The effects of technology on midcareer librarians

Library Trends, Spring, 2002 by Marilyn P. Lewis

Table 3

       Number of Ads    Number of Ads
       Requesting       Requesting Technology
Year   Administration   and Administration

1970   229              24
1975   197              49
1980   509              233
1985   764              483
1990   969              591

At about the same time that technological qualifications began to be explicitly stated in the ads, there was also an increase in administrative positions, including middle management. Both position types appear in all year spans, although administrative experience was required more than technological expertise in the earlier years (see Tables 2 & 3 above). And while previous studies have shown that many librarians move into administrative positions after serving time at an assistant level, one should not assume that ads for administrative positions do not imply some computer application experience. One cannot imagine an applicant for an administrative position not being conversant with current library technology, at least in a general way. The difference between the two ad types would be one of emphasis, rather than of exclusivity.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Statistics show that librarians are older, demographically, in comparison to other similar professions (Wilder, 1999, p. 1). The reasons for this variance could be a topic for another study. Whether librarians obtain their terminal degree early in their chronological life or as a second or third career, the current average age of a librarian is greater than what someone would expect in a profession that has been inundated with technology. The advertised qualifications of available positions reflect the requirement of emerging technologies, regardless of the position or the type of library. The increase in the "technology" qualification shows steady growth, beginning primarily in traditional technical services and some administrative positions. Growth in this qualification appears to have crossed into all types of positions by the mid-1980s. As was expected, the qualifications for "technology" only appeared primarily in technical services positions in the 1970s, which correlates with libraries beginning their implementation of automated systems and projects of retrospective conversion of card catalogs. It was not until the completion of the catalog conversion, the subsequent implementation of online catalogs, and the emergence of electronic databases that the "technology" qualification increased in the other positions. The growth of that crossover began in administrative roles in the 1980s and indicated that both "administrative" and "technology" qualifications increased during that time. Many of the people in these positions were not immediately out of their terminal degree program. They were professionals with a number of years of experience. Therefore, one might draw the conclusion that successful automation of libraries transpired due to the large number of people who were well into their career at the time of initial automation activity.