under-classification of librarians and creating opportunities for development in an academic library

The issue of workforce planning is becoming increasingly pertinent across the Australian library and information industry. This is particularly true in the state of Tasmania, which, with a small population and markedly ageing workforce, is likely to be especially impacted by the effects of generational change and staff retention and recruitment in the near future. Recognising this problem, the University of Tasmania (UTAS) Library initiated a comprehensive workforce planning project over 2005 – 2007 to identify and address the key issues impacting on the effective retention and development of new and experienced staff. Two of the key issues identified in this process were: 1. the chronic under-classification of experienced librarians, and 2. the lack of opportunities for new librarians to enter and develop within the profession. In order to address these issues the systematic reorganization of the Library’s strategic service units, position descriptions and development practices was set in motion. This was, however, only the beginning; the UTAS Library still had no comprehensive orientation program for new librarians, and also lacked an in-house structure for articulation as the capacity and experience of these librarians grew. In 2007 the Liaison Librarian A Developmental Framework was developed, in close reference to the theories of the learning organization and workplace learning, to provide a structure for formal and informal learning and support in professional development and articulation. This paper sets out to ground the UTAS Library workforce planning process and subsequent Development Framework system in their practical and theoretical contexts, while the accompanying presentation will provide a personal narrative of how the changes did (and didn’t) work for a Generation Y new librarian when the Framework was first put into action in early 2007.