Abstract
M.Bibl.
Information is an important and powerful resource in the modern society. The so-called information explosion leads to certain manpower issues in the library and information profession. The question arises whether married women with family obligations can contribute to the alleviation of library and information workforce problems? Can other librarians, e.g. post graduate students or librarians reaching retirement age, contribute to the library and information profession on a basis other than that which is traditionally accepted (i.e. working
approximately forty hours per week in a library?) To what extent does the university library use this potential workforce? What are the career opportunities for this latent
workforce? The following non-traditional career patterns were included in
this study: part-time work, flex(i)time, dual appointments, free-lance information brokers.
job sharing,
librarianship,
staff rotation,
consultants and
Following a literature survey a questionnaire was sent to 22
South African University Librarians. Another questionnaire was
sent to 122 non-traditional library and information
professionals at nine university libraries.
Although the study was limited to only a few university
libraries, it was found that the current non-traditional
university library workforce consists mainly of part-time
employees. The majority are female, married, Afrikaans-speaking,
have children at school and have stopped working full-time
because of family obligations. The largest percentage (25%) of
the respondents are between the ages of 36 and 40 years.
Their responsibilities are primarily professional. 50% of the
respondents are employed in the Cataloguing Department.
Respondents also maintained that they were more productive in
their current positions, than when they had been employed
full-time. This corresponds with statements made by the
employers in the first questionnaire, as well as with those made
by several authors in the literature survey.