ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries December 1 9 9 0 / 1059 Serving the professional staff in higher education By Sherman Hayes Library Director Bentley College Should it be a bigger part o f your mission? A s the roles and functions o f teaching and research faculty along with o th er aspects of higher education have changed over years, th e re has b een an increase in the sophistica­ tion and num ber o f professional staff in higher education. T heir inform ation needs have corre­ spondingly increased. In academic libraries, the traditional client mix has been prim arily com posed of faculty and students. W hile not recom m ending a major change from that priority, I do w ant to raise the question o f w hether or not your library could and should serve your institution’s staff at a high level. W ho is this staff and why do they have increasing inform ation needs; what is characteris­ tic o f these needs; and what supplem ental m ethods using existing collections and resources could b e t­ te r serve these im portant potential or existing clients? A recent U.S. Em ploym ent O pportunity C om ­ mission study found that those em ployed to p e r­ form academic support functions in higher educa­ tion who were not part o f the teaching faculty increased by more than 60% betw een 1975 and 1985.1 Reasons for the increase in academic sup­ port personnel and o th er areas o f the institution go beyond the changing nature o f faculty. Some o f the high growth areas in higher education professional 1‘Big In creases in A cad em ic-S u p p o rt Staffs Prom pt Growing C oncerns on C am puses” The Chronicle o f H igher Education, M arch 28, 1990, pp. A l, A32-34. staff are m entioned below. As you review this incom plete b rie f list o f some job titles and func­ reticoennst, think o f the people you know in these posi­ tions. M ore people are needed now to help an institu­ tion comply with federal and state regulations in specific areas such as safety, hazardous waste, energy efficiency, handicapped access, and af­ firm ativ e actio n . As th e s tu d e n t p o p u la tio n changes, roles o f counselors, tutors, advisors, and student services support shift increasingly to non­ faculty positions. T he explosion in com puting pow er applies to almost every phase of higher education and requires a large num ber of technical and professional level specialists. F o r example, even with the increased sophistication and knowl­ edge in com puting that librarians have acquired, we still call on program m ers, systems designers, machine operators, and repair technicians for help. A nother area o f staff growth in almost every higher education institution is in activities related to fundraising, developm ent, and grants opera­ tions. Grants may create a set o f professionals, separate from faculty, who are researchers or assis­ tants or clinicians, writers or artists in residence supporting these operations. Core administrative services such as personnel, planning, legal services, purchasing, and financial services need b e tte r in­ formation to function. My Cook’s tour concludes with the recognition that our buildings, w hether old and in need o f repair or new and expanding, are planned, serviced, and supported by a group of employees who are called on to do m ore with less in 1060 / C&RL News th e rapidly expanding technological aren a known as physical plan t operations. An analysis o f this highly varied group reveals som e in terestin g p attern s pointing to th e strong inform ation needs re q u ire d to do th e ir jobs well. T hese people are highly educated, as evidenced by th e m any m a ster’s and P h.D . degrees in th e ir ranks. F requently, th ey are narrow specialists requiring very specific c u rre n t inform ation and, because they are o rie n te d to inform ation, m edia and technology, com puting is a daily p art o f th e ir w ork and world. T hey b elo n g to professional organizations and p articipate in professional activities. M any people w rite and publish in th e ir discipline. T hey may be pursuing d eg ree program s or atten d in g continuing education workshops. Perhaps m ost im portant is this g ro u p ’s h u n g e r for inform ation and resources th a t th e library can provide to help th em keep up w ith th e ir jobs and th e changing work and personal environm ent. T h ere are com pelling reasons to review your services to staff and consider ways to increase assistance beyond th e fact th a t th e re are so m any m ore o f them ! First, my philosophy is th a t it is b e tte r to have services and collections th a t are used th an to let th e m stand idle. I f you expend resources to purchase journals an d books for research and th e curriculum , it is m ore “p rofitable” to have these m aterials used by anyone and everyone in th e academ ic com m unity and provide a “higher re tu rn on th e library in vestm ent.” T he use o f m any o f th ese services and collections can be increased w ith o u t c re a tin g co n