NextGen: Secure Our Professional Future

By Rachel Singer Gordon -- Library Journal, 2/15/2006

In January 2005, a short and easily overlooked American Libraries blurb reported on how newer U.S. Census data changes retirement projections for the nation's librarians. Using 2000 numbers, and assuming retirement at age 65, the American Library Association (ALA) now anticipates that the major wave of librarian retirements will happen in 2015–19, rather than the originally projected 2010–14.

As librarians, we understand the importance of current data and the need every so often to reexamine our assumptions about recruitment and retirement as newer statistics become available. So what might that briefly mentioned five-year shift in retirements mean for the profession, especially for those newer graduates and current students recruited under previous expectations?

Don't assume

Beyond the assumption of retirement at 65, a major underlying supposition of the impending shortage posits a one-to-one replacement of existing positions. In the post-9/11 economy, however, with libraries across the country facing funding crises, is this realistic?

A 2003 Colorado survey on retirement, retention, and recruitment, for example, noted that one out of five “prospective retirees” in the state expected their job to be combined with another or eliminated entirely. Nearly that many expected to be succeeded by someone with less education.

With librarians often less than keen to move up and out of front-line responsibilities, that could translate into a new challenge for the profession: a glut at the entry level. The issue is not only about recruiting a larger number of new entrants to the profession but also preparing the people we already have to lead and to manage. After all, any upcoming shortage will surely include a number of mid- and upper-level management vacancies. In the Colorado report, for example, 75 percent of those librarians who said they were planning to retire within five years were supervisors and 20 percent were administrators.

Follow the leader

Our profession loses out when we fail to mentor and encourage a new generation of librarians. We lose out not only because we fail to take advantage of the new skills, fresh outlook, and enthusiasm of new professionals in this era of ever-changing patron expectations and work environments. We also lose out because we lose experienced professionals who are able and willing to take over.

When new grads are unable to break into entry-level positions, chances are good they will take their skills elsewhere and never get the years of experience that will enable them to fill the projected gaps. New entrants often say things like, “I graduated really excited about this field and was determined to find work in an academic or special library, but I reached the point where I was applying for a wide variety of jobs (researcher, privacy officer, writer, etc.) that were only tangentially related to library science. I am happily employed in a special library now and intend to stay for the foreseeable future, but I no longer have a firm commitment to being a librarian until I retire, because I will benefit more by being flexible about my career options.”

Hiring for the future

It is critical that we think beyond the day-to-day and focus on the way we prepare—or fail to prepare—new librarians to move up. How are we preserving institutional memory? Are longtime librarians actively passing on their accumulated wisdom to their newer colleagues? Are we encouraging new librarians to participate actively in our institutions and in the profession as a whole? And what more can we as a profession do to nurture new leaders?

From the outset, we must think about the way we hire and how that affects the future of the field. Susan Nutter, LJ's 2005 Librarian of the Year, is quoted as saying that she reserves a certain number of positions for new grads (LJ 1/05). Now, that's interesting!

How can other libraries do their part? Can your library partner with local LIS departments to offer internships? Perhaps you can create a residency position to help introduce new professionals to the field. Maybe you can reexamine existing job descriptions in light of changing duties and patron expectations.

Librarians are very good at talking and reporting and projecting. We are not necessarily as proficient at seeing what our talk and reports and projections mean in terms of securing our professional future. It is always easier to reduce or eliminate hours than to ask for them back later. Short-term cuts may alleviate pressures now, but how does that influence the future health of both your institution and the field? The bottom line is that if we are to continue to think of ourselves as a profession, we need to act as a profession.