University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment in Colorado Libraries: The 3Rs Study Revisited

Steffen, Nicole; Lietzau, Zeth

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/15364

Description

Title
Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment in Colorado Libraries: The 3Rs Study Revisited
Author(s)
  • Steffen, Nicole
  • Lietzau, Zeth
Issue Date
2009
Keyword(s)
  • Librarians -- Supply and demand -- Colorado
  • Librarians -- Recruiting -- Colorado
  • Librarians -- Retirement -- Colorado
  • Employee retention -- Colorado
Abstract
"Prompted by more than a decade of discussion about the ""graying"" of the library profession, the Library Research Service (LRS) undertook the study: Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado (3Rs). During the last quarter of 2003, 1,241 librarians, paraprofessionals, library and information science (LIS) students, and independent information professionals from all over the state responded to a voluntary online survey asking them about their careers, their workplaces, and their attitudes about librarianship. Respondents included both library workers who planned to retire within the next five years and those who did not. The study showed that more than 20 percent of responding librarians expected to retire within the next five years, and of all responding school librarians almost half indicated plans to retire by the end of 2008. When asked about the effect of the 2001–2 downturn in the economy on their retirement plans, nearly half of all respondents (48 percent) indicated it had no effect. However, more than one in ten (11 percent) said they planned to retire later because of economic conditions. In 2009, with the country in the worst recession in generations, retirement plans continue to be affected. This article will discuss the 2003 study, as well as current findings from reader polls conducted by LRS."
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/15364
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2009 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 58 (2) Fall 2009: Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science PRIMARY
Library Trends 58 (2) Fall 2009: Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science. Edited by Joanne Gard Marshall, Paul Solomon and Susan Rathbun-Grubb.