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