The issue of progression arranging has been talked about in a few library fora. The Academic Libraries Group completed a noteworthy SWOT examination amid its introduction at the Seminar on Library Capacity Building Interventions for Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in West Africa at the Erata Hotel, East Legon, Ghana in June 2009. Despite the fact that few qualities were recognized (counting right gauge of staff, qualified experts, experienced staff, sorted out structures, compelling position of University Librarians as a component of best administration and the accessibility of formal expert boards of trustees/associations/affiliations), a striking shortcoming among eight others was that of the 'maturing custodians'. The Library at Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone, isn't a special case. A huge level of senior library staff would resign between 2018 and 2026, and just the usage of a forceful progression arranging arrangement would rescue the basic circumstance. It is trusted that Alexander the Great never had a vigorous progression plan and the intense result was the deterioration of the far-flung domain he attempted to fabricate.
Meaning OF SUCCESSION PLANNING
Progression arranging is tied in with supplanting staff who will in the end leave an association because of a few variables including passing, exchange, renunciation, end, rejection, retirement and so on. As indicated by Blakesley, it "might progressively be seen as only a piece of key arranging forms, as we choose what must be done and what can be surrendered, and how to reallocate, retrain and realign the general population who stay in our associations" (2011 p. 34). The Biblical order (Paul to Timothy) is well-suited: "And the things that thou hast knew about me among numerous witnesses, the same confer thou to dependable men, who will have the capacity to show others moreover."
(2 Timothy 2:2, King James Version).
Angela Bridgland (1999) opined that individuals and positions ought to be efficiently assessed to guarantee that the vital arrangement of an association is actualized. In spite of the fact that there is much discuss the "turning gray of our calling" (Blakesley, 2011, p. 32), we are reminded that "it's not news that people born after WW2 are achieving retirement age" (Bermes, p. 66). In 2001, amid the joint meeting composed by the Standing Conference of African University Libraries, Western Area (SCAULWA) and the West African Library Association (WALA) in Accra, Ghana the writer of this article remarked on the quick decrease in the quantity of expert administrators in Sierra Leone. The circumstance in Fourah Bay College Library is a microcosm of the national issue. Numerous expert administrators in the nation have resigned from the calling. A portion of these dynamic identities or commonly recognized names incorporate Mrs. Gladys Jusu-Sheriff, Mrs. Deanna Thomas (late), Mrs. Gloria Dillsworth, Mrs. Olatungie Campbell, Mrs. Marian Lisk, Mr. Victor Coker, Mrs. Alice Malamah-Thomas, Mr. A.N.T. Deen (late), Mrs. Yeama Lucilda Hunter, Mrs. Abator Thomas, Prof. Magnus John and so forth. This has left a wide hole in the calling and the present proficient curators are not very many and far between.
STATUS OF AGING FBC LIBRARY STAFF IN RELATION TO SUCCESSION PLANNING
There are three principle classes of staff at FBC Library, in particular, junior, senior supporting and senior.
Ranking Staff
Maybe the issue of progression arranging is exceptionally basic when one considers the level of senior library staff (scholastic and specialized) that would resign inside the following couple of years. It must be noticed that the retirement age for senior individuals from staff is sixty-five years.
In the event that five out of the seven individuals from staff (that is 71.4%) will resign in eight years (somewhere in the range of 2018 and 2026), or six (85.8%) will leave the framework somewhere in the range of 2018 and 2030), the vital significance of progression arranging at Fourah Bay College Library can't be over stressed. The present head has barely 10 years and a half to set the house all together before his exit, if he remains until the finish of his own residency in 2033 (after an administration of forty one years).
The first to resign in 2018 would have given an aggregate of forty-four long stretches of administration to the College and is right now the leader of the Periodicals Section in the Library. He is consistently named 'the Encyclopedia of Fourah Bay College Library'.
