General
An analysis reported in 1974 of 660 library science and library science related dissertations completed between 1925 and 1972 showed that, for 435 doctoral recipients who received their degrees between 1953-72, there was no statistically significant relationship between sex and mobility. Specifically, comparing location of job to location of school, 17.0% of the females and 9.5% of the males were in the same state, 27.4% of the females and 31.8% of the males were in contiguous states, while 55.6% of the females and 58.7% of the males were “geographically removed.” (Source)
A study reported in 1981 of a portion of the COSWL data involving the responses of 739 personal members (195 men; 544 women) of the American Library Association who were at the time of the study employed in libraries and who had received their professional library degrees prior to 1971 showed thatfewer males than females reported limits to their mobility in terms of job seeking. 69.6% of male directors reported no mobility limits, 54.4% of male middle managers and 57.1% of male librarians/other reported no mobility limits, compared to 47.3% of female directors, 42.4% of female middle managers, and 42.5% of female librarians/other reporting no mobility limits. (Source)
Academic
A survey reported in 1967 of selected head college librarians (sample size: 660; responding: 414 or 62.7%) showed thatwomen head librarians tended to change positions less often than men. Of 173 head librarians who had been in their present positions for over 10 years, 112 (64.80%) were women. Of 82 head librarians who had been in their present positions for over 16 years, 60 (73.17%) were women. (Source)
A 1975 survey of 530 (87% responding) academic librarians in 9 southern states out of a total academic librarian population of 1,964, investigating the relationship between job mobility and career advancement, showed thaton the average women changed jobs every 5.2 years, while men changed jobs every 4.8 years. This was not a statistically significant difference. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, although job mobility was similar for men and women librarians, the reasons for job changes were not. 94% of the men left a prior position for career-related reasons, while only 75% of the women did. The remaining men and women left their prior positions for either personal or family reasons. (Source)
