Paraprofessional groups and associations - The Role of Professional Associations

Library Trends, Fall, 1997 by Linda J. Owen

INTRODUCTION

The first step in examining the growing world of paraprofessional

library associations and groups is to look at the reasons for their emergence

and continued growth. As of 1992, an estimated 352,815 people

were employed in academic, public, and school libraries within the United

States. Of those, 62 percent are in the ranks of paraprofessionals (Lynch,

1995, p. 60). Uncounted are many more who work in special and corporate

libraries. Staffing patterns in academic libraries in the United States

and Canada reveal that the ratio of paraprofessionals to professional staff

has increased. Research shows that one-fourth of academic libraries claim

to have more paraprofessionals and fewer librarians on their staffs today

than in the past. In some cases, it is reported that this trend is the

result of the number of librarian staff positions shrinking, while in others it

is because the paraprofessional staff positions have increased (Oberg et al.,

1992, pp. 220, 221).

In the past, the traditional boundaries between the duties of librarians

and paraprofessionals were more readily apparent than they are today.

The paraprofessional's tasks were clerical in nature. They were limited

to duties such as filing, shelving, checking books in and out, and

doing basic descriptive cataloging. That is no longer true. Today, the

duties of paraprofessionals cover a diverse range of responsibilities with

no clear delineations or boundaries. During the 1980s when many libraries

were changing their approach to job assignments and responsibilities,

little was being done to track those changes and their effect on

library paraprofessionals. In 1991, Larry Oberg noted "that librarians

have remained aloof from the day-to-day needs and concerns of their

uncredentialed coworkers is a truism of our experience, our literature

and the activities of our professional associations. Although an intense

process of `off-loading' tasks ... has occurred over the past twenty or so

years, the effects of the process have been largely ignored and stand in

need of analysis" (p. 3). When he wrote this, Oberg was in the midst of

surveying academic libraries to find out just what paraprofessionals were

doing. He found that: "In both technical and public services, paraprofessionals

are routinely assigned tasks that in the past they were rarely, if

ever, allowed to perform" and that "a high degree of overlap exists between

the work that is performed by librarians and that performed by

support staff" (Oberg et al., 1992, pp. 215, 232). Of the academic research

libraries surveyed, 16 to 23 percent assign collection development

to paraprofessionals (p. 225). In cataloging departments, paraprofessionals

are doing all levels of cataloging: copy cataloging (92 percent),

original descriptive cataloging (51 percent), and original subject analysis

and classification (36 percent). Even the once sacrosanct reference desk

of reference services is no longer solely covered by librarians in 74 percent

of the surveyed libraries (p. 224).

Oberg reported on academic libraries. However, the new paradigm

carries through to public libraries where there can be even more of a

blur. With librarians called upon to fulfill more complex library

responsibilities, library paraprofessionals are often on the "front line"

providing service to the library patron. Deborah Halsted and Dana Neeley (1990)

point out that, as backup to the librarian, paraprofessionals are often the

sole workers fielding questions and providing service on evenings and

weekends (p. 62). It is also true that public libraries do not always hold

to a rigid interpretation of the title "librarian" when conferring the

designation as a job title. In 1993, only 41.1 percent of the public library

librarians in the United States held an MLS from an American Library

Association (ALA) accredited school (Lynch & Lance, 1993, p. 67). Library

size has much to do with this phenomenon. Often librarian positions

in smaller libraries are filled by one who would be considered a

paraprofessional in a larger library or library system. "Only a few of the

libraries serving populations of less than 10,000 have MLS librarians, while

all libraries serving populations of 100,000 or more employ them" (p.

67).

If library paraprofessionals occupy positions that were once held to

be the purview of only the librarian, one must ask how they are being

prepared for the changing complexities of their jobs. "It is important

that all staff, from the top of the hierarchy on down to the lowliest clerk,

now be informed about library issues and be able to react intelligently to

patrons' requests. This is achieved by communication within the organization

and by access to continuing education and staff development for

all staff" (Wakefield, 1992, p. 26). Halsted and Neeley (1990) urge that

attention be given to staff training, both through in-house programs and

off-site courses, to prepare them for their responsibilities. They also suggest

that paraprofessionals be encouraged to join existing library associations,

because, as association members, they can participate in the type of