charismatic ability to
influence people’s behavior to their own advantage, and mavens
acquires knowledge and use it educate and help others. While those
who work in Diversity/AA best serve themselves and their mission
by being well rounded, it is most important that they become
Maven’s. The word Maven comes from the Yiddish and it means
someone who accumulates knowledge.
Gladwell’s says of a friend Ariel: “I have this friend, Ariel who knows
everything about restaurants and I ask Ariel. When I want to know what the
cool restaurant is in Manhattan -- she knows! And all of her friends ask her
where the cool restaurants are. And if you go to the cool restaurants in
Manhattan, you will see lots of friends of Ariel’s. She’s just this person has
this incredible influence over how people make up their minds about
restaurants. That kind of person, if you think about it, can have an
extraordinarily important role in figuring out what kinds of songs or, fashion
trends take off because they’ve got the ear of so many of their friends.”
-Identify the most frequently asked questions and the most difficult
questions to answer and respond with a ready reference service, or be more
proactive and send out updates.
-Identify your strongest service and publicize it. If you are
mavenish about acquiring and disseminating statistics make that known. If
you have the inside scoop on diversity recruitment share that information. If
you have a veritable library of diversity and affirmative action news and
research, let the whole organization know that if it was published you
probably have it.
-Play like a point guard and “coach” the organization from your
position.

ƒ Project, Protect, and Respect Your Brand: The

Aura of Number “23”
- Brand and market your services: Consistently use a stock or original logo,
or phrase on all Office, Committee, Taskforce information.

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 - Create low-cost/high-impact brochures; newsletters; and press releases.
- Install small bulletin boards near elevators, water coolers or in bathrooms
to keep colleagues up to date with organizational initiatives.
- Regardless of the focus of your organization, establish a website presence
that speaks to both your internal and external customers. You’ll be
surprised at who’s looking. The following are a few examples:
ƒ Los Alamos National Laboratory
http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/dvo/Contacts/Danny.html
ƒ ALA Office for Diversity:
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=diversity
ƒ University of Central Florida Office of Diversity Initiatives:
http://www.diversity.ucf.edu/home.htm
ƒ Georgia State University, Opportunity Development and Diversity
Education Planning Office
http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwafa/diversity/practices.html

- Order and disseminate promotional items that feature your organization’s

name and a catchy Diversity/AA phrase.
- Establish a reputation for walking the talk.
- Be sure to press and to pass. Be assertive, but beware of being a selfish
player. Avoid being tuned out, don’t fall into the “it’s only important when
it’s my issue” syndrome.
- Know your fan-base (keep your base of supporters loyal and growing);
know your competitor (who outside your organization is setting the
benchmark for service in diversity and affirmative action? If your
department were cut, to whom would your work be out-sourced?) and
your internal rival (who inside your organization expresses or
demonstrates a lack of support for Diversity/AA in general, or for the
allocation of financial or personnel resources to Diversity/AA?).
- Play above the rim. Respect your brand by staying above catfights, crab-
bucket’s, and doghouses. Leave personalities aside and play like a
winner.
- Make others want to wear your number.

ƒ Practice the Right P’s of Marketing (Right Place,

Right Promotion, Right People, Right Point in
time, Right Price)
Right Place: Make Diversity/AA visible and palpable in the workplace.
Decorate your physical space, and make it inclusive. Invite staff to
showcase their own diversity affinities through narrated photographs.
Make sure that whenever possible trainers are brought to your facility
rather than sending employees outside and have trainers train around
real practices and policies.

Right Promotion: Don’t just focus on telling your internal/external

customers what you do. Tell them what you could do. Remember every
act is a marketing act. –Harry Beckwith. If you promote in the right way

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you’ll answer questions about your programs people didn’t even know
they had and leave others filling like stakeholders. For example a recent
Chicago housing initiative designed to connect artists with low-income
neighborhoods in need of homeowners, left artists feeling “compelled” to
come to a Saturday expo. Artists showed up, whether they were
interested in buying homes or not, because this was an event that
“validated” their identities.