Maybe, the most harming misfortune might be the present Book Binder whose substitution is currently being effectively examined at the Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies (INSLICS) at Fourah Bay College where he trains all the preservation courses. Who will supplant him when he resigns in 2023 in the wake of allowing forty-five long periods of administration to the Bindery? That is in fact the inquiry. He has officially given two many years of his profession filling in as a Part - Time Lecturer at INSLICS and there is not really some other tertiary establishment in Sierra Leone with a practical bindery unit. None of the other nine individuals from staff in the bindery at Fourah Bay College have any capability in preservation. That same year (2023) would likewise see the finish of forty-five long stretches of administration of the leader of another exceptional segment, the Sierra Leone Collection, which frames an essential piece of the national list of sources of Sierra Leone. He is deliberately situated to prepare potential curators amid his most recent six years as he will graduate with the M.Phil in Library, Archive and Information Studies in 2017.
He will be trailed by the present leader of the Cataloging Department who might have served for thirty four years on his retirement in 2025, a similar number of years the leader of the Issue Desk/Circulation Department would have given when her administration closes in 2026.
The dynamism of a senior female scholarly staff is as of now apparent in the way that she as of now assigns the leader of the Cataloging area and directs the American Shelf, where she arranges numerous significant effort programs. She may well be viewed as an exceptionally powerful advertising officer who has substantially more to contribute in her forty-five long stretches of administration that will end in 2030.
Senior Supporting staff
Staff in this classification are expected for retirement at sixty years old. Lamentably, this classification does not have the comparing number of staff to supplant the individuals who will in the long run resign from the senior framework. Indeed, a male staff is expected for retirement toward the finish of September this year and he is as of now serving his second year past the time of retirement.
Luckily, a female staff in this classification as of late graduated with the M.Phil in Library and Information Science from INSLICS and this staff is right now the President of the Sierra Leone Association of Archivists, Librarians and Information Professionals (SLAALIP) where she is serving the primary term, which would end in 2017. The M.Phil degree would in the long run launch her to the senior scholastic staff class. A second female staff has much to offer the Library until 2032. She has finished a few projects at INSLICS, including the college qualification, post graduate recognition and is right now doing her M.Phil. The likelihood additionally exists for the Administrative Assistant to seek after a profession in Librarianship. One of the male staff has been recognized as a potential pioneer as he has officially finished his postgraduate confirmation in Library and Information Studies and would select for the M.Phil in a similar teach in the 2016/17 session. With two more decades in the library, there is every one of the an unmistakable probability that he may likewise have a chance to head the whole library. Another female staff (an authoritative staff) likewise has the choice to seek after a profession in Librarianship and ascend to key library positions inside the following decades.
Junior staff
The twenty one individuals from staff in this classification shape the greater part of the library staff. Since a library's most imperative asset is its staff, significant assets and vitality must be concentrated to engage these staff who are working with practically zero authentications. Staff in this class resign at sixty years old years, giving the library administration a chance to distinguish those that would be urged to additionally enhance themselves and enter the tertiary establishment. Despite the fact that these twenty one staff have next to no or no noteworthy capabilities, the fate of Fourah Bay College Library decisively lies in the hands of this potential workforce.
A female staff is presently selected at INSLICS and she would ideally total her Bachelor of Arts with Honors degree amid the 2017/18 session. Upon finishing, the normal position to be accepted by a female staff is Senior Library Assistant and with additionally preparing at INSLICS, she will inevitably move to the senior scholastic framework. A male staff is at present enlisted in a confirmation program at the Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies, Fourah Bay College and would ideally graduate toward the finish of the 2017/18 scholarly year. He would in the long run be moved up to the Library Assistant position. Another male staff has just picked up confirmation at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) to peruse for a four year college education in Public Sector Management. Upon fulfillment, he will move to the Senior Supporting Category as a Trainee Librarian. Such a position will give him the chance to inevitably enroll for a Post Graduate Diploma in Librarianship course at INSLICS. Lamentably, a female staff that finished the Certificate in Library Studies amid the 2014/15 session kicked the bucket on nineteenth January 2016.
Eight junior staff will resign in the 2040s and five in the 2030s and the administration of another eight will end somewhere in the range of 2019 and 2029. A few staff have been urged to take or retake the West African Senior Certificate Examination to qualify them to enlist on degree programs at INSLICS or different offices. Another potential staff just acquired her five credits that will empower her gain
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