In 1998, 57% of professional librarians were age 45 or older. Based on U.S. Census data, more than one quarter of all librarians with a master's degree will reach the age of 65 by 2009. A 2000 survey published in Library Journal indicates that 40% of library directors intend to retire by 2009. These figures confirm that the library profession is facing a recruitment crisis. While conditions vary in different parts of the country and the shortage is not yet acute, many libraries are having difficulty finding qualified candidates to fill positions and others foresee such difficulty in the near future. Library personnel realize that baby-boomer retirements are having a considerable impact on staffing. The Monthly Labor Review estimates that educational service (K-12 teachers, community-college and university faculty) is the industry that will be most critically affected by this large group of retirees. The public must be made more aware of librarianship as a career. ALA's public-education campaign, the Campaign for America's Libraries, emphasizes the role of librarians as trained information specialists who are ready to help patrons take advantage of the many services offered at today's libraries. We are identifying groups (high school and college students, paraprofessionals already employed in libraries, and adults seeking a career change) who may be receptive to working in the field and are actively recruiting them. We must communicate excitement and pride in our profession, stressing that the new information technologies have made librarianship a more dynamic career choice. Librarianship in all its forms fits the classic definition of a service profession, whether connecting children to the world of books and ideas, helping further the boundaries of knowledge in an academic setting, or helping community members in their first encounters with the Internet.
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