ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries April 1989 / 273 M arvin L . Scilken, 330 W . 28th S t., New York, NY 10001. T ed P. Sheldon, D irector, U niversity of Missouri L ibrary, Kansas C ity. Louise S. Sherby, Assistant D irector for Public Services, U niversity of Missouri, Kansas City. C h a rle s T o w n le y , H e a d , H e in d e l L ib r a r y , Pennsylvania State University, M iddletow n. Jo h n Tyson, U niversity L ib ra ria n , University of R ichm ond, Virginia. Jam es F . W illiam s II, D irector, U niversity of Colorado L ib ra ry , Boulder. ■ ■ INNOVATIONS Cavalry to the rescue: The use of temporary employees in place of student assistants By Curtis L. Kendrick H ead, Circulation D e p artm ent State University o f N e w York at S tony Brook A persistent problem facing m any academ ic li­ braries is the shortage of stu d e n t assistants avail­ able to w ork d u rin g the w in te r intersession period. A t th e S ta te U n iv e rsity of N e w York a t Stony Brook, this problem has been in evidence for years, resulting in shelving backlogs th a t can linger on well into th e next semester. In o rder to c om bat this situation, this p a st intersession the lib ra ry experi­ m ented w ith the use of tem porary employees hired th ro u g h an external agency. In D ecem ber 1987 th e H ead of C irculation a p ­ proached th e Associate D irector for R eader Ser­ vices, Planning, a n d Facilities w ith a proposal to hire full-tim e tem p o rary employees th rough M an­ pow er, In c ., a tem p o rary employee service. Stony B ro o k h a s a n a r r a n g e m e n t w i t h M a n p o w e r w hereby employees can be h ire d a t a discounted ra te . T he duties of th e tem p o rary employees w ere to be essentially shelving and shelf reading. L ater in D ecem ber th e proposal w as approved by L i­ b ra ry A dm inistration, a n d fo rw a rd ed to th e Office of the Provost for action. As p lan n e d , th e lib ra ry w o uld h ire four employees for four weeks, a t a cost of approxim ately $3,500 (the a ctu al cost ended up being som ew hat less, a bout $2,200, as not all of the allocated hours w ere w orked by th e tem p o rary em ­ ployees) . T he concept of using tem p o rary employees in li­ braries is not new . C hervinko re p o rte d th a t 80 % of th e respondents (n = 74) to an Association of Re­ search L ibraries survey h ad hired tem p o rary w ork­ ers fo r a variety of projects. O nly six of these li­ b raries, how ev er, re p o rte d t h a t th ey h a d gone th rough an outside agency, a n d for the m ost p a rt, th e use of tem p o rary employees has been for high- level w ork such as cataloging, retrospective con­ version, book selection, a n d bibliographic search­ in g .1 Shortly before th e program w as to begin, M an­ pow er contacted the lib ra ry w ith th e nam es of the employees w ho w e re scheduled to w ork. T he li­ brary played no role in th e selection of the em ploy­ ees, w hich could h ave been a d ra w b ac k to this ven­ tu re. F ortunately, th e people th a t w ere sent over w ere c apable a nd b right. All of the tem porary em ­ ployees w e re c u rre n tly en ro lled in college else­ w here. As students, they w e re fam iliar w ith a ca­ dem ic libraries, and c au g h t on quickly to th e tasks they w ere re q u ire d to p erform . 1Jam es S. C h ervinko, “ T e m p o ra ry Em ployees in A cadem ic a n d Research L ib ra rie s ,” Journal o f A c a d e m i c L i b r a r i a n s h i p 12 (S e p te m b e r 1986):217-20. 274 / C& RL News T he level of tra in in g p ro v id ed to these employees was m inim al. I t w as felt t h a t th e reason fo r h irin g th em w as to get w o rk o u t o f th e m in th e sh o rt ru n , n o t to m old th e m in to e x cellent w o rk e rs. T h ey w e re p ro v id e d w ith a b rie f d e sc rip tio n of ho w books a re a rra n g e d acco rd in g to th e L ib ra ry of Congress system, given a sh o rt test to ensure th e ir com prehension of this, a n d th e n tu rn e d loose on th e shelving. L a te r on, th e y w e re given som e a d d i­ tional instructions to le a rn h o w to shelf re ad . D aily supervision a n d w o rk assignm ents b ecam e th e re ­ sponsibility of th e Stacks Supervisor, a full-tim e clerical staff person. M anpow er displayed a n in te rest in th e p e rfo r­ m ance of th e ir people. A fter th e first w eek a n eval­ uation form w as sent for e ach person. F a c to rs upo n w hich th e em ployees w e re e v a lu a te d in clu d e d a t­ tendance, w ork h a b its, a n d a p p ea ran c e. Because of th e sh o rt d u ra tio n of this p ro jec t, it w as