An anonymous patron dropped by to let us know about an editorial in a Chicago newspaper describing some of the personnel problems in the Chicago Public Library system.
“Remember the dedicated, experienced reference librarians who helped you do research at the Chicago Public Library just a few years ago? Remember the branch librarians who knew your neighborhood and knew the collection and had time to connect the people to the resources? Many of them have taken early retirement, causing a significant loss of intellectual resources to the city. Many others have been re-assigned to departments or branches which do not use their expertise.”
Old Guard
It’s been my experience that greenhorn librarians are more willing to help than jaded lifers that need to retire… more than making up for any lack of skills (not to mention that younger librarian can sometimes be more knowledgeable than older ones).
Lifers vs Greenhorns
The quality of service depends upon the “service orientation” of the individual librarian and department heads who create and environment that encourages and rewards librarians to do their best work.
As in any workplace, new employees and old and benefit by working together and learning from each other.
You can get bad service or good service from a “greenie” or a lifer.
If a lifer gives bad service it’s probably because they are working in a system that has mistreated them for years and discards them as soon as the reach a statistical age where their health care costs have increased.
Re:Lifers vs Greenhorns
Having retired because I had other things in life I wanted to do, I can speak to this. I loved my job and I was very good at it. I watched not only my library colleagues, but my veterinary colleagues head out the door.
The good ones had always been good, even at entry level, and the bad ones had never been good. It’s not that people don’t grow or develop skills, but attitudes, drive, tenacity, and personality–you are born with those.