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Toward a Diverse Workforce in Scholarly Publishing: Stategies, Tactics and Lessons Learned

Concurrent 2E: Toward a Diverse Workforce in Scholarly Publishing: Stategies, Tactics and Lessons Learned

The 2016 Publisher’s Weekly salary survey cites little progress on diversity issues. The US publishing industry remains overwhelmingly white/Caucasian in its staffing, with 94% of male respondents identifying as white, and 86% of female respondents saying the same. This session will include publishing professionals willing to share their own experience as recruiters or recruitees with diversity initiatives, to report on progress and obstacles. What has worked, what has not, and what can we do to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce? Why should we do this and what resistance will we encounter? Is it even possible to recruit for diversity in a way that is consistent with employment laws, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and sexual orientation? Why do ordinary recruiting efforts fail to produce candidates from more diverse backgrounds? Diversity initiatives discussed by the panelists will include the Mellon funded University Press Diversity Fellowship program, and the We Need Diverse Books campaign.