neces­ sary to m ak e q u ick ju d g m e n ts a b o u t w h e th e r or n o t each of th e em ployees w as going to b e a d eq u a te . O ne of th e em ployees h a d to b e fired a fte r th e th ird day d u e to a n a tte n d a n c e pro b lem . M a n p o w e r w as no tifie d a b o u t th e p ro b le m , a n d se n t a repla ce m en t th e next day. T h e results o f this e x perim ent w e re satisfactory. T h e shelving w as d o n e quickly a n d in tim e for th e sta rt of second sem ester. A po rtio n o f th e collection w as shelf re ad . M a n p o w e r w a s a ble to supply th e lib ra ry w ith c o m p e te n t em ployees on very short notice. T h e m ost significant p ro b lem w as t h a t to ­ w a rd s th e e nd of th e p roject several of th e w orkers h a d to q u it to go b ack to school. By th is tim e M a n ­ p o w e r’s la b o r pool h a d d w in d le d so th ey w e re not a ble to p rovide replacem ents. T h e overall level of ab ility a n d effort displayed by th e M a n p o w e r em ployees w as on a p a r w ith t h a t of th e stu d e n t assistants w h o w o rk in th e li­ b r a ry . T h e cost w a s s o m e w h a t h ig h e r t h a n it w o u ld h ave been to h ire stu d e n t assistants, b u t as th e re w ere n o t e n o u g h stu d e n t assistants a v ailable, th e p o in t is m oot. T h e use o f te m p o ra ry em ployees in lieu of stu d e n t assistants w ill c e rta in ly be consid­ ered in th e fu tu re fo r tasks such as shelving, shelf­ re ad in g o r shifting. Humor and creativity: Music By Norman D. Stevens D irector T h e M o lesw o rth In stitu te T he m a n y exam ples of lib ra ry h u m o r th a t I have collected over a n u m b e r of years, in clu d in g th e m any re c e n t exam ples c o n trib u te d by readers of these colum ns, d e m o n stra te t h a t m usic lib ra rian s, as I h a v e lo n g su sp ec ted fo r o th e r reasons, a re am ong th e m ost crea tiv e a n d th e m ost p e cu liar of all lib ra rian s. P erhaps I c a n n ow , a t last, reveal t h a t fa c t since I h a v e re c e n tly b e en a p p o in te d , upon p a y m e n t of th e usual fee, C o n d u c to r of L i­ braries In A bsentia a t th e N o rth A m erican School for th e A rtsy a n d S om ew hat M usically In c lin ed in W h ite B ear L ake, M innesota. T h e tru e reasons for th is p h e n o m e n o n re m a in a m ystery b u t w e c a n freely sp e c u la te a b o u t those reasons. I t m ay b e t h a t , as som etim es fru stra te d and som etim es p ra c tic in g m usicians, m usic lib ra ri­ ans share th e crea tiv e tra its associated w ith m usi­ cians a n d o th e r a rtists th a t give th e m a b ro a d e r im aginative scope th a n o th e r lib ra rian s. W hoever h e ard of a fu n n y chem ist o r chem istry lib ra ria n ? P a r t o f t h a t c r e a t i v i t y , o f c o u r s e , m a y b e associated— as I w ill d e m o n stra te b e lo w —w ith th e right b ra in /le ft b ra in concept. M usic lib ra ria n s, so to speak, h a v e a foot in b o th cam ps. P erhaps it m ay also b e t h a t th e ir isolation from th e m ain stre am of lib ra ria n sh ip , a n d often from c o n ta c t w ith o th e r li­ b ra ria n s on th e ir o w n c am p u s, as th e y w ork in re ­ m o te a n d isolated b ra n c h libraries, drives th e m stir crazy or unleashes th e ir im a g in atio n . W h atev e r th e reaso n , it is c lear t h a t th e re is a g re a t d eal of en­ te rta in m e n t to be fo u n d in th e ir h u m o r t h a t d e ­ serves to b e sh ared w ith a w id e r au d ie n ce a n d not confined, as it so o ften has been, to th e ir o w n kind. I n a n e a rlie r c o lu m n on h o lid a y s (N ovem ber 1988) I c o m m e n te d on th e 1976 p e rfo rm a n ce of T h e S a lu ta tio n A rm y B and a t t h e U niversity of Illi­ nois L ib ra ry as a m in o r, a n d ta m e , exam ple of m u ­ sic a n d lib ra ry h u m o r t h a t involved b o th c om m en­ ta r y a n d p e rfo rm a n ce . T h a t w as, indeed, a m ild case. B ad p uns seem to b e a m o n g th e m ost fre q u e n t them es o f b a d m usic lib ra ry h u m o r. T h a t is exem ­ p lifie d b y w h a t w e r e o rig in a lly h a n d - le tt e r e d signs, w h ic h h ave n o w b een r e p la ce d b y m ore p e r­ m a n e n t p ro fessio n al signs, on th e five lis te n in g room s in th e G re er M usic L ib ra ry a t C o n n e cticu t College. T hose room s a re n am ed: Jo h n ’s C age; T he N u t c r a c k e r S u ite ; T h e L is z t - n i n g R o o m ; T h e H a y d n P lace; a n d T h e B ach R oom . Still, those p u n s seem harm less in com parison w ith those re ­