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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
2004
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| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED491647 |
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| _version_ | 1867181187928162304 |
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| author | Steffen, Nicolle Lance, Keith Curry Russell, Becky Lietzau, Zeth |
| author_facet | Steffen, Nicolle Lance, Keith Curry Russell, Becky Lietzau, Zeth Steffen, Nicolle Lance, Keith Curry Russell, Becky Lietzau, Zeth |
| collection | Education Resources Information Center |
| contents | Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado. A Closer Look Steffen, Nicolle Lance, Keith Curry Russell, Becky Lietzau, Zeth Recruitment Library Research Leadership Working Hours Retirement Libraries Librarians Information Science Library Services Labor Turnover Questionnaires Employment Opportunities Aging (Individuals) For well over a decade, the "graying" of the library profession has been the subject of much discussion. To examine this issue the Library Research Service (LRS) initiated the study, "Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado." During the last quarter of 2003, 1,241 librarians, paraprofessionals, information science (LIS) students, and independent information professionals from all over the state responded to a voluntary online survey asking them about their careers, their workplaces, and their attitudes about librarianship. Respondents included both library workers who plan to retire within the next five years and those who do not. The study showed that more than 20 percent of responding librarians expect to retire within the next five years and of all responding school librarians, almost half indicate plans to retire by 2008--more than three times the proportion for public librarians and almost five times the proportion for academic librarians. Retiring librarians will take with them substantial supervisory, administrative, and leadership skills. Of these prospective retirees, one out of five expects their job to be combined with another or eliminated. Almost one out of five expects to be succeeded by someone with less education. Librarians without immediate retirement plans, especially in non-metro areas and among school librarians, expect their successors to have less education. Responding librarians ages 30 to 44 are more likely than other age groups to choose to leave librarianship. Of responding LIS students, four out of five are ages 30 to 54, indicating that for many librarianship is a second career. Responding paraprofessionals say they would be encouraged to pursue an LIS degree or credential, if financial aid was available, class locations and schedules were convenient, online classes were available, and their work schedules were more flexible. Retirements in library profession over the next five years are numerous and will affect some parts of the profession more than others. As decision-makers for libraries seek to replace retiring librarians, they will face issues related both to recruiting new people into librarianship and to retaining librarians who are not retiring. Thus, the relationship between these three R's--retirement, recruitment, and retention--is one that calls for a comprehensive statewide strategy to ensure that users of libraries of all types in all parts of the state receive equitable, high-quality services from credentialed librarians. Appended are: (1) Questionnaire; (2) Individual Question Responses; and (3) Bibliography. (Contains 82 charts and 10 tables.) [This report was produced by Library Research Service. It was sponsored by the Management and Administration Division of the Colorado Association of Libraries (MADCAL), the Colorado State Library, and the University of Denver.] |
| format | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| id | eric_ED491647 |
| institution | ERIC Institute of Education Sciences |
| language | en |
| publishDate | 2004 |
| record_format | eric |
| spellingShingle | Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado. A Closer Look Steffen, Nicolle Lance, Keith Curry Russell, Becky Lietzau, Zeth Recruitment Library Research Leadership Working Hours Retirement Libraries Librarians Information Science Library Services Labor Turnover Questionnaires Employment Opportunities Aging (Individuals) Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado. A Closer Look Steffen, Nicolle Lance, Keith Curry Russell, Becky Lietzau, Zeth Recruitment Library Research Leadership Working Hours Retirement Libraries Librarians Information Science Library Services Labor Turnover Questionnaires Employment Opportunities Aging (Individuals) For well over a decade, the "graying" of the library profession has been the subject of much discussion. To examine this issue the Library Research Service (LRS) initiated the study, "Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado." During the last quarter of 2003, 1,241 librarians, paraprofessionals, information science (LIS) students, and independent information professionals from all over the state responded to a voluntary online survey asking them about their careers, their workplaces, and their attitudes about librarianship. Respondents included both library workers who plan to retire within the next five years and those who do not. The study showed that more than 20 percent of responding librarians expect to retire within the next five years and of all responding school librarians, almost half indicate plans to retire by 2008--more than three times the proportion for public librarians and almost five times the proportion for academic librarians. Retiring librarians will take with them substantial supervisory, administrative, and leadership skills. Of these prospective retirees, one out of five expects their job to be combined with another or eliminated. Almost one out of five expects to be succeeded by someone with less education. Librarians without immediate retirement plans, especially in non-metro areas and among school librarians, expect their successors to have less education. Responding librarians ages 30 to 44 are more likely than other age groups to choose to leave librarianship. Of responding LIS students, four out of five are ages 30 to 54, indicating that for many librarianship is a second career. Responding paraprofessionals say they would be encouraged to pursue an LIS degree or credential, if financial aid was available, class locations and schedules were convenient, online classes were available, and their work schedules were more flexible. Retirements in library profession over the next five years are numerous and will affect some parts of the profession more than others. As decision-makers for libraries seek to replace retiring librarians, they will face issues related both to recruiting new people into librarianship and to retaining librarians who are not retiring. Thus, the relationship between these three R's--retirement, recruitment, and retention--is one that calls for a comprehensive statewide strategy to ensure that users of libraries of all types in all parts of the state receive equitable, high-quality services from credentialed librarians. Appended are: (1) Questionnaire; (2) Individual Question Responses; and (3) Bibliography. (Contains 82 charts and 10 tables.) [This report was produced by Library Research Service. It was sponsored by the Management and Administration Division of the Colorado Association of Libraries (MADCAL), the Colorado State Library, and the University of Denver.] |
| title | Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado. A Closer Look |
| topic | Recruitment Library Research Leadership Working Hours Retirement Libraries Librarians Information Science Library Services Labor Turnover Questionnaires Employment Opportunities Aging (Individuals) |
| url | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED491647 |