SPEC Kit 344: Talent Management · 17
SURVEY QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES
The SPEC Survey on Talent Management was designed by Meredith A. Taylor, Assistant Director for
Organizational Development at the University of Texas at Austin Libraries, and Elida Lee, Director for
Organization Effectiveness at the University of Texas at Austin. These results are based on data submitted
by 53 of the 125 ARL member libraries (42%) by the deadline of August 4, 2014. The survey’s introductory
text and questions are reproduced below, followed by the response data and selected comments from
the respondents.
Talent management is “an integrated set of processes, programs, and cultural norms in an organization designed and implemented
to attract, develop, deploy, and retain talent to achieve strategic objectives and meet future business needs” (Silzer and Dowell,
2010, p. 18). Talent management has never been more important to academic and research libraries as they respond to the evolving
higher education environment and an impending reshaping of their workforces.
In its 2013 environmental scan the ACRL Planning and Review Committee declared “shifts in the higher education environment
continue to have an impact on libraries in terms of collection/content development, access to and curation of new and legacy
resources, and services for extended audiences” (ACRL, 2013, p. 2). The report adds that, “to be prepared for the future and be
ready for new opportunities, many librarians and information professionals will re-envision their roles and define new opportunities.
Anticipating and preparing for new roles and how these roles can expand and evolve over time will be key to an enduring, engaged,
and thriving profession in the future” (p. 5).
Demographic data from ARL showed that in 2005 nearly half of the population of library professionals working in US member
libraries were age 50 and over, and of those, nearly one-third were 55 and over (Wilder, 2007). This trend is also echoed by
ALA, which estimates that by 2015, 30% of librarians will be over the age of 60, with the majority of these librarians retiring
between 2015 and 2025 (Davis, 2009). Although a large number of librarians are projected to retire in the next decade, workforce
demographics also show that the number of younger librarians is increasing and library school enrollments are surging (Davis, 2009).
The impending reshaping of the workforce and new challenges within the higher education environment are driving a need for more
robust human resource strategies. If academic and research libraries are to meet the evolving workforce needs of the profession and
their institutions, they will need to study their workforce and make appropriate adjustments utilizing talent management strategies
that will recruit, retain, and develop a workforce capable of meeting these evolved needs.
The purpose of this study is to determine if libraries are using talent management strategies in the recruitment, retention, and
development of a workforce needed to support the transformation of academic and research libraries. This survey investigates
the following areas related to talent management: talent strategy, recruitment and hiring, retention, employee engagement, job
classification management, compensation management, performance assessment, competencies, professional development
planning, and leadership and succession planning. This survey is interested in information about all library employees with the
exception of student (undergraduate or graduate), temporary, seasonal, or contract employees.
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