Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Challenging The ‘Good Fit’ Narrative: Creating Inclusive Recruitment Practices In Academic Libraries, Sojourna J. Cunningham, Samantha Guss, Jennifer Stout

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Academic libraries operate under the assumption that there is one “right candidate” for a multi-layered position and that a search committee, a group of individuals formed with the purpose of assisting a responsible administrator in the recruiting and screening of candidates for a posted academic position, is the fairest and most equitable approach to hiring academic librarians. That assumption is running up against the fact that libraries and academic libraries in particular have an acknowledged a problem with recruiting and retaining librarians of color. According to the latest edition of the American Library Association Diversity Counts report, librarianship remains an …