College and Research Libraries DAVID C. WEBER The Place of "Professional Specialists'~ on the University Library Staff A growing group within the staffs of university libraries is that of "pro- fessional specialist." Persons in these groups may or may not hold li- brary school degrees, but their professional status is assured by special skills, competences, or talents which the library requires and which they present. Examples of "professional specialists" are given; condi- tions of their appointments, and their job descriptions are enumerated. T ms PAPER IS another in the series of statements drafted by a member of the Committee on Academic Status1 of the University Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Li- braries, and approved by the committee as preliminary reports to elicit comment. Readers' reactions are invited and may be sent to the author of this particular paper or to the chairman of the commit- tee. Following possible revisions and fi- nal approval by the committee, it is ex- pected to submit all statements to ACRL for endorsement and publication in monographic form. Within many university libraries there are developing sizeable groups of staff members who may be termed "profes- sional-specialists." This group of individ- uals seems to be set apart from tradi- tional librarians by shades of difference in their personnel status within the uni- versity and within its library. These shadowy variations are the topic of this paper. A description of the professional- specialist group can be attempted. It 1 Current members of the Committee on Academic Status are R. B. Downs, William H. Jesse, Robert H. Muller, David C. Weber, and Lewis C. Branscomb, chairman. Mr. Weber is Associate Director of Li- braries, Stanford University. cannot, however, be a precise definition when universities achieve such great var- iance in treatment of similar positions, when assignments may be combined in- to hybrid positions, and when personnel policies vary widely. "Specialist" is here used to refer to an individual with a subject or technical expertise combined with a knowledge of libraries and educational institutions. Al- though most librarians may be said to specialize (for example in law libraries or in cataloging of social science mate- rials), the term is further limited to per- sons whose specialist talents may be said to dominate his talents as a librarian. Using this definition, there would throughout the country be a rather large number of these positions filled with per- sons having pursued advanced work in the specialty, while there would be few- er with training in both the specialty and in librarianship. 2 An indication of the dominating inter- est in the specialty would be the individ- ual's membership and activity in such as- sociations as the Society of American Ar- chivists, the National Microfilm Associa- tion, or the Modern Language Associa- 2 There is relevant discussion in Robert B. Downs, "Preparation of Specialists for University Libraries," Special Libraries, XXXVII (September 1946), 209-13. I 383 ,' 384 I College & Research Libraries • September 1965 tion, and perhaps little interest in the American Library Association, the Amer- ican Association of Law Libraries, or the Special Libraries Association.3 Before considering various other ways of arriving at a deflnition of a distinctive group of positions, the form of the «pro- fessional specialist" group may be sug- gested by the following list of speciflc specialist assignments which is not ex- haustive and will surely in the future in- clude new types. Administrative or Systems Analyst Archivist Area or Subject Bibliographer Audio-Visual Division Chief Book Selection Specialist for a language, subject, or region Business Manager Editor of Publications Information Scientist or Documentalist Manuscripts Curator Map Librarian Paleographer Personnel Manager Photographic Specialist Since some of the specialties, such as work with manuscripts, have been a tra- ditional part of librarianship for cen- turies, it is clear that any list such as the one above is debatable; and a group of professional-specialists can be described and discussed only in broad generalities subject to all the usual hazards of such treatment. The term «professional-specialists" is not in general intended to designate li- brarians with assignments in traditional departments who have become special- ized because of the unavoidable division of labor which comes with the increasing size and complexity of the library. The amount of «traditional" librarianship which each specialist practices, and which each must know, is so variable 3 The present use of the word " specialist" is in a different sense from its use in " special librarianship," where an active role in distillation and dissemination of information is implicit, and the meaning is dis- tinctly different from " subject librarian." that this characteristic cannot be used to help deflne the group. Taking another approach, there is like- ly to be a higher incidence of teaching among the professional-specialists than by the traditionally oriented librarians. Courses of instruction offered by librar- ians who are subject specialists are com- mon in American universities, as they are in those abroad. Others of the above named specialists may also be enlisted for teaching duties in some institutions. Teaching is thus a rather general char- acteristic of this group, but it cannot serve as a part