Article Note: On Factors That Contribute to Academic Librarian Turnover

As I started to read this article, I recalled my days in library school. Early on in the program one of the assignments in a library management class I was taking was to interview a library manager/supervisor. So I went back to my previous graduate school and interviewed their head of the reference department at the time. They told me, among various insights, that turnover in her unit was part of the trade as other librarians would move up to promotions elsewhere. She tried to make an environment to make sure her librarians and workers did well at their job so they could succeed wherever they ended up. I admit that at the time, and even now, I have some mixed feelings about that. 

This article looks at reasons librarians gave for leaving one academic institution for another within a five-year period. I will mention upfront that I would've fallen within the changing jobs in 5 to 7 years, though for me it was not just in libraries. But that is another story. 

Some takeaways from the article, with a bit of my commentary: 

• "Library managers and their supervisors do not benefit from new librarians every two years as much as they benefit from librarians that believe in their institution and stay with it" (Cottrell, qtd. in 579).
• And yet, more often than not library managers are on the lookout for the next library messiahs and young librarians versed in the latest "flash." See also the phenomenon of "new-hire messianism" identified by the Library Loon back in 2011. Some things have not changed over time. By the way, finding that 2011 link took some doing on the search engine. Part of it I am sure is because as library blogs age, and are mostly forgotten except by a few of us, content like the Library Loon's gets buried deeper in the web.
  
• Purpose of the article is to "examine the contributing factors to academic librarian turnover and begin a conversation about retaining 21st century library professionals" (580). 
• The study defined academic librarians as "any professional holding a Master's degree in Library Science and currently working in an academic setting" (582). To be included in the survey, "participants had to be currently employed as an academic librarian within the United States and have voluntarily left an academic librarian position within the last five years" (582). 
• The survey ended up with 275 participants who completed the survey and met the criteria to be included. 
• Note that most of the participants worked and/or work at large public universities of 20K+ students.
  
• A study by M. Becher, quoted in the article, found that "among librarians with faculty status, tenured librarians have the highest levels of job satisfaction. Meanwhile, non-tenured librarians reported lower overall job satisfaction, particularly among those not on the tenure-track but who work alongside tenure track librarians" (qtd. in 581). 
• I would buck this trend given my low regard for tenure and librarianship. A couple of my colleagues here would likely buck the trend as well, but I will note no one was asking me. 
• "In recent years, the concept of job burnout has become more prevalent in the library literature. One of the primary causes of burnout is work overload" (581). 
• Gee, can't imagine why. 
• "Quantitative data showed that participants were most dissatisfied with the morale in the library" (585). Again, I can't imagine why. Keep in mind this article came out in 2020, which means the research was done in 2019 or so, i.e. mostly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. If morale in libraries was low then, it took another major hit during the pandemic. Issues that respondents identified related to morale included ineffective library management (things like micromanaging, poor decisions, unethical behavior), campus administration issues (such as poor leadership), and lack of growth opportunities (585). 
• Toxic and dysfunctional library culture and environment was also identified as a morale issue, though to be honest, it did not score as high as I would have expected. Still, I would say the old adage is applicable: people don't quit jobs. They quite bad managers and supervisors. Turns out a bit later in the article, the authors mention this too: "Results from the study indicate that employees are not fleeing their positions, they are fleeing work environments they feel are toxic" (591). Way I see it this kind of finding should be an indictment of how some libraries are run and the shameful fact that a good amount of toxic library supervisors and directors are not only tolerated but even rewarded. But do not take my word for it. Read on.
  
• "Low morale (M=3.17, SD- 1.01) was the area of highest dissatisfaction and was often tied to library leadership and culture within the open-ended responses. Direct supervisors were a frequently cited source of conflict due to bullying, neglect, or biased behavior. These behaviors were exhibited by the supervisors themselves, but also between colleagues and departments" (591). Good thing they did not ask me because I could have shared a horror story or two about workplace bullying and spineless administrators.
  
