Recruitment and Retention of New Academic Librarians in Their Own WordsWho They Are and What They Want
Why this project?
Project Details
Surveyed new librarians summer 2004
Distributed through listservs 502 total responses; filtered to 378
(academic and working less than five years)
Phase II: The Experienced Librarians (255 responses)
The Future: Who They Are (Demographically Speaking)
Survey respondents were:79.1 % female26-35 years old84.1% Caucasian69.6% holding only an MLS
Experience
All respondents have been librarians for five years or less0-2 years (50.5%)2-5 years (49.5%)
Involvement
Majority are involved in national professional organizations (82.9%) and state or regional organizations (66.3%)
Working environments
Cross-section of libraries
42.9
27.8
10.68.5 10.3
05
1015202530354045
Cross-section of librariesincludes:
Large ResearchUniversity
Master's LevelCollege orUniversityFour YearCollege
CommunityCollege
Other
Really new, new librarians
70.4% are in their first jobs 41.5% for less than one year
Tenure-track or not?
26.5
12.2
21.2
28.3
11.9
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Tenure Track
Non-tenureTrackFaculty Statuswithout TenureProfessionalStatusOther
What kind of librarians are they?
Ambitious Bookish Creative Innovative Intellectual Liberal Progressive Technologically Adept
What they are not…
Traditional (46 people) Conservative (44 people)
They also think they are…
“sometimes overly enthusiastic” “full of contradictions” “…NOT traditional. I like to be an
agent for change.”
Personalities
Introvert versus Extrovert147 (Introverted)103 (Extroverted)In comments, several responders
noted being “on the fence” or conflicted
They became librarians because…
Worked well in an academic setting Love of research Interaction with students Love of books
Not really because of..
A calling to the profession Always wanting to be a librarian A secure job market
What They Like About Their Jobs
Working Environments Support for Professional Development Collegiality of Librarians and Faculty Collegiality of Workplace
and
“excitement of scholarly communication field—experimentation and reform”
“freedom to be creative when solving problems”
“variety of responsibilities”
They are least satisfied with…
Pay Perception/respect for the profession Administrative support
And even less satisfied with…
Tenure Process Job Market Lack of Leadership Generational
Tensions/Resistance/Respect Workload
Who Will Lead?
Are you interested in being an administrator in an academic library setting someday?56.6% yes43.4% no
What Skills They Need
Budgeting Management Project Planning Fundraising and Development Publishing Networking Skills Subject Knowledge
Where will you learn these skills?
Which of the above skills/experiences do you think you will be able to gain in your current place of employment? None: 7.8%Less than Half: 44%More than Half: 36.8%All: 11.5%
How well do you think you are being prepared for your future career responsibilities?
Not being prepared at all: 38% Somewhat prepared: 52.3% Sufficiently prepared: 27.6% Very prepared: 8.6%
What are the future challenges for libraries
Budget/Funding Being Overworked (More Work/Less
People) Compensation Issues Keeping up with Technology Recruitment/Retention Diversity
Would you recommend librarianship?
Yes: 90.7% No: 9.3%
MLS Only vs. Multiple Advanced Degrees MLS Only (263)
Technologically Adept
Worked Well in an Academic Setting
Large Research University
Professional Status
Multiple Degrees (98) Intellectual first Worked well in an
academic setting Large Research
University Tenure Track
MLS vs. Multiple continued
Least satisfied with pay
Most satisfied with working environment
Administrator someday—58.2% yes
Least satisfied with pay
Most satisfied with collegiality of workplace
Administrator someday—51.7% yes
Second part of survey: the administrators
255 total responses Created after the original new
librarians survey in order to compare opinions
The bosses were…
Predominately female (70.2%) Have 20+ years experience (54.1%) Mostly working at Master’s Level
institutions with tenure-track librarians
What are new librarians satisfied with? New Librarians
Working Environment
Support For Professional Development
Collegiality of Workplace
Administrators Working
Environment Collegiality of
Librarians and Faculty
Collegiality of Workplace
New Librarians are Least Satisfied With?
New Librarians Pay Perception/Respect
of Profession Administrative
Support
Administrators Pay Perception/Respect
of Profession Support for
Professional Development
What Skills Do New Librarians Need to Acquire? New Librarians
Budgeting Management Project Planning Fundraising/
Development Publishing
Administrators Management Interpersonal
skills Project Planning Subject
Knowledge Budgeting
Comments from Administrators New librarians will need to acquire
administrative skills more rapidly than those in the past as people retire and the pool of deeply experienced managers becomes smaller
Trend awareness Political savvy Ability to "sell" the library and its
services
Top Challenges
New Librarians Budget/Funding Compensation
Issues Being overworked
Administrators Keeping up with
technology Compensation
issues Being overworked
What does this all mean?
What we are prepared for…
Something dynamicChangeDiversity
What we would like…
MentorshipMoneyMarketingMore training
• Business
• Technology
We’re challenged by…
Red tape Disconnection
PUBLISHING
The good ones will go.
Who we are
Michelle S. Millet, Information Literacy Coordinator, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
Liza Posas, Information Services Librarian & Collection Manager, University of California-Santa Barbara