Purpose & Goals

Diversity statements expressing academic librarians’ commitment to and value for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are a requirement of some higher education librarian jobs. However, no known publication of an academic library-framed rubric to quantify these statements was discovered by the authors. This qualitative, exploratory sequential study results in an original scale to assess these diversity statements. The tool provides additional value when used to guide the creation of diversity statements.

Design & Methodology

Rooted in content analysis of published general faculty DEI statement rubrics and interviews of DEI LIS experts, the first-ever academic librarian DEI statement rubric is introduced. After successfully navigating the IRB process, the team successfully Interviewed 13 LIS professionals who are or were academic librarians, as well as DEIAJ researchers. Twenty LIS professionals were asked to participate (65% participation rate).

Findings

We are currently treating study as exploratory sequential. We utilized Inductive Category Development. •Seven emergent categorical themes arose: What participants look for in a Diversity Statement What participants hope to NOT see in a Diversity Statement What actual importance do Diversity Statements have? Oddities about submitting Diversity Statements Proposed Diversity Statement rubric elements Alternatives to Diversity Statements Potential bias among participants And the findings also include the rubric that was constructed based from the findings from the DEIA/Library practioner interviews.

Action & Impact

Initial findings minus the rubric were presented and published in the 2023 ACRL Conference Proceedings. A presentation was also given to the Boston Library Consortium. This LAC poster presentation includes the rubric and presents all of the findings and conclusions visually. A final published paper including the rubric is the next step in the pursuit of concluding the project.

Practical Implications & Value

The Diversity Statement rubric framework can be used to review structures for current librarians around DEI contributions in the form of a diversity statement. EAB reports "most often, search committees use diversity statements as 'tie breakers' between two or three top candidates at the end of a search." This is problematic as the statements cannot be used to their full potential when saved until the end. The rubric could also be used in order to inform annual reporting, tenure, and promotion reviews.