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Well, surely by now you have heard about the oncoming wave of Baby Boomer retirees in libraries and elsewhere in the workplaces of America, a shaky economy notwithstanding. Because of this phenomenon, the Social Science Division, along with the Military Libraries and Government Information Divisions, addressed issues of succession planning in libraries at the SLA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. , on Monday, June 15, 2009 from 1:30 to 5:00 pm, in a double session. As you probably know, succession planning is not only about finding a qualified person to replace someone who has retired. That would be too simple. It is about a complex web of personnel and management issues including restructuring and downsizing or rightsizing, strategic planning for new directions, retention and recruitment, training and mentoring, and knowledge transfer. This program was presented in two parts, the first being a case study of an actual succession plan implemented for the libraries of the U.S. Department of Justice; and the second part, a panel discussion touching on a few drivers of successful succession planning. This is a summary of Part Two. For the Part Two panel presentations, three experts, one from government, one from academia, and one from public libraries, tackled different aspects of this growing field:
1.Debbie Schachter, Director of Technology & Collection Management at Vancouver Public Library, and President of SLA’s Western Canada Chapter, focused on the importance of good retention strategies in the process. Expectations of younger workers are different than those of previous generations, she explained, and need to be taken into account by management. We can improve our retention of rising stars by mentoring and coaching them, assisting them in connecting with the organization’s mission and culture, and developing potential roles for them within the larger organization. Focus on what is meaningful to workers at various career stages, she said.
3. Michele Masias, a law librarian at the U.S. Department of Justice, took a different tactic by speaking about Federal librarian recruitment programs. When she first approached me with her topic ,which was not strictly on target, I thought “why not?” thinking that it would offer practical advice and hope to many job seekers in our profession. And yes, the U.S. government is a good place to work! She opened her presentation with this: By the year 2012, one-third of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire. Currently on 1/4 of the federal employee workforce is under the age 40. And it became even more alarming or promising, depending on your perspective: In some agencies, such as HUD, Transportation, OPM, almost 50% of the workforce will be eligible to retire in 2012. Making the scenario even more dire, nearly two-thirds of career executives and almost half of other supervisors can retire from all across government.
