Contractualisation of Library Personnel: Professional Erosion, Employment Precarity, and Institutional Trust (Rethinking the Professional Core of Librarianship in an Era of Workforce Flexibility)

Librarians in higher education as well as in special and public institutions are increasingly working under fixed-term contracts, outsourced agency placements, project-related appointments, and hourly contracts. The present article argues that the process of contractualisation is not just an administrative technique for cost control but essentially constitutes an action that intervenes in the core of the profession of librarianship. By using the sociology of professions, theories of organisational trust, and literature on precarious employment, the article demonstrates the following chain of events: the process of contractualisation leads to employment precariousness, which contributes to the erosion of the profession, which further leads to a feeling of trust in the institution to erode. The article makes a point that such damage is cumulative and often goes unnoticed by traditional performance indicators, as contract staff members can achieve quantifiable outcomes, while such important factors for the profession as ethical judgement, institutional memory, independence, and trust within the professional community are gradually lost. Finally, the article suggests that an ethical approach to staffing should be adopted by making the choice of staff a subject for professional evaluation rather than a procurement decision taken unilaterally by institutions.