Some reflections on the contracting framework in public libraries

Abstract

Most of the public employees that have managed public libraries since the recovery of democracy in the 80s are going to retire within the next ten years. A new group of professionals born and raised in times of the Internet will manage the Spanish libraries of the 21^st century. The current tendency of recruitment (non-specific degrees, lack of professional regulation, no development of legislation about libraries and maps of public reading, outsourcing) and the evolution of the sociotechnological environment predict an impoverished work environment in which libraries are run by professionals that are not qualified in Library and Information Sciences. It is necessary that the administration, firms, trade unions and, of course, professionals themselves, address the problems and agree ethical behaviors in order to build library services respectful with the professionals that are going to be employed and the citizens that are going to become library´s customers.