The difficulty of succession-making plans has been discussed in several library fora. The Academic Libraries Group revealed a SWOT analysis during its presentation on the Seminar on Library Capacity Building Interventions for Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in West Africa at the Arata Hotel, East Legon, Ghana, June 2009. Though several strengths had been recognized (together with the right caliber of the workforce, qualified professionals, skilled workforce, organized structures, the influential function of University Librarians as part of pinnacle control, and the supply of formal professional committees/establishments/institutions), a striking weak point amongst eight others turned into that of the ‘growing old librarians.’ The Library at Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone, isn’t an exception. A full-size percentage of senior library staff would retire between 2018 & 2026, and only implementing an aggressive succession-making plans policy could salvage the essential situation. It is believed that Alexander the Great never had a strong succession plan, and the sour consequence became the disintegration of the ways-flung empire he struggled to construct.
DEFINITION OF SUCCESSION PLANNING
Succession-making plans are about changing the group of workers who will subsequently depart an organization due to several factors, including loss of life, switch, resignation, termination, dismissal, retirement, etc. According to Blakesley, it “may increasingly more be regarded as just a part of strategic making plans processes, as we determine what ought to be finished and what may be given up, and how to reallocate, retrain and realign the people who continue to be in our businesses” (2011 p. 34). The Biblical injunction (Paul to Timothy) is apt: “And the matters that thou hast heard of me amongst many witnesses, the identical dedicate thou to devoted men, who shall be able to teach others also.”
(2 Timothy 2:2, King James Version).
Angela Bridgland (1999) opined that humans and positions must be systematically reviewed to ensure that an employer’s strategic plan is applied. Though there may be much speaking about the “graying of our profession” (Blakesley, 2011, p. 32), we’re reminded that “it’s not news that baby boomers are achieving retirement age” (Bermes, p. 66). In 2001, at some point during the joint conference organized by using the Standing Conference of African University Libraries, Western Area (SCAULWA) and the West African Library Association (WALA) in Accra, Ghana, the writer of this text commented on the fast decline inside the range of expert librarians in Sierra Leone. The state of affairs in Fourah Bay College Library is a microcosm of the countrywide hassle. Many professional librarians in the USA have retired from the profession. Some of those dynamic personalities or family names encompass Mrs. Gladys Jusu-Sheriff, Mrs. Deanna Thomas (past due), Mrs. Gloria Dillsworth, Mrs. Olatungie Campbell, Mrs. Marian Lisk, Mr. Victor Coker, Mrs. Alice Malamah-Thomas, Mr. A.N.T. Deen (overdue), Mrs. Yeama Lucilda Hunter, Mrs. Abator Thomas, Prof. Magnus John, and many others. This has left a huge gap within the career; the cutting-edge expert librarians are very few and a long way between.
STATUS OF AGING FBC LIBRARY STAFF ABOUT SUCCESSION PLANNING
FBC Library has three primary staff classes, particularly junior, senior assisting, and senior.
Senior Staff
Perhaps the difficulty of succession planning is critical when considering the proportion of the senior library workforce (academic and technical) that could retire in the next couple of years. It should be cited that the retirement age for senior individuals in the team of workers is sixty-five years.
Suppose 5 out of the seven members of the body of workers (that is 71.Four%) will retire in 8 years (between 2018 and 2026), or six (eighty-five. 8 %) will depart the gadget between 2018 and 2030). In that case, the strategic importance of Fourah Bay College Library succession planning can’t be overemphasized. The current head has a bit over a decade and a 1/2 to set the house in order before his exit, furnished he stays till the cease of his very own tenure in 2033 (after a career of forty-one years).