flict b e tw e e n c o m p e tin g clients. A second logical reason to work w ith staff is th a t th ey are your colleagues and e ith e r provide th e ir services to your library now or may in th e future. I f th e library is only a tak er in its relationship with physical plant, hum an resources o r o th e r o p era­ tions, it has less effective pow er to change th e service delivery p attern s o f others o r ask for u n ­ usual assistance in th e future. I f com panion o p e ra ­ tions use you at som e level im p o rtan t to them , they will have a b e tte r u n d erstan d in g o f your services and your requests for support and resources. Speaking o f resources, I d o n ’t know about your institution, b u t at every one for w hich I have w orked, it was ironic th a t th e two prim ary groups served (faculty and students) have alm ost no influ­ ence o r d irect im pact on th e funding o f o u r o p era­ tion through th e b u d g et process. T he very people who say yes o r no to ou r fu tu re (academ ic adm ini­ stration, financial adm inistration, p residents and trustees) are seldom heavy users o f th e library and n eith er n e e d nor u n d erstan d o u r services as m uch as faculty and students. Finally, you can help support your faculty and students by assisting those who serve th em in dif­ ferent capacities. O ne cannot shift priorities to assist staff audiences exclusively or inappropriately, b u t it w ould not h u rt if they u sed your services at a h elp fu l level and realized th a t your co n tin u ed h ealth enhances th e ir purposes and those o f th e e n tire institution. H aving identified this grow ing sophisticated group, le t’s discuss th e critical issue o f servicing th e m and how m uch service to provide. E ach library m ust address this as a local issue. I propose th a t discussing and analyzing th e level o f service th a t should be provided to this group is a useful proactive (rather th an reactive) exercise and a first step to take in your academ ic com m unity. O f course I think libraries should continue to perform th e ir mission as th e prim ary inform ation, in stru c­ tion an d research sup p o rt u n it for faculty and students. No o th er institution on cam pus is charged w ith this im portant task. In an age o f decreasing resources, one needs to be careful about moving away from core service req u irem en ts to serve a less cen tral patron. Faculty and students are possessive ab o u t o u r services, and we should take care not to place service to staff in conflict w ith o u r core clientele to make th e core feel th a t we have chosen som eone else as o u r “p re fe rre d custom er.” H ow ever, even as we p ro te c t and expand serv­ ices to core clients, th e re should still be m any ways to assist staff using existing services and collections th a t will not significantly change assistance to fac­ ulty an d students. This core group o f patrons does n e e d to b e rem inded, however, th a t service to staff, w ho in tu rn serve faculty and students, should not take anything away from th e m o r th e institution. I f th e D evelopm ent Office succeeds, we are all b e tte r off. I f th e R egistrar makes registration less painful w ith th e library’s help, students are b e tte r served. I f th e C ounseling Office finds th e p erfect journal article in th e library to b e tte r fill a stu d en t need, we have h elp ed th a t stu d en t too. O u r experience indicates th a t staff professionals recognize th e library’s priority for faculty and stu ­ d e n t interests. Since m any o f o u r inform ation serv­ ices are not cu rren t enough or specialized enough for th e ir needs, they have cre a te d an inform ation netw ork separate from th e library to m e et th e ir very pressing requirem ents. H owever, th ey are still very in terested in supplem ental assistance and in ­ form ation identification th a t th ey may have m issed in su p p o rt o f th e ir work. I f you agree th a t this group is an im portant p o ten tial growth area for assistance, th e next step is to review your c u rre n t service levels for profes­ sional staff and d eterm in e how you could possibly w ork w ith them at a d ifferent level in th e future. P erh ap s an anecdotal review o f some o f o u r p o p u ­ lar services used heavily by staff in o u r institution w ould b e helpful. O u r journal collection experiences th e m ost use. W e m ake a com plim entary table o f contents serv­ December 1 9 9 0 / 1061 ice available to all faculty and staff. T he th ree hundred participants select th e journal contents they want to see. Acting as th e ir agent, we intercept new journals, make copies o f contents based on their custom ized request profiles and forward the contents to th em each m onth. W hile journals origi­ nally were and continue to be selected to provide curriculum and research support, we find th a t 40% of the participants in th e service are staff m em bers. Even though most o f them take o th e r periodicals o f a more