ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


April 1 9 9 2 /2 3 7

Recruitment & retention in 
your own backyard
B y  P a tr ic ia  A. K re itz

Encouraging paraprofessionals to 
become librarians

T
h e  crisis facing our profession if w e  can­
not recruit new  librarians into th e field has 
b e e n  discussed at length at conferences an

the professional literature. Many librarians feel 
that there is nothing they can do to  help re­
cruit b ecause the underlying problem s are ones 
o f low  p ay  an d  a negative public im age— areas 
that are difficult to address in a concerted w ay 
let alone for o n e perso n  to  influence. In fact, 
lo w  recruitm ent into the profession an d  low  
retention, particularly of minority librarians, are 
large an d  multi-faceted problem s w hich indi­
viduals w ithin the profession m ay quite natu­
rally feel u n p rep ared  o r unable to  solve. H ow ­
ever, b y  applying one o f the environm ental 
m o v em en t’s key adm onishm ents, “think glo­
bally, act locally,” w e can begin to identify ar­
eas w ithin our daily w ork lives w here w e might 
realistically m ake a difference. It is the purpose 
o f this article to suggest a num ber o f practical 
actions, not all of w hich take a large time in­
vestm ent, that individual librarians can im ple­
ment within their ow n workplace to encourage 
library staff to consider a career in librarianship.

W orking closely w ith paraprofessional staff 
o n  a daily basis gives us a ready-m ade p o o l of 
potential recruits. Although a num ber of recruits 
to  th e profession have traditionally em erged 
from  this group, this n u m b er could b e  signifi­
cantly increased if individual librarians w ere to 
take a m ore active role in encouraging para­
professionals. This role does not have to  turn 
som eo n e into a salesperson but, in fact, can be 
a natural extension of o n e ’s daily activities and 
interests. In this article I w ould like to  describe

d 

a n u m b er o f . actions librarians can take to at­
tract paraprofessionals into th e profession.

Before attem pting to encourage paraprofes­
sionals to consider a career in librarianship, it 
is helpful to kn o w  w hat affects such decisions. 
The respondents to an informal poll of para­
professionals w h o  decided to pu rsu e an MLS 
insa id that tw o very im portant factors in their 
decision-m aking process were: 1) a vision of 
librarianship as a challenging, rew arding ca­
reer, an d  2) a positive m entoring experience. 
O ther factors w ere: proxim ity to  a graduate 
program  in librarianship; support (financial and 
flex time) from the library in w hich they w ere 
em ployed; an d  a desire to  use academ ic skills 
w ithout becom ing a researcher or teacher.

When asked i f  they would have 
chosen to p u rsu e a career in 
librarianship i f  they h a d  not 
already been working in a 
library, each person answered 
negatively.

W hen asked if they w ould have chosen to 
pursue a career in librarianship if they h a d  not 
already b e e n  w orking in a library, each person 
answ ered negatively. W hen asked w hat it w as 
ab o u t w orking in a library that influenced their 
career choice, several m entioned that they w ere 
p ro v id e d  s p e c ia l or u n iq u e  o p p o rtu n itie s  
through w hich they discovered h o w  rew ard­
ing librarianship is. The rew ards inherent in 
our profession are not autom atically com m uni­
cated to  paraprofessionals through their rou­
tine interactions w ith librarians since m uch of 
w h at w e d o  o n  a daily basis may ap p e a r to  the

Patricia A . Kreitz is m anager o f  library & information services, Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory 
in Dallas, Texas (Internet: Pkreitz@SSCVXl.SSC.gov)

mailto:Pkreitz@SSCVXl.SSC.gov


2 3 8 /C&RL News

nonprofessional observer as inexplicable and a 
significant am ount of our professional activity 
may be done outside the workplace. Thus a 
very important part of attracting paraprofession­
als to librarianship is communicating informa­
tion about the intangible benefits of the field, 
focusing mainly on those activities that rarely 
overlap w ith paraprofessional duties. Provid­
ing paraprofessionals in your organization with 
the opportunity to learn more about profes­
sional activities such as research, writing, con­
ference participation, continuing education, and 
teaching, and w ith the opportunity to observe 
or experience at som e level the high degree of 
autonom ous responsibility most librarians are 
given, could help them  view librarianship as a 
challenging, open-ended profession.