of the deflnition for this professional-specialist group, since it is likely to be a voluntary function rather than one inherent in the position held. Another point of distinction is the special titles often used for these posi- tions, titles assigned to make clear the special assignment which might not be evident from general classiflcation, such as Librarian III or Principal Librarian. A special title may be granted because of the individual's exceptional background, his need for special designation in the community, or the administration's de- sire for a particular emphasis on the as- signment. Thus the head of an audio- visual department may for clarity be called chief of audio-visual facilities, or possibly for emphasis director of aca- demic communications and instructional media. One institution may prefer chief of photocopying services, while another prefers photographer to the library, or specalists for documentary reproduction. Yet here again, titles certainly cannot be used to help deflne the group. Professional-specialists may handle either traditional jobs or those rather re- cently added to the library; or they may direct newly-formed departments or of- flees. Thus the position of personnel of- fleer may be established as the constant jobs of staff recruitment and training reach proportions requiring that these functions be split off from others. Or new endowment income may serve to create Professional Specialists I 385 a new position with responsibility for archives; and this assignment, combined, for example, with the library's need for a bibliographical study of distinction, may result in the creation of a division of special collections or a department of rare books, archives, and manuscripts, with a chief or a curator to manage it. No one library will have many of each type within this specialist group, but great variations are possible. It must be concluded that the newness or the num- bers of such positions do not help clarify the definition. A close analysis of personnel policies and academic status will produce per- haps the only rather clear sign that a distinctive group does exist. In person- nel policies, the professional-specialist may be treated almost exactly as are the librarians, using whatever classification and enjoying whatever academic status are assigned to librarians within a given institution. Yet some differences can be detected, perhaps in salary schedules; or they may lie in eligibility rules for fac- ulty benefits or other indications of sta- tus. Where this occurs, the variant treat- ment is almost certain to be because of their qualifications and services intra muros as professional-specialists, often working especially closely with a de- partment of instruction, rather than be- cause they are librarians "with connec- tions." As a hypothetical case, an archivist may sit on university committees or be given standing in the university far be- yond that of other library department heads when the university considers the archivist in a different light because of the especially important value of his ser- vices to the president, trustees, or alum- ni groups. Or the archivist may have been independent of the library until a recent reorganization; he may have been coordinate with the curator of the mu- seum, the director of the press, or the di- rector of libraries. Further, the business schoo1, or the history and education de- partments, may have a special interest in the organization and use of the archive collection, and may use the archivist to give courses, to sit on committees, and to participate in their academic programs in other ways. The archivist in such an instance may have achieved special priv- ileges by his own activities, compe- tence, and personality combined with a set of local conditions. Careful analysis of positions in each institution should show where the spe- cial nature of the appointment lies; the professional-specialist may by this defini- tion have a slightly different treatment from the majority of librarians in one or another aspect of his employment. These aspects which will be briefly discussed are: the type of appointment, the clas- sification of position, the salary schedule, the question of tenure, the availability of sabbaticals, and other perquisites. TYPE OF APPOINTMENT The specialist may more often work part-time, even less than half-time, than the librarian, who usually holds a full- time appointment. He may also have jobs outside the university which occupy part of his time. Not infrequently a specialist may hold a joint appointment in the library and in another department of the university, either as an administra- tor or as a member of the instructional faculty. This mixed appointment for the professional-specialist might mean that he has two forms of status. Since he probably holds academic and perhaps faculty status for his library position, status deriving from another university appointment generally offers no im- provement. CLASSIFICATION The professional-specialist will com- monly be placed in the classification for librarians, the exact level being deter- mined through job analysis, qualifica- tions for candidacy, experience, and ad- ministrative responsibilities. An alterna- 386 I College & Research Libraries • September 1965 tive might occasionally be used where the specialist fills one of many similar positions existing elsewhere in the uni- versity. Thus, instead of the business manager being