A worldwide shortage of librarians

From down under

Librarians in their traditional form are an endangered species. The library and information profession faces a potential crisis over the next decade as a large percentage of library workers retire. Currently 60 per cent of librarians are aged 45 and over, compared with the national figure of 35 per cent for all occupations, and only 14 per cent are under 35, compared with the national figure of 42 per cent.

There is evidence of a similar crisis in other countries: the United Kingdom has an anticipated shortage of 10 800 public library staff by the year 2010 - only five years away. The United States government is also funding a major study into the future staffing needs of academic libraries....