Working Knowledge A Monthly Column about Life on the Job

By Elisa F. Topper American Libraries Columnist Elisa F. Topper is a career consultant in the Chicago area. Contact her at working@ala.org. Column for March 2003

I hope to retire in five years. What are the most effective things I can do now to ensure that I will be able to remain professionally active in retirement ?

Old Guy
Podunk Public Library

Dear Old Guy:
Statistics show that librarians, unlike many other professionals, may "retire" from full-time employment but continue to work either part-time or as consultants. Listed below are some ideas to help you remain active professionally and perhaps become a "new guy" in your retirement years.
• Libraries often need consultants to work on or to provide training workshops for short-term projects. Decide what your niche is and market yourself. Be sure to list yourself in ALA's Library Administration and Management Association directory of consultants should you desire to be marketable on a national level.
• Contact a library school or library technical assistant program in your area to offer your services as an adjunct faculty member.
• Inquire at area elementary, middle, and high schools about volunteering in their libraries or otherwise sharing your expertise.
• Participate in area career days and contact high schools, community colleges, and universities as a potential speaker. We must promote our profession, and such events can help teach students that librarian-ship is not the stereotypical career of years ago.
• Volunteer at your public library or, better yet, run for the board of trustees.
• If you are a graduate of a nearby library school, offer to serve as an alumni council member.
• Volunteer at social service agencies—child care centers, homeless shelters, veterans organizations, battered women's shelters, nursing homes-to organize their collections of books and materials. If they do not have a library, suggest creating one.
• Literacy organizations welcome volunteers to help tutor individuals who do not know how to read. Remember that librarianship is not confined to the walls of a library building.

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Real-Life Retirement:
An Interview with Don Adcock

Don Adcock is a librarian who retired twice.
He began his career in 1963 when he established a school media program in Glen Ellyn, a suburb of Chicago. He remained there for 25 years, and also worked evenings and weekends as a reference librarian at a community college and taught school library courses at a university. He also became active in state and national school library associations.
After 30 years working in public schools, he decided on early retirement in 1989. Within a month, however, he was employed by ALA's American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Over the next nine-plus years, he worked in a number of AASL positions before retiring for the second time, in 1998.
Although retired, "I do some independent consulting in the areas of school library media programs and information literacy as well as with an area library school," says Adcock.
What has been the biggest surprise about retirement?
DA: How busy I am as a retiree. I still keep a calendar to schedule meetings and appointments.
What do you enjoy most?
DA: All the activities I do that keep me busy are the things that I choose to do.
What advice would you give someone approaching retirement?
DA: Plan how you wish to use your time after retirement as carefully as you plan your finances.
What advice would you give someone just starting a career in librarianship?
DA: As you plan your career, think not only of the present but begin considering what you might want to do in retirement. I found that involvement in professional associations at the state and national levels provided me with chances for valuable leadership experiences I would not have had otherwise.

© Copyright 2003 American Library Association