Public Libraries have an important role to play, providing services designed to reduce inequality, celebrate diversity in communities and enable individuals to see themselves reflected and valued in community spaces.

In terms of audience reach, public libraries generally perform better than other cultural institutions but in terms of workforce, the library and information sector does not perform well. CILIP’s 2015 cross sector mapping of the UK information workforce showed that 97% self-identify as white compared to 88% of the population and while the workforce is 79% female , 47% of the top earners in the profession are male.

To help library services address this imbalance, we organised a one-day event. Key topics for the day included:

• The importance of having a diverse workforce
• Creating an organisational culture that embraces diversity
• Developing a recruitment process and roles to attract diverse talent
• How to tackle unconscious bias.