ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 3 Women and Minorities in Academic Libraries Kathleen M. Heim Assistant Professor Graduate School o f Library Science University o f Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Statistical information about academic library personnel is often em bedded in larger surveys and therefore overlooked by those needing data for affirmative action purposes. One such survey by Carol Van Alstyne, et al., Women and Minor­ ities in Administration o f Higher Education In­ stitutions: Employment Patterns and Salary Com­ parisons (Washington, D.C.: College and Uni­ versity P ersonnel Association, (CUPA), June 1977), provides information on the “head librar­ ian” position in four areas of interest to academic librarians. “Employment Shares by Race and Sex ’ found that white men predominate as head librarians in all institutions except white women’s private and minority public and private. “Job Concentration of Administrators by Race and Sex” notes that among 52 administrative posi­ tions in academic institutions the head librarian position accounted for the highest concentration of white females. “Salary Comparisons: Share of Jobs Held for Positions Ranked by Salary’’ used the median white male salary to rank the 52 positions for white coed public and private institutions only. The table illustrates that the head librarian posi­ tion ranked in the third quartile for both types of institutions. Deans of all sectors with the excep­ tion of vocational education (public) ranked high­ er. Clearly those holding the head librarian posi­ tion do not receive monetary compensation equal to other administrators of comparable experience and preparation. The “Totals and Median Salary” section used the Carnegie Commission of Higher Education Classification to group institutions by educational mission. Interestingly, the small number (18) of minority men and women at public white institu­ tions earned a higher median salary than did th e ir 491 w hite c o u n te rp a rts (white males: $23,590; white females: $18,062; minority males: $25,570; minority females: $20,500), although the actual n u m b er of m inorities serving as head librarians in these institutions is discouragingly small. These data add somewhat to our meager statis­ tical information about women and minorities in academic librarianship. Several clear facts do emerge. Within higher education the head librar­ ian position is the single most concentrated area of white female achievement. Librarianship, un­ like many of the other positions surveyed by CUPA, has been relatively open to white women. However, academic librarianship still lags behind in true equalization between the sexes and races at its highest level. A more complete summary of these data as they relate to academic librarians is available by writing to: Kathleen M. Heim, Graduate School of Library Science, 410 David Kinley Hall, Uni­ versity of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. Editors Note: The data summarized here were taken from a survev conducted in 1975-76 and are not guaranteed to be current. CUPA has con­ ducted a similar survey based on 1978-79 data and plans to issue a status report in February 1981 comparing the two sets of statistics. For further information, write: College and University Personnel Association, 11 DuPont Circle, Suite 120, Washington, DC 20036. TABLE Salary Comparisons: Share of Jobs Held by Women and Minorities for Head Librarian Positions Ranked by Salary (jobs ranked according to median salary paid to white males) Percent of Jobs Held by Median White Minority White Minority Institution Salary Rank Quartile Men Men Women Women White Coed/Public $23,590 29 3 69.4% 1.3% 27.1% 2.2% White Coed/Private $18,500 32 3 60.2% 1.6% 37.9% .3% Source: Summarized from Carol Van Alstyne, et al., Table 10, pp. 41-42. 4 LIBRARY LITERATURE INITIATIVE GROUP The American Library Association has estab­ lished the Library and Inform ation L iteratu re M em bership Initiative Group (LIL MIG), orga­ nized at the ALA 1980 Annual C onference in June. The group will develop new forums for dis­ cussion and action on a variety of issues relating to library literature and information needs in the field. Interest in this topic has been sparked by in­ creasing publication about the literature of librar- ianship and information services, and concern for the quality, coverage, indexing, collection and use of the literature. The group’s organizers have identified a num ber of potential discussion topics including: • abstracting and indexing scope; • research needs; • current awareness; • improving writing and editing skills; • locating and using research collections. They hope to draw a broad spectrum of partici­ pants, re p re s e n tin g th e range of creators and users of library literature—w riters, editors, and publishers; library science librarians; library edu­ cators; researchers; and those who read and use the field’s literature. The m em b ersh ip in itiativ e group, a newly- created structure within ALA, provides a short­ term means for prom pt m em bership activity on sp ecial topics. T hese groups can form , for a period of two years, to discuss and develop pro­ grams in their special subjects, and then either disband or find a perm anent place in ALA. The Library and Information L iterature MIG is the first such group to be created. Id e a s S o lic ite d Scarecrow Press is seeking b rie f subm is­ sions by librarians of ideas that have improved efficiency or cut costs, im p ro v ed serv ice, helped in collection developm ent, ordering, acquisitions, or generated public support for their library. For each item selected and pub­ lish ed in th e ir b ro c h u re s and catalogs, Scarecrow will award a $50 credit to the in­ stitution or individual subm itting the item , which may be applied to the purchase of any in-print Scarecrow publications. Ideas should be submitted in written form (350 words max­ imum) to Scarecrow P ress, P .O . Box 656, M etuchen, NJ 08840. Selection of the ideas for publication will be made by Eric Moon, form er