• An interesting to me finding: "This means that academic librarians who previously worked at smaller institutions (in terms of enrollment) were more dissatisfied with aspects related to their job duties and compensation and benefits than academic librarians who worked at larger institutions" (590). 
• In my experience, and I emphasize it is my experience, I have been more satisfied working in a smaller campus. There are reasons for that, and I probably should write about that some day. 
• Another interesting to me finding: "In the open-ended portion of the survey, participants reported that being classified as staff meant having less conference and travel funding and feeling less respected by colleagues within the university" (592). 
• To which I ask if they feel more respected if they have tenure. Because from experience in more than one campus I have worked in, I can safely tell you that "real" faculty don't give a shit about us librarians being "faculty" too. We are not "real" to them. 
• And speaking of messianism and librarianship, "other librarians reported that newly hired librarians in instruction or technical services were offered lower salaries than new librarians that worked in digital fields" (593). As if overall inequity issues were not bad enough. 
• A possible solution in hiring: "honestly during the recruitment phase about the surrounding area in order for candidates to make informed decisions about whether it will be a good fit" (594).
• Yea, right. On a very anecdotal side notes, some hiring committees locally have reported that "the surrounding area" (i.e. the state) has created some difficulties in attracting quality candidates to come work here. Catch is that much like libraries can't control local weather (and yes, in some cases, unhappiness with weather was a reason for a departure), they can't really control if their locale is less than desirable (for whatever reasons, including the political climate for instance). 
• "As reflected in burnout literature, librarians exceed what is considered a typical work week to fit in their service and scholarship elements on top of their work tasks" (594). 
• And with little to no appreciation (let alone compensation) I will add. On a positive for me, I am glad I am not on a tenure line, which means I do not have to worry about "scholarship" requirements that would be more of a distraction to me doing my actual work. 
• And yet another of those gee I wonder why findings: The authors mention that "while about half of academic librarians are eligible for sabbatical, less than a third take advantage of the privilege" (594). 
• Where do I even start with that one. One reason may be the workloads we often have combined with an inability to realistically take time off. I happen to have the so-called privilege of sabbatical, but when it came up for me I did not take it. One of the reasons is that, although I get it, I cannot take it in the way a "real" faculty would be able to take it (six months to a year straight through). My duties pretty much prevent this. I am one of the primary library instructors and my duties in a regular semester are quite heavy. This would mean a disruption to the library. Not to mention likelihood of getting a sabbatical replacement for me is fairly low (again, unlike "real" faculty who can likely count on that). Here, the one or two colleagues who took a sabbatical had to split it, and not even a fair split. It was basically two summers (because again, we have to work during the year), so they do not even get a full sabbatical (two summers is not even six months). I am sure there are other reasons those librarians choose not to take their sabbaticals if they even get them. To be honest, from what I gather, an academic librarian getting sabbaticals as a job privilege is rare. I may need to check on that at some point. Having said that, I will note that before I came to my current job, I never had sabbatical as an academic librarian so to be honest to the so-called privilege does not really impress me. 
• "Retaining employees is especially important because while waves of new employees can bring with them waves of new ideas, longtime employees identify more closely with and have more loyalty to their institution's mission" (Cottrell qtd. in 594). 
• This becomes a question of hoe much administrators value loyalty to the institution and workplace or not If all they care about is the latest messiah and flash, then turnover might not be as big an issue. It can be the price of doing business, get a nice project going and as long as someone who remains behind can maintain it the originator can leave (or the project falls apart, but by then the next new person brings along the next new thing, and repeat the cycle). 
• "Retention strategies should begin at the start of a librarian's time at an institution, not when they are already thinking about leaving" (595). 
• Duh. I can assure you that no one really thought of this in places I was hired previously, and if we are being honest, I do not think they gave it that much thought at my current workplace. 
• "Recruiting and retaining librarians of color is particularly problematic in environments that do not protect employees from racial microaggressions, isolation, invalidations and microinsults..." (596).
• Again, duh. See also the previous point here about employers being honest or not about ground conditions when they are doing hiring. 
• The authors note that the study did not consider librarians who left the profession entirely, and that can be a subject for further study.

 

Citation for the article: 

 Christina Heady, et.al., "Contributory Factors to Academic Librarian Turnover: a Mixed-Methods Study." Journal of Library Administration 60.6 (2020): 579-599.