For immediate release:
January 4, 2008
For more information, contact:
Martha Kyrillidou
Association of Research Libraries
martha@arl.org
ARL Workforce Data Indicate Possible "Youth Movement" on Horizon
Washington DC--In a recent study of demographic data on the
university library members of the Association of Research Libraries
(ARL), Stanley J. Wilder, Associate Dean, River Campus Libraries,
University of Rochester, posits that US ARL libraries are likely to
experience a professional "youth movement" in the next few years, much
as their Canadian peers have experienced recently.
In earlier analyses, Wilder has predicted that retirements from the
ranks of US ARL professionals will peak in 2010-15. In this new study,
he poses the question of how disruptive these retirements might be. The
data give Wilder cause for optimism--he suggests that "the transition to
a younger population may occur in a smooth orderly way that involves no
profession-wide shortages or crises. The transition may, on the
contrary, prompt a youth movement that could afford ARL libraries the
opportunity to retool in ways that might otherwise have been
impossible."
Wilder cites the example of Canadian ARL libraries, whose
professional employees appear to be five years ahead of US ARL
libraries on the age curve. Canadian ARL libraries are already
experiencing rapidly growing percentages of younger professionals
joining their ranks as older professionals retire--the percentage of the
Canadian ARL population under the age of 35 nearly doubled between 2000
and 2005. They are seeing the same kind of growth in new hires and new
professionals, indicating that Canadian administrators do appear to be
filling vacancies created by retirement.
Wilder suggests that US ARL libraries may see a similar doubling of
new hires and new professionals in 2010, since there is a "healthy
supply of library professionals" upon which to draw. This bodes well
for "a smooth transition to a younger population, with new skill sets
to address changing needs."
See Stanley J. Wilder, "The ARL Youth Movement: Reshaping the ARL Workforce," ARL: A Bimonthly Report,
no. 254 (October 2007): 1-4, http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arl-br-254-youth.pdf.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit
organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is
to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and
the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse
communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals
of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and
information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities,
fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future
environment that leverages its interests with those of allied
organizations. ARL is located on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.
