Grey matter: the ageing librarian workforce, with a focus on public and academic libraries in Australia and the United States.

• Author: Franks, Rachel

The issue of the ageing workforce within the field of librarianship is one that is deceptively straightforward. The workforce is ageing and will soon need to be replaced by a younger cohort of information professionals. The issue, however, harbours a range of complexities such as managing workplace change; recruitment as well as training and retraining; discrimination based on age and gender; conflict within a workforce with shifting demographics; and the provision of flexible working practices, especially for those older workers who have responsibilities such as the need to care for elderly parents. Another aspect is retention--attrition is not the exclusive prerogative of the retiree and an intake of younger librarians does not guarantee the meeting of workforce needs within libraries. This article looks at these issues and provides an overview of the debate around how serious the issue of an ageing workforce really is for library leaders.

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On the surface the issue of the ageing workforce within the field of librarianship--across a range of library types including academic, private, public, school, special and state libraries--is relatively straightforward. The workforce is ageing and will soon need to be replaced by a younger cohort of information professionals. A close examination of the literature on this topic reveals a much more complex series of issues that converge to generate a set of interwoven challenges including the managing of workplace change; recruitment as well as training and retraining; and conflict within a workforce with shifting demographics. Superimposed upon these issues is the debate about how serious the matter of a greying labour market really is. This article presents two library workforce profiles--for academic and public libraries--through a consolidation of some of the available data in Australia and the United States. In addition, it provides a synthesis of the research in this area--the bulk of which takes the form of census data, analyses of patterns in available statistical data, reviews of printed materials such as job advertisements, case studies, interviews and surveys. This review of the issue of 'grey matter' also identifies some of the gaps within the existing body of scholarship on ageing library workforces.

The literature on the ageing library workforce

The idea of an ageing workforce, and the associated issues of changing demographics in the workplace with a focus on pension planning, was first raised in the late 1940s and early 1950s. (1) The idea of needing to grapple with an ageing workforce in a library setting was not raised, however, until the mid 1980s and did not gain traction until the 1990s (2) with the emergence of a number of opinion pieces (3) in addition to articles based on annual salary surveys and demographic data (4) which continue to be produced. (5) There are also numerous books available that collate ideas on this issue. It is interesting to note that, less than two decades after the first publications on the topic appeared, there were those who felt too much time and effort had been dedicated to researching ageing workforces; reflected in calls to 'get over' the 'greying' profession hype. (6) This call has not been heeded. The amount of material available dealing with this very real (7) topic increases as the baby boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, edge closer to retirement. (8)

The age profile of librarians in Australia and the United States

As noted, across a range of studies, the traditional cluster of library and information science professionals includes those who work in libraries, record management units and archives. (9) In Australia (10) there are about 12,300 librarians (not including library technicians or library assistants). Of that number 62 per cent are over 45 years of age yet only 3.4 per cent are under 25 years of age out of a total national workforce where only 38 per cent of all persons are over 45 years of age. (11) The experience in the United States, though on a larger scale, is similar with approximately 150,000 librarians (again, not including library technicians or library assistants). Of that number 58 per cent are over 45 years of age in contrast to only 39 per cent of the total national workforce being over 45 years of age and the youngest ages of librarians, being described as those under 30, are 4 per cent of all librarians which is roughly equivalent in group size to those librarians over 70 years of age. (12) These figures serve to show that, while the ageing workforce is having an impact upon all industries, the issue appears to be magnified within the field of library and information science.

The feminisation of library and information science professionals

The Australian and United States experiences are similar, despite the United States employing over twelve times the number of librarians that are employed by Australia. The feminisation of the field continues to be routinely reported in both countries as the decades pass (13) with women accounting for 84 per cent of the Australian librarian workforce yet only making up 45 per cent of the entire working population across the country. (14) There is a reflection of this trend in the United States with women presenting as 82 per cent of all librarians but only 46 per cent of all workers across all industries. (15) This trend is often reported in the context of income differentials between men and women with the issue of 'workers in sex segregated institutions such as libraries [being] entitled to equal pay for comparable work' becoming mainstream in the 1970s. (16) As a result of librarianship being a predominantly female occupation choice both women and men have been paid less than those who work in industries requiring similar levels of education. (17) The issue of pay equity, which came to prominence with the peak of second wave feminism, remains an issue in contemporary societies (18) and therefore continues to influence career choices for young people entering the workforce. This is an issue for employers looking to replace their retiring workers with younger graduates. When discussing an ageing workforce the female domination of the profession is also linked to the tradition of women retiring at an earlier age than men in similar roles as well as being more likely to experience career interruptions than men, (19) thus exacerbating the issue of the ageing workforces within libraries.

Academic and public libraries in Australia and the United States

Ageing workforces are an issue for all types of libraries but the matter has been paid particular attention by the larger employment groups within the sector. Academic libraries, as the oldest type of library, have long been of interest to researchers. (20) In Australian academic libraries the steady increase of older workers is compounded by the trend that sees older workers look for sea changes or tree changes resulting in older professionals making up the bulk of applications for advertised positions in many coastal and some rural areas. Research undertaken on the workforce at Deakin University Library, for example, cites that the employment opportunities coupled with the lifestyle associated with the geographical setting of the university has seen staff 45 years of age and older grow to account for 73.9 per cent...