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1. Introduction
The aging of the baby boomer population - those born between 1946 and 1964 - will affect all areas of the labor sector in the United States in the coming years. What the exact impact will be is uncertain, but it is clear that the retirement of the baby boomer generation will have a tremendous effect on the leadership and management of organizations as these retirees take with them the knowledge and experience they have accumulated throughout their careers. [26] Matarazzo and Mika (2006) report that approximately 76 million people were born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, and declining birth rates mean there are insufficient younger workers available to replace them, particularly since only 46 million people were born in the following generation, Generation X.
For libraries the situation will be particularly critical. The Department of Labor in the Occupational Outlook Handbook estimates more than two out of three librarians are aged 45 and older. This statistic leads to the expectation of massive retirements in the decade ahead ([7] Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). Further adding to the expected shortage is the fact that in 2006 there were 158,000 librarians in the work force. Projections anticipate a growth of 4 percent by 2016, which will mean 164,000 librarians will be needed by that date. "In total, the ten-year period beginning in 2010 will see 45 percent of today's librarians reach age 65. This surge of retirement represents the early-wave of baby boom librarians crossing the threshold of age 65" ([23] Lynch et al. , 2005, p. 28).
In addition to these factors [26] Matarazzo and Mika (2006) cite an Association for Library and Information Science Education and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics statistical report that found:
... librarians are retiring on average at age 62 (as are most workers in the U.S.); that the number of librarians working past 65 has decreased dramatically; that the number of library school graduates is stable and has not increased or decreased markedly in the past seven years; and that the average age of LIS students is now approximately 35 ([26] Matarazzo and Mika, 2006, p. 39).
This information not only reinforces the number of retirements expected in libraries, it adds another dimension,...