Let's talk about staffing for a bit, shall we? Have the times changed or what? It used to be you only needed a high school education to get a decent job. Then it was a bachelor's degree - writer Luis Jorge Borges was once assistant librarian in a Buenes Aires library eventually becoming the director for the National Library in Buenes Aires with just the equivalent to a bachelor's degree though it was not library related. But that was the 1930's and 50's respectively. Today, even a master's degree can be lacking depending on the job.
In libraries, however, after several decades of some amount of professional stability, things are topsy turvy to say the least. What with the para-professional movement challenging degreed librarians coupled with increasing patron demands for technological prowess versus an aging workforce (the first official baby boomer was eligible for retirement just last year) who are mostly lacking in know-how and "want-to" technology skills, the library "profession", and thus the library staff itself, could change dramatically in coming years. To be sure, staffing a library has never been a cut and dried affair. Even before librarians organized themselves into a recognized and celebrated "profession" there were, and continue to be, other extenuating circumstances that shaped staffing priorities. That likely won't change no matter the direction.
To staff a library, there are several qualities to look for in a candidate. First, of course, one has to have some organizational sense. That could be organization skills in terms of cataloging, staff supervision, accounting, digitization, information retrieval, specialized collection knowledge, etc. etc. Regardless, a prime candidate is someone who can consistently maintain one or several of the aforementioned tasks depending on the size and kind of library they're hired into. These skills may be very difficult to quantify at an initial interview, say via phone or in person. To overcome this, in an academic library setting, faculty candidates, for example, are typically required to give a presentation on a topic determined by the hiring committee. This topic is generally geared to a current topic of interest wherein the presentation itself lends some relevant clue to the candidate's knowledge base and problem solving skills. Anybody can shelve a book but, in today's technological environment, how a candidate uses that technology, talks about that technology, shows examples of how that technology can be harnessed and used to the betterment of the patron and library - that's the kind of qualities that will get attention in today's academic library.
There is much, much more to consider beside technology, however. One must be considerate of one's quantity of patronage and thus staff accordingly. Understaffed or overstaffed libraries can lead to problems, both internally and externally, not to mention significant budgetary woes. One would not hire a staff of 300 for a small town public library but it might be necessary for a large university library. Just how specialized those positions are depend a great deal on who the patrons are or who the library may be attracting (or wanting to attract) - in the case of an academic library it could be a bigger freshman class or maybe more specialized researchers.
To that end, patrons will likely be more comfortable dealing with librarians who reflect their own image, such as race or gender. When selecting a new hire, these issues can be mighty factors depending on one's patron demographic(s). Take, for instance, a university library in the heart of the Hispanic community whose student body is comprised of 75% Hispanic students. It might be wise to consider Hispanic staff if the library wants to truly reach out tot the majority of it's student population by way of identification and comfort. Of course, this sort of affirmative action staffing is apt to change as the cultural and socio-economic environment of the patrons change. It's very important to understand that staffing is a very fluid event. people come and go regularly, especially in larger organizations like large academic libraries. So, too, do the patrons change in all manner of ways and, so, staffing to fill, the voids and address changing patron categories must always be a consideration.
As mentioned earlier, the current para-professional movement could greatly impact staffing in the future as their skill sets rise to the level of professional librarians. In these scary budgetary times, nothing looks better to an accountant, budget officer, or HR librarian than someone with all the skills at half the price. This may be especially true in academic libraries where the institution of tenure is coming into question more and more these days. Working, well trained para-professionals stand to play a deciding role in that future debate.
Then there are those issues as mandated by law such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963. the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and again in 1991 wherein rights were granted to women and minorities to sue for punitive damages if discrimination can be proven in the workplace, The Age Discrimination Act of 1967 (freaky to be at an age where that personally matters), and the very important Family Medical Leave Act of 1993. These and other laws have a great impact on staffing. The University of Kentucky, for example, is an Equal Opportunity Employer brought about in part by the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action to ensure that no one is denied employment or education because of their race or gender. Diversity is a very important factor in staffing recently at the University of Kentucky Libraries. The student body is becoming more diverse, the libraries must reflect that same tone if it is to successfully reach incoming students of differing backgrounds. Likewise, younger patrons are more technologically savvy and, thus, the library staff must raise it's own technological expertise if it is to administer to the student body all the advantages a University environment is to offer.
