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Retention and Recruitment

Resources for all types of libraries to assist in attracting and retaining quality employees.

Welcome to resources for recruiting, recognizing, and retaining librarians, maintained by TLA’s Professional Issues and Ethics Committee. These resources are provided for the use of all Texas libraries and librarians so that they may recruit, recognize, and retain quality employees in their institutions. The ideas listed in these documents aim to fit within any library’s budget, big or small, but may not be possible to implement in all libraries. 

Suggested Books

Arthur, D. (2019). Recruiting, interviewing, selecting & orienting new employees. New York: AMACOM.

Hayes, D. K., & Ninemeier, J. D. (2001). 50 one-minute tips for recruiting employees: Finding the right people for your organization. Menlo Park, Calif: Crisp Publications.

Laroche, L., & Rutherford, D. (2006). Recruiting, retaining and promoting culturally different employees. New York: Routledge.

Miller, M. (2018). Talent magnet: How to attract and keep the best people. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Incorporated.

Suggested Journal Articles about Recruitment

Ford, A. (2018). Underrepresented, underemployed: In the library-job search, some face special barriers. American Libraries, 49(11/12), 38–40. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/11/01/underrepresented-underemployed/

Ford, A. (2018). HR confidential: Inside tips from higher-ups who hire. American Libraries, 49(11/12), 34–36. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/11/01/hr-confidential/

Connolly, D. (2018). Help wanted: Get better job ad results and attract stellar applicants. American Libraries, 49(11/12), 35. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/11/01/help-wanted/

Bugg, K. (2015). Best practices for talent acquisition in 21st-century academic libraries. Library Leadership & Management, 29(4), 1–14. https://journals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm/article/view/7162/6345

Neely, T. Y., & Peterson, L. (2007). Achieving racial and ethnic diversity among academic and research librarians: The recruitment, retention, and advancement of librarians of color-A white paper. College & Research Libraries News, 68(9), 562–565. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.68.9.7869

Kuecker, E. (2017). Recruiting and retaining LGBTQ-identified staff in academic libraries through ordinary methods. In the Library with the Lead Pipe.  http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2017/recruiting-and-retaining-lgbtq-identified-staff-in-academic-libraries-through-ordinary-methods/

Singer, P., & Goodrich, J. (2006). Retaining and motivating high-performing employees. Public Libraries, 45(1), 58–63. http://www.ala.org/pla/sites/ala.org.pla/files/content/publications/publiclibraries/pastissues/janfeb2006.pdf

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