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Recruiting for the Next Generation of Shushers

Recruiting for the Next Generation of Shushers. Rick Block Columbia University Long Island University Pratt Institute. Serialist. Specialist Aerialist Socialist Surrealist. Rhode Island: its neither a road nor an island … discuss. A Hipper Crowd of Shushers. A Hipper Crowd of Shushers.

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Recruiting for the Next Generation of Shushers

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  1. Recruiting for the Next Generation of Shushers Rick Block Columbia University Long Island University Pratt Institute

  2. Serialist • Specialist • Aerialist • Socialist • Surrealist

  3. Rhode Island: its neither a road nor an island … discuss

  4. A Hipper Crowd of Shushers

  5. A Hipper Crowd of Shushers • “We’re not the typical librarians anymore” • “When I was in library school in the early ’80s, the students weren’t as interesting”

  6. A Hipper Crowd of Shushers • When the cult film “Party Girl” appeared in 1995, with Parker Posey as a night life impresario who finds happiness in the stacks, the idea that a librarian could be cool was a joke.

  7. A Hipper Crowd of Shushers • An actress who had long considered library school, Ms. Murphy finally decided to sign up after meeting several librarians — in bars. • “People I, going in, would never have expected were from the library field,” she said. “Smart, well-read, interesting, funny people, who seemed to be happy with their jobs.”

  8. White Denim • “White Denim, the Austin band that was the supercharged finale for my own SXSW — a power trio with a rocketing, punk-speed take on twangy Texas garage-rock” • Apr 24 2008 10:00 PM Local 506 • Available on i-Tunes • http://www.myspace.com/bopenglish

  9. Themes • We’re hot • Is there or will there be a shortage of librarians? Is there a recruitment crisis? • Recruiting NextGen librarians

  10. We’re Hot • U.S. News and World Report Hot Jobs: “Librarian” one of best careers in 2007 • Parade Magazine: “corporate librarian” one of hottest jobs • Kiplinger.com (personal financial advisor): “Librarian” listed as one of its seven great careers of 2007

  11. Shortages vs. oversupply • Shortages • 1910s & 1920s • 1950s & 1960s • Mid-late 1980s • Late 1990s through 2008+ • Oversupply • 1930s • Mid 1970s • Early 1980s

  12. Is there a shortage of librarians? • The entry level gap? • Rachel Holt & Adrienne Strock. LJ 5/1/2005 • OOH (2008-2009) • “Despite slower-than-average projected employment growth, job opportunities are still expected to be favorable because a large number of librarians are expected to retire in the coming decade.” • “Employment of librarians is expected to grow by 4 percent between 2006 and 2016, slower than the average for all occupations.” • New people, new ideas, diversity • The best and the brightest

  13. Statistics: We’re Aging Rapidly! • Average age of U.S. librarians stable between 1970 and 1990, but between 1990 and 1994, librarians as a population aged rapidly (Wilder, 1995) • 1990: 48% librarians aged 45 and over • 1994: 58% librarians aged 45 and over • ARL: university library population aged 45 or older increased from 48% in 1990 to 66.1% in 1998

  14. Statistics: We’re Aging Rapidly! • SLA: 45 or older increased from 30% in 1986 to 47% in 1996 • ALA members aged 45 or older hit 66% in 1999 • 45% of librarians currently in the workforce will reach age 65 between 2010 and 2020 • More than 25% of all MLS librarians will reach age 65 before 2010

  15. ALA Data • Reaching 65: Lots of Librarians Will Be There Soon (American Libraries Mar. 2002): based on 1990 census • Revised ALA retirement data: the “Boomer Brain Drain”: updated with 2000 census data • Retirements peak in 2015/2019, not 2010/2014 • Men start library careers earlier and retire or shift careers earlier than women • Net influx of mid-career female librarians

  16. And More Statistics • Librarians aged 35 and under under-represented in the profession • Individuals aged 25-34 make up 14% of librarian population but 27% of those in professional specialty category (Current Population Survey data) • 22.8% MLS students aged 25-29 (ALISE 2004) • The age of library school students increased sharply in the 1980s: percentage of students aged 35 and over rose from 25% in 1981 to 50% in 1994

  17. And More • LIS graduation rates not keeping pace with retirements • National Center for Education Statistics data indicates no real growth in number of MLS degrees awarded nationwide since 1970, while related fields such as communication and computer science have grown dramatically in the number of Master’s degrees awarded

  18. And Still More • 44% of librarians said they would not pursue a career in librarianship given the wealth of opportunities available to today’s college graduates (in spite of extremely high job satisfaction among librarians)

  19. The Generations • GI and the Silent Generation (1901-1942): Approximately 10 percent of workforce • Baby Boomers (1943-1960): Approximately 45 percent of workforce • Generation Xers (1961-1980): Approximately 45 percent of workforce • Millennials (1980-2002): Now emerging into the workforce • Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, Vintage, 2000

  20. What Do Generations X and Y want? • Flexibility in the workplace • Challenges and stimulation • Competitive pay • Career advancement opportunities • Learning and development opportunities • Fast appreciation and recognition

  21. Recruit (OED) • To strengthen or reinforce • To keep up the number of (a class or body of persons or things) • To furnish with a fresh supply; to replenish • To increase or maintain (a quality) by fresh influence • To increase or restore the vigour or health • To refresh or re-invigorate

  22. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the Easy Answer • Salary: we’re not in the money • LJ survey: 80% cite poor salary as one of “the greatest drawbacks in attracting new, younger talent to the profession.” • “New librarians earn $20,000 below new master’s graduates in business, engineering, and computer science.”