p re sid e n t of Scarecrow and form er president of ALA. The LIL’MIG will hold a planning session at the 1981 ALA M idw inter M eeting in W ashing­ ton, at 2-4 p.m ., Monday, February 2, and will be preparing activities for the Annual Conference as well. Those interested in participating in the group should contact the coordinator, Tim La- Borie, Drexel University Librarv, Philadelphia, PA 19104. LINKING TH E DATABASES The Council on Library Resources (CLR) has released a study prepared by Battelle-Columbus Laboratories concerning the benefits and costs of linking co m p u ter-b ased bibliographic utilities. The report recommends that the Library of Con­ gress, OCLC, the Research Libraries Information N etwork (RLIN), and th e W ashington Library Network (WLN) develop online links using the automatic translation of requests and responses. B a tte lle s re c o m m e n d a tio n is b a sed on an analysis of the economic and service benefits to libraries and library users if three library opera­ tions were to be linked: shared cataloging of cur­ rent monographs, interlibrary loan, and reference searching. Hit-rate studies were used to calculate benefits of linking for shared cataloging. They revealed that while LG, RLIN, and WLN had the most to gain in terms of finding records for current cata­ loging (the study was perform ed in 1979 when RLIN only had th re e full R esearch L ibraries G roup m em bers), O CLC libraries, because of their num ber, would save the largest amount— over $2 million per year. A similar study focused on verification of rec­ ords for purposes of interlibrary loan and found that RLIN and WLN members stood to benefit s u b sta n tia lly in te rm s of in c re a se d se rv ic e . However, the economic benefits for individual m ember libraries of any network were less sub­ stantial and may even be neutralized by costs of processing larger num bers of in terlib rary loan requests. Economic benefits were not calculated for ref­ erence searching, but it was estim ated that 2 mil­ lion a d d itio n a l su ccessfu l re fe re n c e search es would be possible if the utilities were linked. Battelle recom mended that the linkage be in a “translation” mode, in which the computers auto­ m atically tra n s la te one system language into another. This mode, using dedicated leased lines, was found to be the most efficient. The Battelle report, Linking the Bibliographic Utilities: Benefits and Costs, together with a com­ panion document prepared by CLR, is available for $9 (prepaid) from the Council on Library Re­ sources, One DuPont Circle, Suite 620, Washing­ ton, DC 20036. 5 STUDENT FEES FOR LIBRARY PRIVILEGES In these trying days of the shrinking dollar and budget trimming, libraries are forced to explore new ways of increasing revenues to maintain their current standard of library service. Some tradi­ tional income-producing techniques have been in­ terlibrary loan fees, overdue book charges, online database searching fees, and fees for library use bv non-students. But have librarians ever experim ented with assessing a special fee to students that specifically allows them the use of the library, just as a lab fee permits students the use of laboratory facili­ ties and equipment? Several member insitutions recently posed that question to ACRL headquar­ ters. In October, ACRL polled the institutions that are participating in the ACRL 100 Libraries Proj­ ect on w hether they have ever had, currently have, or plan to establish a fee for privileges to students enrolled in their institution. Ninety-five per cent of all th e academ ic in stitu tio n s re­ sponded to the questionnaire. Absolutely none of them had ever levied a fee for library privileges. However, a few libraries indicated that thev had assessed similar student fees for specific li­ brary projects. For example, two librarians re­ ported a fee that was established to assist in paying off revenue bonded debts on new library buildings or additions. The fees had nothing to do with the use of the library, but both were related to the number of credit hours for which each stu­ dent was enrolled. One university assessed a fee of 63 cents per cred it hour, while the other charged $34 per year for full-time students and $17 per year for part-time students. Another institution reported a $2 fee used to pay for m aterials, eq u ip m e n t and p ersonnel needed to produce a library card that could be used with an automated circulation system and as a campus services (I D.) card. In the student activist 60’s, a student running for student body president at a western university was elected on a platform advocating the imposi­ tion of a library fee to help offset rising periodical costs. As the university librarian reported, the $5 fee “ultimately forced the university administra­ tion to recognize that inflation of periodical costs rises much faster than student growth; so the administration increased the library’s budget to cover those costs and discontinued the fee for li­ brary support” after six years. Undoubtedly the maze of red tape surrounding the imposition of a library privilege fee has dis­ couraged its utilization by many institutions, but it is hard to believe that one has never been tried. If your institution has ever had a library fee or plans to implement one, please contact George M. Eberhart, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chi­ cago, IL 60611. Midwest Library Service Announces Its Newly Expanded CONTINUATION AND STANDING ORDER SERVICE We invite you to submit your Continuations List to us for prompt, efficient processing. Our publisher base includes approximately 500 selected publishers. We are thoroughly knowledgeable in all aspects of Standing Order procedures. For a copy of our new brochure on “ CONTINUATION & STANDING ORDER SERVCE” please call us, using our TOLL-FREE WATS Line: 1-8OO-325-8833, or else write: Mr. Howard Lesser President Midwest Library Service 11443 St. Charles Rock Road Bridgeton, Mo. 63044 Once your order is received, a Personal Customer Service Representative will be assigned to your library to assist you.