Be an active role model
Lecturing at paraprofessionals about how  much 
fun one is having as a librarian is unlikely to 
be very convincing. Just as in other areas of 
hum an communication, one very effective way 
to deliver this message is through role model­
ing. While being a role model is traditionally 
defined as a passive activity—som eone is ad­
mired for skills in a certain area, accomplish­
ments, know ledge— there are several ways this 
modeling can b e  facilitated in a more deliber­
ate and structured w ay to provide more o p ­
portunities to inform. Active role modeling can 
help paraprofessionals see the pleasures and 
challenges in w hat w e do. Active role model­
ing could be something as simple as a bag lunch 
or a series of meetings in w hich librarians share 
their professional activities w ith library staff.

Providing paraprofessional staff w ith an 
o p p o r tu n ity  to  h e a r a b o u t a n  in d iv id u a l 
librarian’s research, writing, a n d /o r teaching 
activities can “m odel” some of the more reward­
ing opportunities that professional librarians 
enjoy. Staff w ho have done internships, rota­
tions, or w ho have served as chairs or officers 
of professional groups could discuss their ex­
periences. A bag lunch w here several profes­
sionals describe their m eeting and conference 
participation could give paraprofessionals in­
sight into the national and international nature 
of our profession, the advocacy role w e play in 
n a tio n a l in f o rm a tio n  c o n c e r n s , a n d  th e  
profession’s diversity o f interests and activities. 
These meetings could be as formal o r informal 
as desired but should be organized w ith the 
intention to communicate the variety and chal­
lenge of w hat w e do to paraprofessionals. As­

sociation acronyms should be avoided, ques­
tions should be welcom ed, and professional 
staff should b e  encouraged to allow their para­
professional staff to attend.

Staff newsletters can be an effective role­
m odeling tool if used w ith care. The new slet­
ter editor might do an occasional interview ar­
ticle on an individual librarian highlighting the 
person’s current responsibilities o r activities as 
a way o f explaining the variety o f professional 
roles available in the field. Such an article might 
focus not only on the individual’s responsibili­
ties and professional activities, but also bring 
in the ways in w hich that person’s subfield of 
librarianship touches broad issues of national 
concern—all things that distinguish the profes­
sional from the paraprofessional. Having the 
interviewee discuss his o r her background and 
reasons for entering the profession might strike 
a familiar chord w ith paraprofessionals read­
ing the article and make them  feel that they 
too can b e  successful. Staff newsletters can also 
be used to alert staff to articles in the profes­
sional literature selected particularly to com­
m unicate the profession’s w ide variety o f con­
cerns. If meetings and bag lunches to inform 
staff about the nature of librarians’ w ork and 
professional activities are difficult to arrange, 
short articles in the new sletter from staff at­
ten d in g  w o rk sh o p s, sem inars, an d  courses 
might substitute.

Demonstrate commitment to 
learning
For paraprofessional staff w ho are attracted to 
library w ork because of the opportunities it 
presents for furthering their ow n learning, the 
strong personal and institutional commitment 
librarians have to continuing professional edu­
cation can be very attractive. This commitment 
can b e  comm unicated to paraprofessional staff 
by holding meetings or bag lunches at which 
librarians describe continuing education pro­
grams attended and relate them  to their job 
responsibilities. Librarians w ho are instructors 
or presenters may wish to organize a “dry-run” 
for library staff, particularly inviting parapro­
fessional staff to attend.

A nother w ay to inform paraprofessionals 
about the am ount of learning required to stay 
abreast o f professional concerns is to convince 
your administration to provide paraprofession­
als w ith opportunities to participate in profes­
sional conferences, programs, and meetings. 
Obviously local activities are the easiest to pro­



April 1 9 9 2 /2 3 9

vide access to in terms of the expense involved. 
H owever, d ep en d in g  u p o n  an organization’s 
budget, su p p o rt for even o n e paraprofessional 
p e r year to  attend a state or national meeting 
might b e possible and could pro d u ce w id er 
local im pact by expecting th at p erso n  to  report 
back to  all library staff o n  his o r h e r experi­
en ces at the m eeting. In o rd er to m ake the 
experience as positive as possible, paraprofes­
sionals atten d in g  national or state m eetings 
should b e  paired u p  w ith ex perienced profes­
sionals either from their ow n organization or 
from  a pool o f “m eeting m entors” w hich are 
usually available from the national/state orga­
nizations. If state or national attendance is no t 
financially possible, try to encourage attendance 
at local m eetings an d  w orkshops. Many para- 
professionals never h ear o f these events since 
they are often announced in m em bership new s­
letters o r flyers po sted  in a central (and often 
inconvenient) place. A ttendance at m eetings 
an d  continuing education program s n o t only 
helps th e individual paraprofessional enrich his 
o r h e r w ork skills an d  m odels the com m itm ent 
w e have to  continuing education, b u t provides 
a glim pse o f our “professional w o rld ” an d  fa­
cilitates relationships with librarians from other in­
stitutions w ho might also serve as role models.

