Transcript ALA/RUSA/STARS

Who’s in Charge?
Report of the Task Force on Qualifications for
Interlibrary Loan Operations Management
Susan P. Lieberthal (Chair)
Sue Kaler
David Larsen
Suzanne Turner
ALA Midwinter January 12, 2008
Agenda
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Introduce the Task Force
Describe the charges for the Task Force
Overview of Task Force activity
Qualifications identified and ranked by Task Force
and survey respondents
Demographics of respondents from our survey
Results of the survey
Group discussion
Wrap up
The Task Force
Susan Lieberthal, Sue Kaler, David Larsen, Suzanne Turner (Kay
Ikuta, Helen Sullivan)
D.L.
H.S.
K.I.
S.K.
S.T.
S.L.
The Process
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Committee convened by Tanner Wray and the
STARS Executive Committee (2005)
Task Force communicates via email and
conference call and at ALA meetings - ALA
Midwinter 2006, ALA 2007
Devises qualifications list and survey
Will propose RUSA guidelines
What is the Charge?
• Determine qualifications needed to be a
manager of an ILL department
• Produce guidelines for hiring and training
the manager and how to maintain ILL skills
• Assess importance of MLS for the
manager of an ILL department
Task Force List of Qualifications
1. Task force produces a list of
qualifications
2. We vote on importance of each
qualification
3. A modified list is used for our survey
Qualifications - Skills
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Management
Interpersonal
Technical
ILL-specific
Professional qualifications/background
Management Qualifications
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Manage and coordinate different processes
Staff management/leadership
Project management skills
Budgetary management
Ability to establish direction for the department
Develop services based upon statistical trends
Interpersonal Skills
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Ability to foster positive relationships
Work with other library departments
Work with departments outside the library
Work with other libraries
Technical Skills
 Knowledge of technology
OCLC, MS Word, CLIO, ILLiad, Scanning,
Ariel, Adobe, copyright, etc.
ILL Specific
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Knowledge of ILL trends
Previous ILL experience
Bibliographic searching skills
Ability to conduct reference interview
MLS?
• Which category does this fit into?
• Is it really necessary?
no
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Pr ag ge f te
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St vio and f IL no
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B f m IL oo tre gy
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A liog nag exp ina s
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Averaging The Qualifications
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2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Committee Rank
Survey Rank
Average Rank
The Survey
• 2,499 email addresses from U. Chicago’s
ILLiad database + 46 additional addresses
from Wellesley Free Library and
Inglewood Public Library (2,545
invitations)
• 599 responses (approx. 24% response
rate)
Our U.S. Respondents
Alaska: 1
Hawaii: 4
Our International Respondents
Analysis by Library Type
Library Type
University Library
Public Library
Medical Library
Total
153
123
118
% of Total
26%
21%
20%
College Library
Special Library
Law Library
92
70
29
15%
12%
5%
School Library
State Library
Total:
11
3
599
2%
1%
Analysis by Size
Annual Requests
0
Borrowing
Lending
Doc. Delivery
4
1%
17
3%
176
29%
1 to 1,000
260
43%
276
46%
279
47%
1,000 to 5,000
179
30%
151
25%
94
16%
10,001 to 20,000
44
7%
60
10%
13
2%
20,001 to 40,000
35
6%
20
3%
5
1%
5,001 to 10,000
71
12%
61
10%
28
5%
6
1%
14
2%
4
1%
Over 40,000
MLS or no MLS?
Survey Results
Does the person most
responsible for your
interlibrary loan/document
delivery operations
currently have a master's
degree in library or
information science?
Does the current
Head of ILL
have MLS?
