Browsing by Subject "Library support staff"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    'Academic Library Support Staff Competencies: What Should Support Staff Know and be Able to Do?
    (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2009) Applegate, Rachel
    This research reports on data from a recent widely-disseminated survey of academic and public librarians and library support staff. The paper describes what professional competencies respondents considered most (and least) important for support staff. It shows what are the most-highly-rated items overall, and examines areas where opinions differed the most, comparing academic and public libraries, and support staff, MLS, and director respondents. Connected to the ALA Library Support Staff Certification Project.
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    Clarifying Jurisdiction in the Library Workforce: Tasks, Support Staff, and Professional Librarians
    (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010) Applegate, Rachel
    Jurisdiction refers to those tasks or responsibilities that are seen as central to and exclusively controlled by a profession. When library work is examined, what is the proper jurisdiction for professional, masters-level librarians? This study examines the definition of professional with respect to library workers by using data from a national survey of competencies for library support staff and by comparing American Library Association-approved competencies for beginning MLS librarians and certified support staff. According to this analysis, professional librarians are those who know context (history, theory), do research, educate patrons, and manage people and collections. They are not necessarily those who provide direct services.
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    What should "librarians" know? Current data on support staff roles and competencies
    (Association for Library and Information Science Education, 2009-01) Applegate, Rachel
    The responsibilities of MLS and support staff in libraries have always experienced change, especially in response to technological innovation. Currently, the American Library Association is involved in two separate but related efforts: the Library Support Staff Certification Project (LSSCP, http://www.ala-apa.org/certification/supportstaff.html), and a revision of MLS competencies, with possible incorporation into ALA accreditation standards for library schools (see McKinney, 2006 as well as documents from ALA/2008 Annual Meeting). Greater definition of either support or masters level library staff can enhance the professional identities of both. This paper describes the survey results and provide analyses of between-group similarities and differences. Some of the results could easily be predicted, for example that few academic-oriented respondents chose to even review youth services, reader’s advisory, or marketing. Other areas yield more detailed and specific data, such as: a) ethical aspects were rated as similarly important across types of respondents (MLS, support staff) and types of libraries (public, academic); b) while “metadata” issues were not very highly rated by any group, academic library respondents valued them more than public library respondents (both highly valued basic MARC knowledge); and c) while LSS themselves rated nearly every item more highly (more often in the ‘very important’ category) than did MLS librarians, library director respondents rated most items lower than even MLS librarians.