ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 834 / C & RL News cern for th e least fo rtu n a te m em b ers o f th e p ro fe s­ sion even while th e m ore fo rtu n ate m em b ers o f th e profession fight for b e n e fits such as m ate rn ity a n d p a te rn ity leave. A nsw ers to q u e stio n 12 re v e a le d th a t child care and d e p e n d e n t care assistance are still ideas w hose tim e has not com e for m ost college librarians. Since th ese benefits are beingincreasingly sought after in th e c o rp o ra te w orld, how ever, th e availability o f th e s e b e n e fits co u ld in c re a se d ram a tic ally very quickly, if colleges w ish to c o m p e te for good p e r ­ sonnel. In tab u latin g answers to question 13, th e authors fo u n d th a t lib rarian s h a d good access to e d u c atio n b e n e fits. L ib ra ria n s at 68 in stitu tio n s co u ld take courses d u rin g n o rm al w orking h o u rs, an d only 38 re s p o n d e n ts in d ic a te d th a t th e y c o u ld n o t, w hich le ft a n o n -re s p o n s e ra te o f 15 c o m p le te d survey form s. Spousal a n d c h ild e d u c a tio n b e n e fits w e re available to 78 lib ra rian s, w hile 10 lib ra rian s in d i­ c a te d th a t th e y did n o t enjoy th e se b en efits, a n d 31 d id n o t resp o n d . A fter c o m p le tin g this q u e stio n n a ire a n d survey, th e a u th o rs re a liz e d th at: 1) specific m e n tio n o f sa b b atica l eligibility sh o u ld have b e e n m ad e in q u e stio n 8, a n d 2) spousal a n d ch ild e d u c a tio n b e n e fits sh o u ld have b e e n se p ara te d . In su m m a tio n , th e a u th o rs c o n c lu d e th a t m ost college lib ra ria n s en jo y em p lo y e e b e n e fits s ta n ­ d a rd in th e c o rp o ra te w o rld an d th a t vacatio n a n d tu itio n b e n e fits are a big plus for acad em ic lib ra ri­ ans. W e are, how ever, c o n c e rn e d th a t m ost college librarians lack s ta n d a rd b e n e fits en joyed by te a c h ­ ing faculty even th o u g h o u r c re d e n tia ls are g ra d u ­ ally b e co m in g equivalent, and som e o f th e s e b e n e ­ fits m ay b e n e e d e d to u n d e rg o th e co n sta n t p ro fe s­ sional u p d a tin g lib ra ria n s n e e d today, w h e th e r or n o tth e y h a v e o r d e s ir e f a c u lty s ta tu s . ■ ■ Time grants By Cynthia Stewart Kaag and Nancy Shepard R eference Librarians, O w en Science a n d E n gineering L ib ra ry W a shington State U niversity Resource sharing where the resource is time. O n e o f th e e te rn a l q u e stio n s fac e d by aca- dem ic librarians in ten u re -tra c k p o sitio n s is w h e re to fin d tim e to do th e re s e a rc h a n d w ritin g necessary fo r p ro m o tio n a n d t e n u r e . T h e re is only so m u ch reorganizing, reallocating a n d re th in k in g o f p rio ritie s th a t can b e d o n e b e fo re w e all com e to th e sam e point: to o m u ch to do, n o t e n o u g h tim e. D u rin g a r e tr e a t s e t u p to re -e v a lu a te o u r goals a n d objectives, th e faculty at th e O w en Science and E n g in e e rin g L ib rary at W ash in g to n S ta te U n iv e r­ sity cam e up w ith a plan th a t w ould allow individual lib ra ria n s tim e o ff fro m re f e re n c e d e sk re s p o n s i­ bilities fo r th e p u rp o se o f w orking on special p ro j­ ects. O riginally, th e id ea cam e in th e form o f a p re - r e tr e a t pro p o sal by one o f th e librarians for release tim e to p u rsu e scholarly