Total
No
341
Yes
253
Don't Know
2
Total responses:
596
% of
Total
57.2%
42.4%
0.3%
Library Type
Don't No
% with
Know MLS MLS
MLS
School Library
3
8
73%
76
74
49%
Law Library
15
14
48%
Medical Library
65
52
44%
College Library
53
39
42%
Special Library
43
26
38%
State Library
2
1
33%
Public Library
84
39
32%
University Library
2
Importance of MLS
as Job Qualification
Required
Highly Preferred
Preferred
Unimportant
Not Applicable
Total:
139
67
102
222
68
598
23%
11%
17%
37%
11%
Importance of MLS
as Job Qualification
Required
Highly Preferred
Preferred
Unimportant
Not Applicable
Total:
139
67
102
222
68
598
23%
11%
17%
37%
11%
52%
48%
If the current head of the interlibrary
loan / document delivery operation
were to leave and you were
responsible for selecting a
replacement, would you try to find a
replacement with a master's degree in
library or information science?
Current Head
Has MLS
Would
Hire MLS
181
72%
Current Head
Without MLS
27
8%
Would Not Don’t
Hire MLS Know Total
16
56
253
6%
22%
227
87
341
67%
26%
Reasons for Not Hiring MLS
Necessary skills can be obtained without
having degree; or, MLS skills not needed to
do work
154
72%
Budgetary considerations do not allow MLS
or salary range unattractive to MLS
54
25%
Small size of library makes MLS
unnecessary/impractical
49
23%
ILL staff can turn to supervisor or other library
staff when MLS skills needed
34
16%
2
1%
Unclassifiable response
Total Responses (some giving multiple
reasons):
214
Reasons for Hiring MLS
MLS ensures broad understanding of libraries, issues,
trends
79
45%
Position includes responsibility for other areas besides
ILL, often due to small library size
53
30%
MLS ensures bibliographic / searching skills
35
20%
MLS required (no other justification given)
22
13%
MLS ensures commitment to profession / participation in
professional organizations / networking w/ colleagues
12
7%
MLS can be entrusted with greater responsibility / acts
professionally
10
6%
MLS commands respect of administration / users
9
5%
Management responsibilities justify MLS
8
5%
MLS not really necessary (but just desirable)
2
1%
Large size of ILL operation justifies MLS
1
1%
Total Responses (some giving multiple reasons):
176
Does Size Matter?
80%
70%
Percent
run by
someone
with MLS
compared
to annual
request
volume
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 to 1,000
1,000 to 5,000
5,001 to 10,000
10,001 to 20,000
20,001 to 40,000
Over 40,000
Borrowing
41% of 258
37% of 179
49% of 71
50% of 44
68% of 34
33% of 6
Lending
39% of 275
37% of 150
57% of 61
42% of 60
75% of 20
54% of 13
Document Delivery
44% of 279
39% of 93
57% of 28
46% of 13
40% of 5
Staffing
Analyzed highest ranking staff member reported as part of ILL/Document
Delivery staff.
Hidden Librarians?
Highest Ranking Position on ILL Staff by Library Type
120
100
80
Librarian
60
Non-MLS Manager
Clerical
40
20
0
University Library
College library
Public library
Medical Library
ILL Heads without MLS
Highest Ranking Position on ILL Staff by Library Type
50
45
40
35
30
Librarian
25
Non-MLS Manager
Clerical
20
15
10
5
0
University Library
College library
Public library
Medical Library
What does it mean?
• ILL Heads without an MLS may have a librarian
reporting to them.
• Respondents may have counted librarians who
supervise the ILL Head as part of the ILL staff.
• Respondents may have misread the question
and reported staffing for entire library.
• Respondents may have considered ILL Heads
without an MLS to be “librarians.”
• Department may be run by someone with an
MLS after all.
Questions and Feedback
Breakout Discussion Instructions
1. Divide into groups by Academic, College,
Public and Special/Other Libraries
2. Devise a list of your top 5 qualifications
(Handout provided to assist you)
3. MLS or no MLS? Vote and tell us why
Who’s in Charge?
Report of the Task Force on Qualifications for
Interlibrary Loan Operations Management
Susan P. Lieberthal (Chair)
Sue Kaler
David Larsen
Suzanne Turner
ALA Midwinter January 12, 2008