Unintentional recruiting for diversity

Abstract

Based on interviews with Latino undergraduate students, Latino and Native American graduate students in library and information science, and Latino librarians, this paper documents some techniques librarians unintentionally use to persuade or dissuade students from becoming librarians. These techniques include developing relationships with library patrons, helping patrons become familiar with the library, demonstrating librarianship as a service profession, and demonstrating librarianship as a respectful profession. When used intentionally, those techniques become strategies which can help librarians recruit for future generations.