The role of the paraprofessional in technical services in libraries

Circulation

Circulation is, likewise, a function which has, at times, been associated with technical services and at others with public services. More recently, it has also come under the rubric of information systems or systems support services--itself an "orphan" in the traditional bifurcated organizational structure of public versus technical services. While patron/user registration, check-in and check-out of materials, reserves, and overdues payments are activities carried out in the public areas of a library, creation and maintenance of patron registration files, overdue notice generation and processing, and recovery of overdue/missing items may be considered part of the technical services function. As with some other areas described earlier, the majority of circulation activities are done by clerical support staff, sometimes under the supervision of a paraprofessional. Even with the early introduction of automation relative to other functional areas within libraries, staffing levels within circulation have remained largely stable across time. Since a large portion of the work deals with creating and maintaining files (in addition to dealing directly with library users), clerical support staff have continued as the appropriate level of staffing in transitions from paper-based to computer-based record-keeping. This allocation seems unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

THE ROLE OF THE PARAPROFESSIONAL IN TECHNICAL SERVICES IN LIBRARIES: REFLECTING ON THE PAST, SPECULATING ON THE FUTURE

The existence of nonprofessionals within libraries has a long, though undocumented, history. Evans (1979) provided one of the more complete accounts of the paraprofessional within libraries, while several articles have been written since the early 1970s documenting library techniques programs in Canada, and the role of the library technician in libraries (see, for example, the most recent article by Weihs, 1997). Generally speaking, however, there has been little formal research into the placement and utilization of paraprofessionals in libraries as a whole or within particular administrative units. Addressing the future role of the paraprofessional in technical services will necessarily involve speculation based on past indicators rather than extrapolation from a base of empirical research. It is primarily the author's opinion which follows.

With the exception of the employment of paraprofessionals in "sole person libraries," such as small, special or public libraries, or in small- to medium-sized public libraries, the role of this level of staff in technical services has been largely that of "handmaiden" to professional librarians. That term is not intended in any derogatory or devaluing sense but to indicate the support function ascribed to the paraprofessional. When the influx of materials became too great for librarians to handle on their own, nonlibrarians with a sound base of training and skills were hired to contribute to the work processes and to help minimize arrearages. As salary levels of professional librarians increased, the possibility of hiring lower paid, but well-skilled, paraprofessionals became more attractive to library administrators, particularly in the technical services area. In a sense, this paraprofessional group played a "shadow" role to librarians, assuming responsibility for some of the "nonprofessional" work processes. With the introduction and subsequent increasing sophistication of information technologies in technical services, there was a general "up selling" in job levels. Numbers of clerical support staff decreased, while the number of paraprofessionals increased as they assumed support-level jobs and also work assignments previously done by librarians. The number of professional librarians in technical services tended to stay the same or slightly decrease, at least in hands-on activities, assuming, instead, more of the supervisory and management functions related to policy, operational and workflow design, and staffing issues (Howarth, 1993).