Purpose – The paper aims to discern, document, and analyze current staffing trends in college and university libraries.Design/methodology/approach – The author gathered information from the literatures of library and information science and higher education.Findings – The paper details six trends across public and technical services affecting librarians, non‐MLS professionals, and paraprofessionals. The presentation of trends is followed by a discussion of three concerns the author has about these trends.Research limitations/implications – The paper covers trends in college and university libraries but does not specifically address community college libraries. Community colleges may have similar issues, as well as unique trends; further research is encouraged.Practical implications – Library managers will be able to compare developments in their libraries to the profession‐wide trends. They will also be able to link to a large body of literature on the topic.Originality/value – This kind of comprehensive ...

Staffing trends in college and university libraries

The Ryerson University Library has recently adopted a team-based management model in order to ameliorate growing pressures on service points consistent with increased demand for interlibrary loans, growing circulation activity, stagnant staffing levels, and a larger influx of students as a result of the “double cohort.” The opportunity to redesign the entrance of the Library has allowed the Library to plan for a merger of Interlibrary Loan with Circulation and Reserve. The background to this merger and library goals are discussed.

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Restructuring the academic library: Team-based management and the merger of interlibrary loans with circulation and reserve

Conspectus is an instrument, an assessment methodology and a consortia database which enables providing optimum patron specific access model for resource sharing among libraries. It helps making more informed decisions regarding acquisitions, collection development, fund allocations, budget requests, grants and preservation. A systematic "conspectus" provides many indirect benefits like i) filling-in gaps in the collection, ii) justifying use of approval plans; identifying subject areas where curricular changes dictate that the library starts or stops buying materials, iii) justifying a grant application or budget increase for training, preservation or collection development, iv) defining possibilities for increased cooperative acquisitions among local or regional libraries in subject areas of mutual interest, v) fulfilling institutional or state mandated assessment programs, vi) providing 'objective evidence' for accreditation and professional association reports, vii) defining collection development objectives, policies, procedures and short and long range goals. The paper provides a birds-eye-view of conspectus methodology, its role in collection development, collection evaluation and resource sharing as well as some problems and pitfalls in adoption of conspectus methodology. Lastly, concludes by emphasising the need for awareness about conspectus methodology among local professionals and some sincere attempts to create such access tools rather than satisfied with acronyms of library networks.

Role of conspectus in collection management and resource sharing

The former Head of Access Services of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library reports on the recent attempt to restructure the interlibrary loan unit of the department. Reviewing workflows, data reports, technology use, and staff assignments precipitated staffing changes that allowed the Library to become more efficient and to reallocate librarian time to library areas in need of greater support due to changing workflows across the organization. The greatest challenges proved to be moving beyond unfounded perception (or “anecdata”) when making decisions, determining staff members’ skill strengths and weaknesses, and changing established work habits. Short-term benefits included improved workflows, improved ability to handle absences and student worker scheduling, and reduced staff stress.

Evaluating the Staffing of an Interlibrary Loan Unit: An Exercise in Data-Driven Decision Making and Debunking “Anecdata”

The ongoing debate of whether the Interlibrary Loan Department (ILL) should be autonomous or a function of other departments is revisited in this article. Though much of the literature on this topic advocates ILL merging with the Reference Department, early surveys show mixed findings. The authors reveal results of a recent survey from 324 participants that includes library personnel from public, academic, and special libraries throughout the United States. The outcome of the survey supports the literature that ILL personnel strongly believe that their work is more closely related to reference than that pertaining to circulation or technical services.

Connie V. Dowell

Papers

The Structure of Resource Sharing in Academic Research Libraries.