General
A survey in 1970 of all libraries of all types in the 3-county Detroit metropolitan area conducted by the Wayne State University Department of Library Science (116 libraries responding, including 57% of the school libraries, 94% of the academic libraries, 80% of the special libraries, and 92% of the public libraries) showed thata total of 559 librarians resigned during the 5 years previous to the survey, constituting the following percentages of the total professional workforce of the following types of libraries:
LIBRARY TYPE % PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE
school libraries 28
academic libraries 39
special libraries 64
Ibid…. showed that, of 559 librarians who resigned during the five years previous to the survey, the following estimated percentages of the total professional workforce by library type left the profession:
LIBRARY TYPE % PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE
school libraries 30
academic libraries 16
special libraries 29
Ibid…. showed that75% of all libraries of all types reported no preference for any particular age level, while 25% indicated their greatest need was for librarians under 35 years of age; the need for black librarians was reported only by the large public and school library systems; and 4 school districts and 10 public libraries reported their greatest need was for male librarians. (Source)
Academic
A 1971-72 survey of full-time employees (both professional and nonprofessional) in 3 U.S. university libraries in selected departments (book selection, acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and reference) concerning job satisfaction as measured by the Hage/Aiken satisfaction scale (survey size: 521 librarians; responding: 384 or 73%) showed that, of 137 professionals, 24 (17%) reported they intended to leave the full-time work force or go into another type of work within 5 years (12 of the 24 respondents were over the age of 55, which suggested that retirement was the reason for leaving). On the other hand, 54 (40%) of the professionals and 67 (27%) of the nonprofessionals reported that they expected to be working in the same library in 5 years’ time. (Source)
