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SLA Employment Task Force Survey, closed 17 July

The survey was started by 146 people and completed by122 respondents. More than half have been in the profession for more than 15 years, and 34.5% of them were employed at their last job for 1-5 years. Another 26.1% were at their last job 6-10 years, and another 25.4% for more than ten years. The top three responses about type of library were financial (16.2%), news/media (15.5%) and not-for-profit (15.5%). Another 21.8% said "other," which included 56 respondents saying they held management positions, and another 46 responding they were in "reference and research").

When asked the area of knowledge that best describes the position in which they work or worked), more than a quarter replied business and finance. Legal and academic where the next two top answers.

The top answer to the seventh question was "reference" at 35.4%; more than 26% said "other" and 23.8% said library managment. Among the "other" responses, knowledge management came up a lot.

For Question 8, the top three responses for secondary duties included information resource evaluation at 61.2%; reference at 59.5%; and Information Resource Procurement at 34.7%

The top 3 responses for Question 9 were online searching (89.1%), reference interviewing (65.6%), and training and teaching (58.6%)

Of the respondents, 47.8% were employed, but 33.6% said they were unemployed. Another 14.2% said they were underemployed within the profession.

For Question 11, more than half said they were considering a career redirection in the next two years, and in Q12, more than 77% said there were NOT considering leaving the profession.

More than 88% were full-time employees, and for those who were unemployed, almost half *(48.9%) had their positions eliminated; another 20% said Elimination of Department or entire job function. People replying Other in question 14 amounted to 15.6%--and had similar replies of lay off, position eliminations, etc.

At the time of the survey, 35.6% of respondents were unemplyed 4.6 months; another 24.4% replied to both 0-3 months and 7-9 months, and another 11% said more than a year. About 55% did not receive any outplacement services

97% are actively seeking employment. Most want full-time work, and 40-57% would consider part-time/consulting/contractor work "fine"

In Question 19, most (more than 69%) said they would consider a non-traditional role, and the other two top answers were reference and training. In Question 20, the top reply was competitive intelligence, followed by training, publishing, project management, and social media/Web 2.0.

In Question 21, top "critical" needs sought by respondents were networking events with potential employers, programming on career alternatives, increased marketing of the profession, free database training from vendors, and skills training. Top answers in the "userful" category were reduced membership fees for the unemployed in professional organizations, resume assistance, and one-on-one mentoring.

In Question 22, the top answer was Web development, at 67%, programming (Web or computer) at 44%, and content creation at 58.5%.

87% of respondents were SLA members.

Download a compressed file with complete survey data.

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