Talent Management, SPEC Kit 344 (November 2014)

Taylor, Meredith A.; Lee, Elida

18 · Survey Results: Survey Questions and Responses
TALENT STRATEGY
The purpose of this section is to learn more about the overall talent strategy being employed by your library.
1. Please indicate which of the following talent management activities your library currently
undertakes and which of these activities are represented in your library’s strategic plan. Check all
that apply. N=53
Talent Management Activities Library currently
undertakes
Is represented in
strategic plan
N
Professional development opportunities 53 23 53
Employee performance assessment 51 5 51
Leadership development opportunities 45 14 48
Functional training 47 11 47
Activities/programming to increase employee engagement 41 19 42
Job classification analysis 38 3 38
Compensation analysis 36 3 36
Activities/programming to retain top talent 31 17 33
Competencies for use in recruiting, managing, and/or
developing employees
31 7 32
Other activity 8 3 8
Total Responses 53 30 53
If you selected “Other activity” above, please briefly describe the activity(ies). N=8
Library Fellows Program, MIT Libraries Professional Research Grant Program, Librarian/Archivist Promotion Process, MIT
Rewards and Recognition Program
Library-wide initiative to improve team building and communication—”culture change”—led by external consultant.
Training grid to identify skills important to the library (both operationally and strategically) and to prioritize who needs
those and how training will be sought/provided.
Managerial &Supervisory training program Aboriginal Employment Strategy (paid MLIS internship)
Mentoring program for faculty
Mentoring program for tenure track faculty
Non-exempt staff development
Stretch assignments, promotional opportunities
The university has various initiatives in process, too.
Additional Comments N=4
Although the library doesn’t have an internal leadership development program, the university supports attendance at
external leadership development opportunities: Harvard Leadership Institute, Research Library Leadership Fellows, TRLN
Management Academy, Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians, etc.

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18 · Survey Results: Survey Questions and Responses
TALENT STRATEGY
The purpose of this section is to learn more about the overall talent strategy being employed by your library.
1. Please indicate which of the following talent management activities your library currently
undertakes and which of these activities are represented in your library’s strategic plan. Check all
that apply. N=53
Talent Management Activities Library currently
undertakes
Is represented in
strategic plan
N
Professional development opportunities 53 23 53
Employee performance assessment 51 5 51
Leadership development opportunities 45 14 48
Functional training 47 11 47
Activities/programming to increase employee engagement 41 19 42
Job classification analysis 38 3 38
Compensation analysis 36 3 36
Activities/programming to retain top talent 31 17 33
Competencies for use in recruiting, managing, and/or
developing employees
31 7 32
Other activity 8 3 8
Total Responses 53 30 53
If you selected “Other activity” above, please briefly describe the activity(ies). N=8
Library Fellows Program, MIT Libraries Professional Research Grant Program, Librarian/Archivist Promotion Process, MIT
Rewards and Recognition Program
Library-wide initiative to improve team building and communication—”culture change”—led by external consultant.
Training grid to identify skills important to the library (both operationally and strategically) and to prioritize who needs
those and how training will be sought/provided.
Managerial &Supervisory training program Aboriginal Employment Strategy (paid MLIS internship)
Mentoring program for faculty
Mentoring program for tenure track faculty
Non-exempt staff development
Stretch assignments, promotional opportunities
The university has various initiatives in process, too.
Additional Comments N=4
Although the library doesn’t have an internal leadership development program, the university supports attendance at
external leadership development opportunities: Harvard Leadership Institute, Research Library Leadership Fellows, TRLN
Management Academy, Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians, etc.

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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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SPEC Kit 344: Talent Management · 19
Leadership development opportunities are provided at institutional level.
Not all selected activities in the “library currently undertakes” column apply to all employee groups.
University professional development opportunities
2. Please indicate which of the following talent/workforce management challenges your library is
currently facing, or will face in the next three years, and which of those challenges are addressed in
your library’s strategic plan. Check all that apply. N=52
Talent Management Challenges Library currently
facing
Library will face in
next 3 years
Is addressed in
strategic plan
N
Retirement of a large number of staff 23 36 3 45
Budget cuts affecting fiscal resources 31 14 7 32
Internal salary inequities 28 7 0 29
Current employees not able to be re-trained or
re-skilled
25 3 5 27
Job candidates not having the skills your library
needs
17 8 2 20
Salaries are not competitive enough to attract
new staff
16 9 1 19
Salaries are not competitive enough to retain
existing staff
16 3 0 16
Downsizing of staff 14 5 0 16
Lack of work/life balance for staff 13 2 1 13
Not enough new librarians/library staff to fill
vacancies
4 2 1 5
Other challenge 11 2 1 11
Total Responses 52 41 15 52
If you selected “Other challenge” above, please briefly describe the challenge(s). N=11
Campus personnel policies for staff and faculty tenure can discourage supervisors and administrators from pursuing time
consuming and difficult steps to dismiss a non-productive employee. Staff and faculty who are mentally and emotionally
tied to traditional tasks that could not be defined as somewhat obsolete. This is not necessarily a training issue, but one
where employees define their value to the organization based on what they have traditionally done in their jobs.
Challenges in recruiting IT positions. Challenges of recruiting within the state civil service system.
Determining salaries for non-traditional librarian roles, like data curation, since the ARL data is not addressing it yet.
Downsizing of non-exempt support staff is being done through attrition with reassignment of funds to professional and
Libraries faculty positions.
“Downsizing of staff” and “budget cuts affecting fiscal resources” have led to some changes in individual workload
and activities.
Downsizing was limited to law library. Other challenges include inabilities to fill positions rapidly.

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Page 7Survey Results click to expand contents

Page 71Representative Documents click to expand contents

Page 73Competency Models click to expand contents

Page 109Staff Development Plans click to expand contents

Page 115Performance Assessment click to expand contents

Page 179Selected Resources click to expand contents

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