inserted into the library classification, he might in some institu- tions be included in a classification for other individuals having graduate busi- ness school training, when he is similar in qualifications to such individuals in the controller's office or business office of the university. SALARY SCHEDULE Salaries are one place where the pro- fessional-specialist may be treated dif- ferently from librarians. The specialist is drawn from a different market which dictates the salary minimums for differ- ent levels. This creates a separate salary schedule sui generis. Where the special- ist is a librarian who became a specialist by learning on the job, the salary sched- ules may be identical to that for other librarians. The personnel manager or the map librarian might be examples of this local development. Others may be sought in a national market, such as a documen- talist or information scientist, a photo- graphic specialist, or an audio-visual specialist. Once the initial salary is estab- lished, the individual may be inserted at the appropriate level in the regular schedule for librarians, with normal in- cre_ases following, unless the condition of the national market forces more sub- stantial annual increases in order to hold the specialist. It may be unfortunate that a pref- erential salary is sometimes determined by the demand and supply on the em- ployment market, but it is unavoidable. Of course, to say that a financial advan- tage lacks equity with respect to the rest of the professional staff overlooks the fact that the specialist ran the risk of advanced training in a limited field. He invested time and funds to obtain an education for a field where relatively few people were needed to fill positions in various types of organizations. Fur- thermore, any apparent stretching of sal- ary scales on behalf of the specialist will only tend to bring other librarians along with him for improved salary, status, and benefits. TENURE The part of his appointment in the library would have tenure if librarians are so covered. When the professional- specialist teaches one or more courses on a regular assignment in a department of instruction, he is not likely to gain fac- ulty tenure for it unless it constitutes the major part of his appointment. In any event, his conditions for job security within the library would almost certainly be the same as those applying to other librarians. SABBATICAL LEAVES As a specialist's job approaches the character of faculty occupations, his sab- batical arrangements should more close- ly resemble those of faculty than of busi- ness officers. That is, the professional- specialist in a scholarly or academic dis- cipline who has achieved proficiency and a high status among his colleagues is probably able to demonstrate that he could profit from and make good use of a sabbatical leave. Thus some specialists, such as the paleographer, archivist, or book selection specialist, may perhaps be in a more favorable position for a sab- batical than is the typical librarian, though the benefits of sabbatical leaves to all senior librarians can be cogently argued. OTHER PERQUISITES The professional-specialist is likely to have a slight advantage over the tradi- tional librarian in such areas as insur- ance programs, faculty club member- ship, attendance at faculty meetings with voting power, housing privileges, travel funds, tuition exemption, ticket priorities, and automobile parking ar- rangements. This comes from the fact that he is a specialist in a minority group and a special case may be made for him Professional Specialists I 387 without opening the flood gates. He may also have special arrangements with one or more departments of the university or with administrative offices which enable him to obtain such privileges. Although precise qualifications of "pro- fessional-specialists" are not possible to define, it may be that from 5 to 20 per cent of the staff of some larger libraries would be specialists as described above. In most libraries it will probably be a smaller percentage. A library which needed specialists in past decades most often found them elsewhere than in li- brary schools. Yet the trend toward em- ployment of specialists has prompted graduate library schools in the past doz- en years to organize institutes and to add new courses and combination programs with other departments in the university in order to graduate librarians with bet- ter qualifications to handle unusual as- signments.4 It is clear that graduate li- brary schools .are increasingly meeting the need for specialists. Even so, many professional-specialists are not required to obtain a graduate library degree. The educational requirements for holding such a position continue to be highly pragmatic; experience is the best recom- mendation. The responsibilities of a few such specific positions and the qualifications sought in these appointments may be suggested in the following examples: Librarian of East Asian Studies & As- sistant Professor of Library Administra- tion, Ohio Sta.te University Libraries. Graduate degree in library science from an accredited library school. Experience in selecting and cataloging East Asian li- brary materials. Scholarly knowledge of the history and literature of the Chinese peoples and to a lesser degree of Japan and Korea. Knowledge of Chinese and Japanese languages. Coordinator, Library Development 4 See, for example, George S. Bonn, " Training