specific nature through th eir offices or at home, they w ant to know m ore about a wide variety of subjects and use this service to keep up. W e also offer article copy service in connection with th e table o f contents service. Some o f our heaviest users are in th e Placem ent Office, Student Services, and Counseling C enter. They feel that the convenience o f th e com bined service allows them to maintain professional currency w hen th eir schedules do not p erm it th em to com e to the Library as often as they w ould like. D atabase searching and o th er reference services are heavily used by several areas. O ur D evelop­ ment Office looks for background inform ation on potential donors. T he P resident’s office often seeks answers to data questions and bibliographic cita­ tion support. O f course we always recom m end th at a library help th e P resident’s office with w hatever they want! If your library has legal materials to support courses as we do, th e staff th at wrestles with the many legal questions raised in higher education is very grateful for th e collection and assistance. Educational materials p urchased for faculty can be very helpful to academ ic adm inistration plan­ ners as well. W e get equal am ounts o f use of educational materials from both staff and faculty. ERIC is in dem and by research associates in the Planning Office, Admissions and th e D ean o f F ac­ ulty’s office. Your library may be like ours in th a t it also functions like a public library for students. Since we are not very n ear our local public library, we p u r­ chase some cu rren t fiction and literature as popular reading. O ur Admissions Office recruiters and other staff m em bers who travel regularly have discovered this collection and use it heavily. T heir comfort level in using this and o th er services helps them explain ou r operations m ore accurately to outside contacts. Part o f th e array o f services we provide on cam ­ pus is m edia services. Although th e m edia staff works very hard to keep academ ic business as first priority, they assist o th e r units w hen tim e and energy perm it. T hey have p ro d u ced training and other video tapes for Affirmative Action, Purchas­ ing, and Admissions. O u r Graphics P roducer has advised or p ro d u ced materials for th e Finance Office, D evelopm ent, and th e Board o f Trustees. M edia delivery personnel assist many groups on cam pus with technical AV presentations. Archives is a standard library function that, in many ways, serves non-traditional groups more than p resen t faculty and students. Archives has ongoing relationships with D evelopm ent, Alumni, th e P resident’s Office, and many o th er campus units. Interlibrary loan has proven to be a lifesaver for staff ju st as for students and faculty. I assume th at you too, w h eth er you realize it or not, serve th e professional staff in many ways. Just as you have systematically looked for new and im proved ways to b e tte r assist faculty and students as your prim ary patrons, it may be a logical strategy to examine ways you can and should most effec­ tively be serving th e staff in higher education. Have you taken an inventory o f which staff use your library? D o you have specific library staff who are charged with supporting the subject areas o f “staff interests” ju st as you might have librarians working with th e hum anities departm ents? Does your li­ brary staff know th e names and functions o f oth er staff on your cam pus? Do you have alert systems notifying staff o f new acquisitions and services just as you do for faculty? I f you w ere to choose to serve this patron group at a newer, higher level, th e re may well be conflicts related to resources available, priorities, increased work loads, and differences in perception o f tim e­ liness o f inform ation needed, to nam e a few. However, it is im portant to note th at working with this group offers new opportunities to utilize what you already have in place, affords new bridges of cooperation with other cam pus service units, sup­ plies indirect ways to support your prim ary mission o f service to faculty and students, and puts you in contact with a group o f people who really do need and w ant your services. ■ ■ 95% rate Choice the best for academic book reviews In a recen t commissioned study o f Choice subscribers, 95.7% responded th at Choice p ro ­ vides th e best coverage o f academic books. O ut o f a group o f national review journals, respon­ dents picked Choice as the publication with the m ost com plete reviews, th e best reviews w ritten by experts and th e reviews that are most to the point. Choice com m issioned R esearch USA to profile th e readers o f Choice to determ ine how th e magazine is read and how it influences selection. 74.1% o f the respondents rep o rted th at Choice is one o f the several major sources o f inform ation th at influence th e purchase of prin t and nonprint titles. F o r fu rth er inform a­ tion, contact Sabosik at (203) 347-6933.