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Collective Wisdom, Common Practice

Standardizing Equity in Library Hiring

Ashley Mills and Sydney Adams | Davidson College

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BACKGROUND

FALL 2023 Davidson College Library completes Dr. Kawanna Bright’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Self-Assessment Audit (DEISAA) - V. 3: Accessibility

Part of adaptation effort for liberal arts institutions with the �Oberlin Group of Libraries
Dr. Bright consulted with participating libraries and analyzed our data

SPRING 2024 Library staff meet to decide areas of focus for AY 24–25

Focus Areas: Processes & Procedures, Communication
Belonging & Engagement Steering Group develops Action Plan

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THE ISSUES

STANDARD PRACTICES

Lacking across searches

SEARCH COMMITTEES Privacy around hiring

ONBOARDING�Google Drive overload

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Slide 3:

Digging into what needed to be done around our hiring processes to promote equity, we realized that while individual hiring searches were equitable amongst candidates, there wasn’t always standardization across search committees, leading to an overall potential inequitable process. We identified a need for that standardization, and the creation of a toolkit to facilitate the processes and create established workflows, so that no matter who was leading the search, or whether it was their first or tenth search, everyone who applies and interviews at the library will have a similar experience. Another benefit of this standardization is that it reduces the amount of duplicated work over time by search committee leads.

One issue we faced is that due to the private nature of search committees, there were very few public materials that we could pull from. We each had folders from search committees that we had been on, so we brainstormed collaborative solutions to pull information from the rest of the org, that Sydney will talk about on the next slide.

Conversely, we had the opposite problem with onboarding - our shared google drive had tons of onboarding material from past years that needed editing, updating, and consolidation. Our goal was to create a basic standardized version that no matter what team or position is being hired for, leads can take the base version and supplement with team/position specific onboarding items.

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GETTING STARTED

LOCATE

Find and review disparate existing materials.

CONSOLIDATE

Organize relevant findings in an easily accessible location.

COLLABORATE

Partner with colleagues who have done this work.

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FOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER

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PART 1: SEARCH COMMITTEES

Through an equity lens, blocked workflows for search committee leads to follow, focusing on:

Guidance on Scoring Applicants
Interview Question Bank
Candidate Selection and Initial Interview Invitation
Creation of Interview Schedule & Types of Sessions
Standardized Information Packet for Candidates
Email Communications Throughout the Process
Feedback Forms

HR-Provided Resources�(Ex. Hiring System Documentation)
Guidance on Recruitment and Advertising
Standard Process for Forming Search Committees
Example Timelines for Hiring Process
Committee Pre-Work and Setting Expectations
Evaluation Rubric and Scoring Sheet Criteria

Slide 6: Part 1: Search Committees

We didn’t just want to focus on standardization to create equity across searches, but also making sure the new processes themselves reflected equitable practices. For this we consulted a number of resources, including knowledge from past conferences and webinars, around inclusive practices, reducing bias in the process, and creating a welcoming experience for candidates, and we wrote these into the workflows themselves.
First we blocked out basic workflow steps for search committees, that we then expanded and built on using all of our compiled resources and shared experiences.
Identified where we need actual templates, vs. a “process” document that search committee leads would follow, vs. a resource that committees can consult (e.g. decision making methods, or a bank of interview questions)
Several of these templates, rubrics, guiding questions, and resources will be shared at the end of this document.

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LEVERAGING GENERATIVE AI

Rubric Generation Prompt: "Can you make a rubric that is a scale of 0= does not meet, 1= meets, 2= exceeds using the following criteria? Can you also give an example of what a 1 and a 2 might be, highlighting their key differences?”
Licensed AI Tools at Davidson College
Using AI Ethically

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PART 2: COMMUNITY-FOCUSED ONBOARDING

Slide 8: Part 2: Onboarding

Started with HR documents, an old library onboarding checklist, and a previous onboarding Trello template. Recognized that we have fairly solid procedural onboarding. In addition, our HR dept recently expanded their onboarding documentation and processes. After a discussion with a partner dept, we decided our new onboarding additions should focus on making candidates feel welcomed and connected within the first two weeks. Community building, not a task checklist.
Focused on:

Four week framework

Connecting with the college community and establishing basic groundwork

In addition to standard strategic plan, org structure, and statement of purpose:

Choose a campus tour (art facilities, student campus tour, sustainability, arboretum, sculpture)
History and Traditions
Davidson Encyclopedia

Skills assessment and big systems for success

Connecting with their new team

Ways of Working: helps individuals learn about each other's style of work, preferences, conflict resolution points, and generally more about each other.
Library as a whole (strategic plan, website; overview of org and roles with the Library director)

Connecting with the larger library org

Meetings with each team in first few weeks

Beyond

Library Cohort Group
Meeting library partners
Continuing with task oriented onboarding list
Review skills assessment and working on goal setting
Room to give feedback about onboarding

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WHAT’S NEXT?

Editing, Feedback, Acceptance

BESG
Library Staff

Future Assessment
Sharing Out

Partners we spoke with as part of the process
Human Resources
All of you presentation attendees!

https://lib.davidson.edu/hiring

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Contact Us

Sydney Adams

syadams@davidson.edu

Ashley Mills

asmills@davidson.edu

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Questions?