Right People: Identify your external as well as internal customers and

peers. Prophets are usually least respected in their native land. Gain a
national or regional profile as a leading expert enhances internal
credibility. At the same time, when you expand your external peer and
customer network you also expand your leverage and access to
information which can in turn, expand the level of value and service you
are able to provide your internal customers.

The Diversity/Affirmative Action Initiative’s Customers:

Internal External
Administration Regulating Agencies/Policymakers
Management Funders/Grantors
Departments, Units or Divisions Diversity/AA Affinity Groups and Peers
Employees Vendors
Non-Users General Public
XXXXXX XXXXXX
XXXXXX XXXXXX

Also it is important to know the kind of person/customer you are dealing

with: The season-pass holder; the bandwagon or fair-weather fan; the
hometown spectator; the radio station ticket winner; and the heckler.

Right Point in Time: Be proactive. Make people aware of what you do

before they need your services.

Right Price: The impact must have a value exponential to the

investment. One T-shirt with the logo Nike has the potential to
impact everyone who sees it. A 10 cents per unit pencil or pen
with the logo “DENCO: Diversity Makes us all Better” may pass
through a half dozen hands at an organization. A lunch where
paper goods and beverages are provided to support a “Round the
World in 60 minutes” potluck where all employees bring foods
from their ethnic racial heritage is nominal but at the end of the
hour the Diversity/AA program will have connected with many
more people than it may have otherwise.

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 ƒ Switch Up Your Game: Be Versatile (Provide
Multiple access points)
To reach its customer base, proactive companies embark on multi-tiered plans
that may include several of the following tactics:
-Surveys
-Direct Mail Campaigns
-Focus Groups
-Personal Interviews
-Data Analysis & Needs Assessment
-Formal and Informal Program Evaluation

An internal/eternal customer may not be interested in diversity trainings but may

be interested in or a prime stakeholder in other types of information
“containers”.

These Containers may include:

-The Diversity Action Plan and Diversity Council
-Coloring Outside the Box/Trailblazers Award
-CLEO Library (Continued Learning Opportunity Library)

Create, evaluate and change your mission as often as needed. Ensure that your
mission is progressive, fluid, dynamic and that it anticipates rather than follows
organizational direction.

ƒ Master the Triple Threat Position

1.Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2.Stagger your feet slightly, so your left foot fits into the arch of your right foot if
you're right-handed.
3. Bend your knees and crouch slightly.
4. Grasp the ball with your left hand on the side of the ball and your right hand on
top. Bend both elbows so they're approximately at right angles
5. Survey the court at all times.
6. Decide what the most appropriate maneuver is for your current
situation - shooting, passing or dribbling.

Organizations like all organisms experience cycles or seasons. There is a time for all
things. A time for growth and a time for cutting back; a time for action and a time for
planning. If your Diversity/AA program is going to play and stay in the starting line-up, it
is important to be sensitive to the ebbs and flows of the organization. Ultimately
deciding when to shoot (embark on a major initiative or seek additional organizational
resources); when to pass (invest in supporting the effort of another team member that
might further Diversity/AA or the organization’s other work); and when to dribble (to
invest in the pre-planning and capacity building work necessary to ensure making the
basket).

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Scenario Planning: (A Small Group Exercise):

You have been named Chair of the Diversity Committee for Framingham College
Libraries. FC is located in Framingham, IL more than a three-hour drive from a major
metropolis. Neither the student body nor the staff makeup at FC is very “diverse”. In
fact, although the community demographics for Framingham show that pockets of racial
and ethnic minorities are increasingly moving into less expensive neighborhoods in the
town because of better public schools and work opportunities, statistics for racial and
ethnic minorities on campus have stayed the same for the last four years. Your
committee’s budget for the year is $800. Your committee consists of yourself and five
other librarians from various library departments.

Although the Dean of Libraries at FC is somewhat supportive of Diversity, she tends to

give more attention and support to the big players, and for a long time your committee
has been low profile and marginal. At a staff meeting, when someone mentioned the
Diversity Committee, a long time colleague lamented to you, “All that stuff is in the
past….we treat everyone the same in our Library. No offense, but this is a waste of our
time and resources.”

Given this scenario, how do you get Diversity into the starting line-up at the Library?