  23. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the Easy Answer • Matarazzo study • 1950 through most of 1960s: a real shortage of librarians but not much of an increase in salaries • As a result, the shortage lasted 16 years • As salaries rise, number of MLS graduates rise • Starting salary higher in real terms in 1970 than in 1980 • Result: 40% decline in MLS graduates 1974-1985 • Money ain’t everything, but it helps

  24. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the Image Answer • Image: not a high profile profession • Ironic in the “information age” • But you don’t look like a librarian … • Kiplinger.com • “Forget about the image of librarians as mousy bookworm. Today’s librarian is a high-tech information sleuth .. a master of mining cool databases … well beyond Google .. To unearth the desired nuggets.” • “Accidental” Profession

  25. How young people view librarianship (it's not pretty) • Students perceive librarianship as lower in prestige, educational requirements, salary, and job prospects. • Students rated librarianship lowest in prestige. • Most did not believe that a university degree or much computer knowledge are required to be a librarian. • Of the twelve fields, students believed librarianship to be the most female-intensive, although it is actually second to physical therapy.

  26. How young people view librarianship (it's not pretty) • Students under-estimated the starting salary for librarians, while over-estimating the starting salaries of the other professions. • They believed that the job market for librarians is shrinking while the other occupations are growing or holding steady, although official projections point to shrinkage in several of the other fields. • Students do not well understand what librarians do or what sectors they work in. Harris and Wilkinson(2001)

  27. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the Library Schools • Tension between educators and practitioners: what should we be teaching • Dropping “library” from names of library schools • Most students found school on their own, but schools getting better at marketing (e.g. AM New York) • The power of place/Distance education

  28. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the They’re Under Our Nose Answer • Paraprofessional neglect: paraprofessionals 66% of library staff • NextGen: Stuck at the Bottom? • Gabriel Farrell. LJ 1/15/2005

  29. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the Real Answer? • Competition from other industries discovering the value of librarians • “Data smog” • OOH (2008-2009) • “Jobs for librarians outside traditional settings will grow the fastest over the decade. Nontraditional librarian jobs include working as information brokers and working for private corporations, nonprofit organizations, and consulting firms.”

  30. Factors Affecting Recruitment: the X Factor? • What is the proportion of library school graduates who are choosing to bypass working in libraries for other jobs? • Does anyone know? • Back to the easy answer ($$$)? • Are other professions with shortages recruiting more aggressively than librarians?

  31. Action Plan (1956 style) “An Action Manual for Library Recruiters” Sept. 1956 Wilson Library Bulletin “Challenge yourself with a quota! Send at least one person to library school each year. Here is the challenge. Inform ten students to find one who will actually attend library school. ‘Each one recruit one’ should be our motto. Have one apply for library school each year and our crisis will be over.”

  32. More From the 1956 Action Plan • The competition • Be proud of librarianship • Raise salaries • Personal contact is the key to success • Potential recruits • Library clerks and student assistants • Booklovers • Persons in other fields • Convert the parents

  33. Recruiting NextGen Librarians: What Can We Do? • Interaction with librarians important • Be passionate about librarianship • People don’t really know what librarians do • We are the best poster children for the profession • Take the “Ssshh” out of librarianship • Write job announcements that mean something • Tell the library’s story • Change the librarian stereotype (depict our jobs as technologically advanced, fast-paced, intellectually challenging)

  34. Recruiting NextGen Librarians: What Can We Do? • Library work experience • 70-80% of library school students work in a library or have worked in a library • Spectrum Scholar survey: single most predictive indicator of whether a scholar would enter a LIS program was prior experience working in a library (80% indicated they had) • Laura Bush 21st Century Library Grant Program • LIU Palmer School/NYU partnership

  35. Recruiting NextGen Librarians • Recruitment campaigns/Marketing • Create a demand and market for the MLS • Market as mid-life career choice • Incorporate marketing strategies to recruit (like we do to market the library to our users) • Recruit MLS students from other careers that have applicability to librarianship (teaching, accounting, business and management)

  36. Recruiting NextGen Librarians • Aggressively recruit among undergraduate populations, especially in fields that yield high number of students with academic backgrounds that provide foundation for librarianship (e.g. psychology, sociology, communication) • Continue to recruit professionals from support staff ranks • Continue to recruit professionals from intern ranks

  37. Recruiting NextGen Librarians • Work harder to attract women and minorities from an increasingly competitive marketplace • Promote career opportunities for the MLS beyond the expected work in libraries • Target graduate students, especially with competitive tenure-track market in many subject areas • Recruit recent Ph.D.s in fields with no strong job prospects

  38. Recruiting NextGen Librarians • Promote collaboration and alignment between MLS programs and other graduate programs (e.g. Palmer/NYU program) • Encourage more quality online learning opportunities • Encourage full-time vs. part-time study?

  39. “Staff members should remember that our profession does not automatically perpetuate itself. A good measure of a library – and of each department in that library – is the number … recruited for librarianship.” Passion for Books, 1958 Lawrence Clark Powell

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