a n d professional activities. This was b ro a d e n e d to m ake possible grants o f tim e for all lib rarian s as n e e d e d for p a rtic u la r p ro je c ts . As h a m m e re d o u t d u rin g th e r e tr e a t, th o se li­ brarians w ho had projects th ey w ished to u n d ertak e o r c o m p le te s u b m itte d w r itte n p ro p o sa ls w hich w e re review ed by all re fe re n c e lib rarian s a n d th e n d isc u sse d at a fac u lty m ee tin g . T h e h e a d o f r e f e r ­ e n c e d e te r m in e d how m an y h o u rs m ig h t b e avail- 8 3 6 / C & RL News able fo r tim e g ra n t p u ip o ses if double staffing o f th e refe re n c e desk during slack tim es w ere elim inated. (E xtra staffing d u rin g th o se tim es is now p ro v id e d on an on-call basis.) In an o p e n giv e-an d -tak e discussion th e re fe re n c e lib ra ria n s d e te rm in e d w ho should receive th e grants a n d how m any hours w o u ld b e g r a n te d . T h e S cien ce a n d E n g in e e rin g L ib ra ry fac u lty have a stro n g sense o f collegiality a n d a re v e ry c o m m itte d to s u p p o rtin g b o th c o ­ w o rk ers, p ro fe ssio n a l d e v e lo p m e n t a n d p a tro n n e e d s. T his a tm o s p h e re is n e c essa ry in o r d e r to m ake a tim e g ra n t system w ork. P rojects p ro p o se d for tim e gran ts included: 1) d ev e lo p m en t o f an online full-text article d e ­ livery service; 2) investigation o f th e long-term effect o f fre sh ­ m an b ib lio g ra p h ic in stru c tio n on r e te n tio n a n d grad u atio n rates; 3) w rite -u p o f article on innovative library p r o ­ m otion efforts; 4) p re p a ra tio n o f a v id e o ta p e on lib ra ry r e ­ search for u p p e r-lev e l e n g in e e rin g classes; 5) p r e p a r a tio n o f a se m in a r series to p ro m o te online services available in W SU L ibraries; 6) im p ro v e d access to in -h o u se in fo rm a tio n files, including learning about dBase III+ and o th e r c o m p u te r softw are to p ro d u c e indexes; 7) q u a lita tiv e ev alu atio n o f re fe re n c e skills th ro u g h ta p e d p a tro n -lib ra ria n tra n sa ctio n s. D u rin g th e first ro u n d o f tim e grants, to tal hours p e r w e e k available w e re 12 (th o u g h w e fee l th a t even tw o h o u rs p e rw e e k w ould b e e n o u g h to s ta rt a tim e g ra n t p ro g ra m ). L ib ra ria n s on tim e g ran ts rec e iv e d b e tw e e n tw o a n d fo u r ho u rs p e r w eek for p e rio d s ra n g in g from one w e e k to tw o m o n th s. I t was d e c id e d th a t, in som e cases, co m plete elim ina­ tio n o f r e f e re n c e d u ty for individuals w o u ld be a c c e p ta b le fo r sh o rt p e rio d s o f tim e . A w ritte n s ta te m e n t o f p ro g re ss was s u b m itte d at th e e n d o f th e g ra n t p e rio d . R esults o f th e first ro u n d o f tim e grants in clu d ed c o m p letio n o f th e re fe re n c e evaluation, ex p a n d ed pro m o tio n o f library services, and th e im p lem e n ta ­ tion o f th e full-text article delivery p ro je c t. A m ajor b e n e fit fo r several p a rtic ip a n ts was le a rn in g to set aside blocks o f tim e for w o rk on a p ro je c t, r a th e r th a n le ttin g sm all daily tasks e a t u p all o n e ’s tim e. N early all th e science librarians have receiv ed tim e g ran ts an d a s e c o n d ro u n d is underw ay. T h e re have b e e n c h an g es in th is se c o n d ro u n d , b o th in p r o c e d u r e s a n d ty