Built-In Belonging: Scaling and Fostering Diverse and Inclusive Intergenerational Communities of Practice

The team has completed focus groups with iSchool Inclusion Institute participants where we piloted interview questions, tested and adjusted the questions, and gathered preliminary information on how community and belonging are cultivated. During the pandemic, we pivoted to longitudinal surveys where we used the theoretical framework and findings from the focus groups to investigate sense of belonging and community over time not only with LIS recruitment programs, but also compared to experiences in other institutions. We aim to now expand on the data collected primarily to complete interviews and disseminate findings. Interviews will provide nuanced data on how underrepresented students develop community within LIS recruitment programs, how this sense of community changes over time, which programmatic elements play a role in this evolution, how sense of community compares to experiences in other institutions, and how feelings in recruitment can scale to address isolation and gaps in support.