Attracting Young People into the Librarianship Profession

1
Attracting Young People into the Librarianship
Profession

• Sarah Newbutt

2
Overview

• Staffing Crisis
• The importance of recruiting young people
• The Barriers
• New professionals views on whats stopping young
  people from entering librarianship
• The Solutions
• New professionals views on what we can do to
  attract more young people into librarianship

3
Overview

• Staffing Crisis
• The importance of recruiting young people
• The Barriers
• New professionals views on whats stopping young
  people from entering librarianship
• The Solutions
• New professionals views on what we can do to
  attract more young people into librarianship

4
Of the 16 respondents

• 4 were aged between 18-24 years old
• 11 were aged between 25-39 years old
• 1 was over 40 years old
• 1 didnt give an answer to this question

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What barriers do you see facing young people
wanting to enter the librarianship profession?

• Invisibility of the profession
• Negative stereotypes
• Qualifications required
• Poor careers advice
• Lack of job opportunities
• Money - low salaries

6
Overview

• Staffing Crisis
• The importance of recruiting young people
• The Barriers
• New professionals views on whats stopping young
  people from entering librarianship
• The Solutions
• New professionals views on what we can do to
  attract more young people into librarianship

7
The Solutions

• Self-promotion
• Increase awareness
• Increase visibility
• Engagement with Web 2.0 technologies
• Banish negative stereotypes

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Communication

• Lack of public awareness
• is often behind
  under-appreciation of the
• LIS sector
• Better communication to counter invisibility
  of key LIS work
• Library Information Update

9
School Librarians

• a recent survey discovered that the average age
  of school librarians was 50
• We cant let schools become book-free zones
• Times Higher Education

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New Libraries, New Librarians
The Information Commons at The University of
Sheffield http//www.shef.ac.uk/library/libsites/i
c.html
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National Action

• Television campaigns
• Librarians Day
• A Face of Librarianship
• Who is the Florence Nightingale of the Library
  World?

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Breaking Down Stereotypes

• Librarians are highly qualified professionals
• Librarians work with technology, not just books
• Librarians are young!

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Ultimately, we need a change in attitudes

• This is what were up against

Eugene Adam