NextGen: Is This the Ninth Circle of Hell?

By Michelle S. Millet -- Library Journal, 3/15/2005

In 2003, during the Biennial migration of academic librarians to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) conference, several of the programs in Charlotte, NC, discussed the recruitment and retention of the next generation but with an obvious lack of input from newly recruited librarians. In response, with Liza Posas, a library fellow at University of California–Santa Barbara, I posted a web-based survey to gauge how new academic librarians felt about their profession and what they would need to learn in order to become library leaders.

From a total of 378 librarians self-identified as being in the profession not longer than five years, the majority of responders identified themselves as female (79.1%), 26–35 years old (70.4%), and Caucasian (82.5%). With the exception of age, little in this demographic data seems surprising when compared with national trends and statistics detailing the profession.

When asked to choose characteristics to describe themselves, respondents picked "technologically adept," "creative," "intellectual," and "liberally progressive" most often. When asked why they had become librarians, most chose "interaction with students," "worked well in an academic setting," and a "love of research."

At the bottom of the reason category fell "always wanted to be a librarian," "it was a calling," or a "secure job market." The next generation of academic librarians consider themselves to be techies who like working with students in an academic environment. Only 73 people (19%) noted that a secure job market factored into their choice. This may indicate that new librarians did not necessarily rely on the hyped-up talk of the graying of the profession when career options were at hand.

Most new librarians are satisfied with the level of support for professional development they receive, the collegiality of their workplaces, relationships between faculty and librarians, and the overall working environment.

These new librarians are least satisfied with salaries, overall administrative support, and the respect/perception of the profession. According to the majority of those surveyed, this group of librarians needs administrators to help them develop budgeting and management skills. Less than half of the participants thought they would be able to gain the necessary skills at their current jobs. Junior academic librarians also thought they were deficient in project planning, fundraising, publishing, and cultivating donations/development. To the managers reading this: Are these skills important to you in your current position? Did they help you attain that position? We think so, and we'd like to learn from you.

These librarians like their jobs, even if they aren't willing to run the place. When asked, "Are you interested in being an administrator in an academic library someday?," 57% answered in the affirmative. This reveals that a significant number among those who chose to take this survey, already displaying an obvious interest in the profession and the topic, are not yet willing to commit to the idea of forging ahead to shape the library of the future.

Overall, librarians enjoy their jobs—enough to encourage others to join them. An overwhelming 91% of junior academic respondents noted they would recommend academic librarianship as a career. Open-ended comments tied to this survey question indicate that most new academic librarians have good things to say about their profession: "It is a noble profession that is intellectually stimulating."

There are those out there who are not as enthusiastic. One respondent commented, "My first two years in an academic library have been both heavenly and something out of the ninth circle of hell." The bureaucracy in academia and the unwillingness of some of the more experienced librarians to accept new ideas come up most often as points of contention in open-ended comments. Administrators cannot single-handedly change these factors overnight, but a little support goes a long way when new librarians try to implement new ideas or need help with campus constituents.

The next generation of academic librarians needs to acquire some basic skills before they will be ready to take over, and they are the first to admit it. To teach these skills to junior librarians while focusing on our own jobs, we need to include them in administrative meetings, encourage them to apply to leadership seminars, and work to ensure they have the confidence to take on being the boss someday. Otherwise, librarians might be more likely to switch careers, and then there really could be that enormous number of open positions we've all heard about.

Junior librarians often feel overworked and left out in the cold, rarely understanding what is going on and how decisions are made that impact them on a daily basis. They need their managers to take it one step further and help them learn the skills they will so desperately need to take over—to let go of some of the control before it's too late.