Undermining the Core: Precaritization of Library Professionals and the Sustainability of Professional Librarianship

Libraries are essential institutions for supporting teaching, learning, research, lifelong learning and access to information in an equitable manner. These services are to a large extent reliant on the availability of well-trained, skilled, and competent library staff who are professionally committed. The increasing employment of contractual, temporary, outsourced, short-term appointments in libraries, however, has become a concern. However, contractualization is sometimes argued as being flexible in administration, economical, workload-friendly, and efficient in institutions; on the other hand, it has some implications in respect of continuity of the profession, motivation of staff members, quality of the services, institutional memory and the position of librarianship as a profession. This article discusses the contractualization of staff and its implications for the fundamental roles and professional identity of libraries. It addresses key drivers behind the rise of contractual employment, such as budget constraints, administrative restructuring, hiring and staffing delays, outsourcing trends and evolving institutional priorities. The article also examines its impact on collection development, technical processing, reference and information services, functioning and management of digital libraries, user education, preservation and emerging technology-based services. It states that the use of contractual appointments, as an alternative to professional staff, may undermine the institutional basis of libraries for the sake of temporary or special needs, but not as a replacement. The article recommends the following measures to be implemented for having a balance between flexibility in staffing and professional stability: recruitment policies should be transparent, minimum professional staffing standards, career progression, equal employment protection, periodic regularization/recruitment against sanctioned posts, and continuing professional development. The study suggests that sustainable library development is not only a function of investing in the infrastructure and technology but also in stable and professionally competent human resources.