LIBRARY STAFF RETENTION STRATEGIES IN THE FACE OF ACCELERATED TURNOVER - UNIVERSITY-OF-ZIMBABWE CASE

This paper focuses on problems of accelerated staff turnover by lookin g in retrospect at the staffing phases that the University of Zimbabwe Library went through. Between 1991 and 1993, staff turnover culminate d in a loss of over 55% of the professional staff from an establishmen t of 25 (professional staff). The paper discusses three categories of problems and situations that led to the accelerated staff turnover, an d the turnover's impact on the library service. Suggestions are made o n ways in which the situation could be remedied and possibly prevented from recurring. Staff retention strategies discussed include among ot hers, human resources planning and development, staff motivation, orga nizational redesign, and competitive remuneration packages. This paper concludes that human resources are perhaps the most vital resource re quired to run an institution, and as such, should be given a correspon ding priority in the strategic planning process.