Libraries across the country – large and urban, small and rural, in schools or public – are tightening belts and extending work hours to deal with the shortage of qualified librarians entering the field. PLA and ALA have both addressed the issue at conferences and in journal articles and columns. ALA 's Congress on Professional Education suggested that librarianship is a "dissipating profession."
What is causing this staffing crisis? To understand the trend, we must investigate what influences young adults to choose library careers (or any careers, for that matter). We choose careers for many reasons. One is that we have a positive experience in that field or environment as a child or teenager. For example, a young person who loves working at a day care may grow into a teacher. A young person who feels valued as a hospital "candy striper" may grow into a nurse or doctor. We acquire the skills, learn to respect seasoned workers, become comfortable with the atmosphere, and enjoy the rewards of our after-school, weekend or summer job so much that we look to it for a career years later.
The Urban Libraries Council designed a survey to ascertain how many current library workers worked in libraries as youth and of these, how many had positive experiences that led them into a library career. ULC hypothesized that a significant number of current library workers worked as library pages, clerks, and volunteers between the ages of 10 and 20, and chose library careers based on an experience or series of factors sampled there.
Methodology:
We designed the survey to be filled out on-line on a webpage accessible only by a special link. ULC's president Eleanor (Joey) Rodger emailed the link, with a request for assistance and instructions, to the directors of nine public libraries participating in the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds/Urban Libraries Council's Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development grant. These public libraries were chosen because, as part of the grant work, they currently employ teenagers in their systems. We kept the survey active for approximately two months and then archived it on the ULC website.
We asked the following three questions. The first two required "yes" or "no" answers (respondents were required to click a "radio button" for their response) and the third required a text answer. We did not ask respondents to give their names but did ask them to identify their library or library system. We requested no other demographic information. Questions were as follows:
- As a young adult, did you work or volunteer at a library? (yes) (no)
- Did this influence your decision to work in libraries as an adult? (yes) (no)
- What was most meaningful about this experience? (scrolling text box)
Sample:
The survey received 204 responses, broken down by library as follows:
Total respondents by library/library system:
Tucson-Pima Public Library: 73 (36%)
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County : 15 (8%)
Oakland Public Library: 23 (11%)
Free Library of Philadelphia : 76 (37%)
Other: 14 (7%)
Unidentified: 3 (2%)
Results:
We received an overwhelmingly positive response to the survey. Many respondents, especially those that had positive experiences as teen library workers, wrote detailed replies about these experiences, lauding the job, the acquired skills, the staff, or the environment as the reason they have library careers today. Results as follows:
Question 1:
As a young adult, did you work or volunteer at a library?
Yes: 104 (51%)
No: 100 (49%)
Question 2:
Did this influence your decision to work in libraries as an adult?
Of respondents who answered "yes" to Question 1:
Were influenced by this work: 91 (88%)
Were not influenced by this work: 13 (12%)
Question 3:
What was most meaningful about this experience?
Most respondents who did not work at a library as youth did not answer to Question 3. However, in several cases, comments show that respondent was influenced by other contact with library: 19 (19%)
Of those who did work at libraries as youth, 12% indicated that the experience was not positive (given no real responsibility, disliked the supervisor, etc.). The other 88%, those who responded "yes" to Question #2, commented enthusiastically at length. They identified the following factors in the following percentages as influential (many respondents indicated more than one factor; therefore, results will not total 100%).
"Felt like I could make a contribution": 12 (11%)
"Enjoyed the work": 37 (36%)
"Enjoyed the environment": 39 (38%)
"Enjoyed my co-workers": 34 (32%)
"Anticipated career benefits": 5 (5%)
"Skills I learned were helpful later": 8 (8%)
"Improved my confidence, self-esteem": 6 (6%)
Other: 2 (2%)
Two or more factors: 38 (38%)
Conclusions:
As a result of this data, we may draw three conclusions. First, positive experiences working in libraries as teens do encourage workers to choose library careers. In fact, 44% of respondents fall into this category. Additionally, judging from the respondents' comments, we know that one or more factors of this positive experience lead directly to a library career or are remembered when an individual looks to change careers.
Secondly, the survey targets what about these jobs individuals remember fondly. The most important factors seem to be the environment (clean, cheerful, surrounded by books), the work itself (fun, satisfying, useful to society), and the staff (enthusiastic, dedicated, helpful). With these factors in mind, libraries may target their teen library workers to enhance the experience in these areas.
Finally, we may conclude that hiring youth workers and providing them with positive experiences may go a long way toward "growing our own." According to comments we received in response to the third question, positive experiences may include a supportive supervisor, varied tasks, increasing responsibility, feeling valued as a member of the team, good wages, building a portfolio of useful skills, and having the opportunity to explore what a library career means. Libraries may be well served in developing youth employment programs – at least one respondent returned with his/her MLS to work in the library she had worked in as a teen.
As a side note, although more research is needed, these results also suggest that positive, non-work experiences in libraries for teenagers may also influence their election of a library career. Positive youth development training for all staff will lead to more positive experiences in libraries for teenagers at a time when they are beginning to choose careers and decide on further education.
PLA's Committee on Recruitment of Public Librarians, enjoined in January 2000 to recommend solutions to the staffing crisis, identified dozens of strategies to attract new librarians, including marketing the library profession to young adults, mentoring or sponsoring students, confront "stagnant mentalities" about the profession, develop training programs, rethink how libraries are staffed. Hiring teenagers to work part-time in libraries provides a ready audience for many of these solutions. This survey indicates that your teen workers are listening. |