p es o f p ro je c ts. T h e a p p lic a tio n pro c e ss is m u ch m o re casual, a n d th e discussion o f tim e allocation took all o f 15 m inutes. By g e n e ra l a g re e m e n t, one lib rarian w ho h a d b e e n a p p o in te d to a sh o rt-te rm , tim e-intensive com m it­ te e was g r a n te d tim e to allow h e r to a tte n d m e e t­ ings a n d do th e n e c e ssa ry b a c k g ro u n d rea d in g . A large p r o je c t c o m p le te d u n d e r th e se c o n d r o u n d was c o m p ila tio n o f files o f u s e r e d u c a tio n m a te ri­ als, b o th generic and course-specific, w hich can be u s e d by any lib rarian fo r B I m a te ria l p re p a ra tio n a n d class p re s e n ta tio n s . P o in ts to c o n sid e r in sta rtin g a tim e g ra n t p r o ­ g ram include: H ow m u ch tim e can b e m ad e avail­ a b le ? W h e re does it com e from ? W ho gets it? H ow m u c h ? W ho d e c id e s? S h o u ld th e r e b e an e v a lu ­ ation o f results, and w ho will do it? W ill tim e grants b e sh o rt te rm o r long? W ill th e g ra n t p ro g ra m o p e ra te y e a r r o u n d or only d u rin g c e rta in tim e s? H ow are tim e grants good for patro n s, as well as for librarians, professional develo p m en t? K now ing tim e m ay be available e n c o u ra g e s d e v e lo p m e n t o f a w id e r v ariety o f p ro je c ts b e n e fi­ cial to th e library. K now ing colleagues m ay be assum ing extra duties d u rin g a p e rso n a l tim e g ran t is an e n c o u ra g e m e n t fo r e ffic ie n t u se o f tim e. H a v in g a tim e lim it to w ork on a p ro je c t provides in cen tiv e for com pletion. T im e grants have p ro v ed a sim p le a n d effective way to e n c o u ra g e scholarly a n d p ro fe ssio n a l re s e a rc h a n d p u b lis h in g a n d to offer th e library and its patrons b o th im m ediate and lo n g te rm benefits. A u t h o r ’s note: This a rticle w as begun u sin g a tw o- person, tw o -h o u rtim e grant. Conference on Integrated Online Library Systems T h e fifth national C o n fe re n c e on In te g ra te d O nline L ibrary System s (IO L S’90) will b e h e ld M ay 2 - 3 ,1 9 9 0 , at th e S h e ra to n C e n tre H o te l, N ew York. C o n trib u te d p a p e rs are sought from all types o f lib ra ries on any a sp e c t o f o n lin e lib ra ry system s. T h e c o n fe re n c e th e m e is “C o n v erg in g F u n c tio n s, D iverging T e c h n o lo ­ gies, G row ing O p tio n s.” Som e o f th e topics e x p e cte d to b e ad d re sse d in clu d e : evaluating a n d s e le c tin g lib rary sys­ tem s; in te g ra tio n o f lib ra ry re c o rd s a n d text retrie v a l; diverse lin k e d system s; d a ta b a se m a n a g e m e n t system s as o n lin e catalogs; n e t ­ w orking; ergonom ics; d a ta conversion; system upgrading and m igrating; and service contracts. All p a p e rs will b e e v a lu a te d a n d s e le c te d by th e IO L S P ro g ra m /R e v ie w C o m m itte e , w hich consists o f B rian Alley (S angam on S tate U n i­ versity), S h arro n C a rlso n (C ase W e s te rn R e ­ serv e U niversity), Lynn H e e r (NASA), and Ju d y M c Q u e e n (lib rary c o n s u lta n t). All ac ­ c e p te d p a p e rs will b e p u b lis h e d in th e c o n fe r­ en c e proceedings. A ddress all inquiries and c o n trib u te d p ap ers to: D a v id C . Genaway, C hair, IO L S ’89 Review C o m m ittee, c/o G enaw ay Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 477, C anfield, O H 44406-0477.