Be a supportive mentor
So far, w e  have dealt primarily w ith ways li­
brarians can m odel for paraprofessionals those 
rew arding parts o f o u r career that are hard to 
observe in the norm al w orkday. H ow ever, o f 
eq u al im portance to  those paraprofessionals 
attending library school w h o  w ere informally 
interview ed for this article w as the personal 
su p p o rt o r encouragem ent that they received 
from eith er their supervisor o r an o th er librar­
ian. The im portance of personal encouragem ent 
for developing interest in a career is confirm ed 
in B eyo n d  the Myths a n d  M agic o f  M entoring 
by Margo Murray, w hich describes com panies 
successfully using formal m entoring program s 
th e y  d elib erately  d e v e lo p e d  to  recruit n ew  
em ployees into u n p o p u lar fields.1

Murray quotes num erous m entees w h o  af­
firm that they w o u ld  n o t have ch o sen  a par­
ticular career or have b e e n  as successful if not 
for the m entor w h o  inspired, challenged, an d  
often informally ed u cated  them .2 T he kind o f 
relationship that develops b etw een  a m entor 
an d  m en tee relies on trust an d  resp ect a n d  
evolves over time; it can n o t b e forced o n  ei­
th er side. While to som e librarians this one-on-

o n e  m entoring role may seem  intim idating or 
tim e-consum ing, there are a n u m b er of practi­
cal m entoring activities individuals can un d er­
take w hich d o  not necessarily require a large 
com m itm ent of resources o r time b u t w hich 
w o u ld  encourage paraprofessionals to consider 
going into th e profession an d  w hich w o u ld  
bring a sense o f personal accom plishm ent to 
the librarian undertaking them.

M urray quotes num erous 
mentees who affirm  that they 
w ould not have chosen a p a r ­
ticular career . . .  i f  not f o r  the 
m entor who inspired …  them.

O ne of the least tim e-consum ing an d  p er­
h ap s m ost effective actions to  take is to  tell 
paraprofessionals o f their potential an d  to en ­
courage them  to  go to  library school. This can 
b e  d o n e in th e tim e it takes to  go o n  a coffee 
break together!

Invite paraprofessionals to serve on 
committees
O ne w ay to give paraprofessionals supportive 
h ands-on experience is to provide opp o rtu n i­
ties for th em  to  serve o n  internal library o r d e­
partm ent comm ittees. Committee chairs should 
en su re that th e com m ittee m em bership ro u ­
tinely includes paraprofessionals. Suggest that 
y o u r library d evelop a policy that sets aside an 
appropriate num ber o f slots for paraprofession­
als o n  all library standing com m ittees and that 
y o u r library adm inistration rew ard supervisors 
for encouraging their paraprofessional staff to 
serve o n  these comm ittees. A chair o f a com ­
m ittee w ith paraprofessionals o n  it could pro­
vide them  w ith encouragem ent perh ap s by set­
tin g  so m e tim e asid e to  discuss w ith  each  
paraprofessional individually th e comm ittee, its 
charge, an d  som e o f its history.

In o rder to help them  feel m ore inform ed 
an d  thus able to participate, the comm ittee chair 
should help them  fill in background by provid­
ing copies of last y ear’s com m ittee m inutes or 
o th er reading. The chair should also b e  sure 
n o t to let the professionals dom inate com m it­
tee m eeting discussions to the exclusion o f the 
paraprofessionals o n  the comm ittee.

If paraprofessionals d o  not have a lot o f on- 
the-job time to  sp en d  o n  com m ittee activities,



2 4 0 /C&RL News

it is helpful to identify short projects o r ones 
that com plem ent their ow n job responsibilities 
so their supervisor will not see their participa­
tion as diminishing significantly their time to 
w ork o n  their primary job. At the e n d  o f the 
com m ittee’s work, acknow ledging all m em bers’ 
contributions to the comm ittee might include 
th e  w ritin g  o f a sp ecific le tte r to  a p a ra - 
professional’s supervisor detailing the value of 
his o r h e r contribution. Such a letter can be 
extrem ely encouraging to both the paraprofes­
sional an d  the supervisor.

