The Urban Library Program: Challenges to Educating and Hiring a Diverse Workforce

From 2003 through the fall of 2009, St. Catherine University (formerly the College of St. Catherine) and the Saint Paul Public Library collaborated to create the Urban Library Program (ULP), an Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) supported project to recruit, educate, hire, and retain a diverse paraprofessional workforce in the metropolitan Twin Cities of Minnesota. Studies of graduates of the ULP demonstrate its success in educating diverse individuals for employment in libraries in spite of the complexity of their language, economic, and educational challenges. These same studies also reveal institutional and professional barriers to hiring a qualified, diverse workforce. This case study investigates challenges to attracting and educating a diverse workforce, structural barriers that inhibit hiring, class conflicts arising in the workplace, and unexpected results from the program. The authors conclude that for the population targeted in this project, education alone is not the answer to diversifying the workforce. A strong support network is necessary to navigate higher education systems, the hiring practices of libraries, as well as the professional library community.