And let's not forget that, at least at UK, a great deal of the day to day work is done by a student workforce. We would come to a screeching halt without them! 'Nuff said.
That's it - I'm sick of writing now.................
To staff a library, there are several qualities to look for in a candidate. First, of course, one has to have some organizational sense. That could be organization skills in terms of cataloging, staff supervision, accounting, digitization, information retrieval, specialized collection knowledge, etc. etc. Regardless, a prime candidate is someone who can consistently maintain one or several of the aforementioned tasks depending on the size and kind of library they're hired into. These skills may be very difficult to quantify at an initial interview, say via phone or in person. To overcome this, in an academic library setting, faculty candidates, for example, are typically required to give a presentation on a topic determined by the hiring committee. This topic is generally geared to a current topic of interest wherein the presentation itself lends some relevant clue to the candidate's knowledge base and problem solving skills. Anybody can shelve a book but, in today's technological environment, how a candidate uses that technology, talks about that technology, shows examples of how that technology can be harnessed and used to the betterment of the patron and library - that's the kind of qualities that will get attention in today's academic library.
There is much, much more to consider beside technology, however. One must be considerate of one's quantity of patronage and thus staff accordingly. Understaffed or overstaffed libraries can lead to problems, both internally and externally, not to mention significant budgetary woes. One would not hire a staff of 300 for a small town public library but it might be necessary for a large university library. Just how specialized those positions are depend a great deal on who the patrons are or who the library may be attracting (or wanting to attract) - in the case of an academic library it could be a bigger freshman class or maybe more specialized researchers.
To that end, patrons will likely be more comfortable dealing with librarians who reflect their own image, such as race or gender. When selecting a new hire, these issues can be mighty factors depending on one's patron demographic(s). Take, for instance, a university library in the heart of the Hispanic community whose student body is comprised of 75% Hispanic students. It might be wise to consider Hispanic staff if the library wants to truly reach out tot the majority of it's student population by way of identification and comfort. Of course, this sort of affirmative action staffing is apt to change as the cultural and socio-economic environment of the patrons change. It's very important to understand that staffing is a very fluid event. people come and go regularly, especially in larger organizations like large academic libraries. So, too, do the patrons change in all manner of ways and, so, staffing to fill, the voids and address changing patron categories must always be a consideration.
As mentioned earlier, the current para-professional movement could greatly impact staffing in the future as their skill sets rise to the level of professional librarians. In these scary budgetary times, nothing looks better to an accountant, budget officer, or HR librarian than someone with all the skills at half the price. This may be especially true in academic libraries where the institution of tenure is coming into question more and more these days. Working, well trained para-professionals stand to play a deciding role in that future debate.
Then there are those issues as mandated by law such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963. the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and again in 1991 wherein rights were granted to women and minorities to sue for punitive damages if discrimination can be proven in the workplace, The Age Discrimination Act of 1967 (freaky to be at an age where that personally matters), and the very important Family Medical Leave Act of 1993. These and other laws have a great impact on staffing. The University of Kentucky, for example, is an Equal Opportunity Employer brought about in part by the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action to ensure that no one is denied employment or education because of their race or gender. Diversity is a very important factor in staffing recently at the University of Kentucky Libraries. The student body is becoming more diverse, the libraries must reflect that same tone if it is to successfully reach incoming students of differing backgrounds. Likewise, younger patrons are more technologically savvy and, thus, the library staff must raise it's own technological expertise if it is to administer to the student body all the advantages a University environment is to offer.
And let's not forget that, at least at UK, a great deal of the day to day work is done by a student workforce. We would come to a screeching halt without them! 'Nuff said.
That's it - I'm sick of writing now.................
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2 comments:
i think you hit the nail on the head. Staffing is something that modern administrators are forgetting. New people no service. Keep writing.
Hey K. Just trolling the blogosphere and thought I'd say hi. Hi. You know, it makes me feel a smidge less geeky to know that you and John have blogs too. ;) Keep it up.
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