Librarians w h o  supervise or w ork closely 
w ith a paraprofessional w ho they think w ould 
b e an asset to the profession should encourage 
that person to volunteer for comm ittees w hose 
w ork will provide a sense of the profession’s 
c o n c e rn s o r a g lim p se in to  th e  lib rary  o r 
departm ent’s policy an d  decision-m aking p ro ­
cess. The supervisor of a paraprofessional w ho 
is serving o n  a comm ittee might ask the com ­
mittee chair to fulfill the “m entor” role described 
above for the paraprofessional. The supervisor 
ought to discuss with the paraprofessional com ­
mittee m em ber th e am ount o f on-the-job time 
that will be realistically available to w ork on 
com m ittee projects an d  w hat that supervisor 
expects and ho p es the person will learn from 
serving o n  that particular committee. A regular 
m eeting tim e b e tw e e n  paraprofessional an d  
supervisor to go over the com m ittee’s w ork 
will not only provide help and encouragem ent 
b u t also ensure that any conflicts betw een job 
and com m ittee duties are resolved at an early 
stage.

Special projects can demonstrate 
rewards of the profession
Another structured w ay to m entor paraprofes­
sionals is through projects o r internships. This 
could b e  as informal as an individual supervi­
sor assigning a special project o r could be as 
formal as a competitively aw arded rotation or 
internship that is only available to  paraprofes­
sional staff. The projects or internships chosen 
can, if structured carefully, give the parapro­
fessional a sense of m astery an d  confidence 
that will encourage him  or her to see the pro­
fession as rewarding. Projects are easy to brain­
storm—there are always w orthy ones waiting 
to b e  done— but som e that might b e  consid­
ered  are: creating a product such as a path­
finder or a display; analyzing an d  developing 
recom m endations for h o w  to  handle a pro b ­
lem  such as food in the library o r cataloging

backlogs; or learning n ew  skills such as budget 
m onitoring o r negotiating w ith vendors.

Some internships m ight be very structured 
such as a rotation to another departm ent w here 
the paraprofessional is trained in all or part of 
the w ork o f that departm ent, o r extrem ely u n ­
structured w here the person simply observes a 
librarian as that perso n  w orks, thus learning 
m ore about a particular aspect o f the profes­
sion. This k in d  o f u n stru ctu red  observation 
w orks extrem ely w ell in m anagem ent intern­
ships since the “product” is rarely concrete.

To b e successful, projects Or internships 
should have a definite beginning an d  ending 
date so that the paraprofessional is not pu t into 
a position w here a professional o r sem iprofes­
sional activity has b een  taken o n  indefinitely 
w ith o u t a p p ro p r ia te  fiscal re w a rd s. T h ere 
should also b e  o n e professional w ho is resp o n ­
sible for the project o r internship and w h o  is 
willing to take the time to  m eet regularly with 
the paraprofessional. An advance agreem ent 
should b e  m ade that these m eeting times are 
coaching sessions set aside to  help the para­
professional leam , solve problem s, an d  achieve 
the m axim um  successful learning experience. 
The professional acting as coach should be clear 
that although high standards can be set and a 
useful product o r report expected as an out­
com e, th e main reason for the project o r in­
ternship is recruitment. The paraprofessional 
should not b e  put in a position, either through 
neglect o r an excess o f ambitious enthusiasm , 
w here she or he will fail. This m entoring rela­
tionship takes extra time but com m ents by para­
professionals choosing librarianship as a career 
show  that this effort to connect personally w ith 
potential recruits can m ake a difference.

Paraprofessionals are a ready-m ade pool of 
potential recruits w orth o u r time to develop. 
Comm unicating the joys and challenges o f our 
profession to paraprofessionals and mentoring 
an d  encouraging them  to consider librarianship 
as a rew arding career not only helps solve a 
broad, m ultifaceted problem  facing o u r profes­
sion, b u t brings satisfying if intangible rewards 
to th e librarian willing to invest even a m odest 
am o u n t o f tim e a n d  energy in encouraging 
another perso n ’s developm ent.

Notes
1Margo Murray, B eyond the Myths a n d  Magic 

o f  M entoring (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass P ub­
lishers, 1991), p. 34.

2Ibid., p. 16-18. ■