ClimateQUAL™ – Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment
Benefits for Participating Institutions
Issues of diversity, fairness, and improving customer service are major concerns to many institutions. Research in the organizational sciences suggests that these issues are not separate concerns, but rather that they are interrelated pieces of a construct that we refer to as the “healthy organization”. A healthy organization is defined as an organization in which employees feel empowered and believe that the organization values diversity. It is an organization in which the policies, practices and procedures are administered fairly and employees believe that they are treated fairly.
Developing diverse workforces in supportive and productive work environments is reported to be a major concern of many libraries, as attested to by the numerous conferences, conference presentations and initiatives sponsored by the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries. However, diversity assessment has only recently become a tool in libraries for measuring and planning change, and as a result, assessment of diversity initiatives is still scattered.
The University of Maryland-led project is based on the thesis that, for large libraries, anecdotal or observational evidence of how the organization is faring with diversity efforts is inadequate and that systematic, reliable assessments must be undertaken. Large libraries include, but are not limited to, those belonging to the Urban Libraries Council or the Association of Research Libraries. Library systems with multiple sites are also good candidates for systematic assessment.
A library may need to undertake a systematic diversity assessment in order to meet the requirements or suggestions of its parent organization or to show leadership to the parent organization by undertaking an assessment before it is suggested or required that a library undertake such research.