and Education for Information Work," A mer ican Docu- mentation, XIII (July 1962), 301-12. Program, University of Tennessee Li- brary. The coordinator for the library de- velopment program coordinates the uni- versity solicitation of books and manu- scripts and money for books and manu- scripts. The position requires a college degree, preferably a graduate degree. Teaching and research experience is highly desirable. A library science de- gree is not required, but would be de- sirable. A full acquaintance with the teaching and research needs of the in- stitution itself is necessary. A wide knowledge of and enthusiasm for books is requisite. The Research Associate in Statistical Servi9es, University of Illinois Library. Library degree and some experience, preferably in technical services areas; in- terest in machine applications to library problems; ability to work well with peo- ple and to obtain cooperation from the library staff. Duties are to work with the library administration, departments in- volved in mechanizing procedures, the statistical services unit, and Advisory Committee on Library Automation; rec- ommend to the library administration specific equipment, programs, and pro- cedures to be followed in the conversion to automation; work out the machine ap- plications and oversee the actual conver- sion to machine operations of those pro- grams approved by the library admin- istration. Head of Near Eastern Unit, University of Michigan Library. Has responsibility for the selection and cataloging of all materials in Near Eastern languages to be added to the university library col- lections, and assists in the acquisition of these materials. Qualifications re- quired are competence in Arabic, a working knowledge of one or more other languages in the area and of two major European languages and several years of library experience, especially with materials from the Near and Middle East and preferably including cataloging of vernacular materials; desirable are grad- 388 I College & Research Libraries • September 1965 uate degrees in Oriental studies and li- brary science. Chief of Administrative Services~ Stan:- ford University Libraries. College de- gree; graduate degree in, or experience in, business administration is considered of major importance; also important is knowledge of audio-visual, photograph- ic, and data processing equipment and similar machine processes important to libraries; and useful is interest in studies of operation efficiency, in printing and publishing, and in building design and equipment. No graduate library school degree required. Minimum of five years experience in business or education is felt necessary. There is undoubtedly a national trend for an increasing proportion of positions in university libraries to be specialist in character. There are larger numbers of librarians who are full-time book selec- tion specialists or curators of subject col- lections. Data processing or documenta- tion specialists in university libraries are increasing in number. The use of person- nel managers and business managers is increasing. Also audio-visual divisions and photographic departments are now major enterprises in some institutions where they were embryonic twenty years ago. Dean Neal Harlow foresees that «many competent bit performers in a well or- dered system (story tellers, abstractors, technicians, and subject specialists) do not require [the] extended perspective [of librarianship] and need not seek or be granted the freedom of the profes- . sion. Persons from allied professional fields, particularly sociology, political science, and technology, will play a ma- jor role in the decision-making processes of libraries .... "5 This is a natural result of increasing size and complexity in university li- braries. New qualifications are sought in appointments to help solve new prob- lems. Many aspects of work in the larger university libraries can now profit by such specialized attention. Without resting a conclusion on fact, one may speculate that many types of professional-specialists will remain a part of library organizations in future decades. Some, such as the information scientists, may become absorbed in li- brarianship. Other specialists (perhaps the business manager and photographic specialist are examples), may always re- main a clearly distinct group. One need only consider the officers of the Library of Congress to realize that large research libraries of the future are certain to have on the staff some men who are business specialists, lawyers, historians, as well as other specialists in editing, in commu- nications, in audio systems, or in data processing. This development is probably a sign of maturity in the library profession. It may result from the fact that libraries are now gaining creditable support in these affiuent times. • • 5 Neal Harlow, "The Present Is Not What It Was," Library Journal, LXXXIX (June 15, 1964), 2531-32. Wanted-Choice Editor ALA HAS ACCEPTED, with regret, the resignation of Richard K. Gardner as editor of CHOICE~ effective January 31, 1966. Mr. Gard- ner will devote the next several months to completing a doctoral dissertation and, later, will enter upon a career in library educa- tion at Western Reserve University. Persons who may be interested in the position and persons who wish to suggest the names of others who may be interested are requested to communicate with George M. Bailey, executive sec- retary of ACRL. ••