Deborah Boran Henry

Career plateauing among senior librarians.

ABSTRACT Using an online survey and semi-structured interviews, senior academic librarians were asked to reflect on the factors that keep them personally fulfilled and on how they remain motivated to make positive contributions to their organization. Motivations include esteem of colleagues and supervisors, variety in their work, salary, opportunities to learn new skills, increasing responsibility, and working with students and faculty. 59% percent of the survey respondents ranked their job satisfaction at 8 (on a scale of 1—10, with 10 the most satisfied). Using Bardwicks definitions of plateauing, 60% of the 20 librarians interviewed did not feel that they were content-plateaued.