Library technician programs: skills-oriented paraprofessional education - includes appendix outlining a course of study

COMPARISON WITH GRADUATE LEVEL PROGRAMS

Library technician programs have been described in this article to be practical, skills-based, and with minimal theory. In contrast, graduate library science programs emphasize higher level concepts such as planning, designing, evaluating, and implementing. Librarians develop specialization by type of library, by functional area, or by subject because of the elective courses that provide breadth and depth. While library technician programs have few if any choices in library courses, the graduate programs have very few core or required courses. This results in librarians having varied skills sets different from each other while all library technicians have similar skills.

Although the masters of library science programs at the University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, and University of Western Ontario are considered typical, the number of core and/or required courses is fewer than half of the total program. Among these are research methodology courses which are not taught in library technician programs. Usually there are required and elective administrative management courses that are at a much higher level than the workplace behavior and supervisory techniques courses taught in library technician programs. The core courses in subjects such as organization of materials provide a theoretical basis for later elective courses in these areas should students wish to pursue them.

Over the last thirty years, changes in both library technician programs and graduate library science programs have led to increased divergence. The library technician programs have added increasingly in the skills-based areas of librarianship and information technology. In every case, the amount of hands-on skill acquisition has increased. The skills taught in areas such as cataloging and database searching have increased in complexity. This is possible because of new technologies that have made some of these activities routine. During the same time period, following from the bachelors of library science programs in the late 1960s, graduate programs have developed in organizational management and information theory.

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

Definition of Library Technicians

While the term "library technician" is well established in Canada and Australia, the designation of library technical assistant is also commonly used in the United States. The ALA (1997) defines Library Technical Assistants as "persons with certain specifically library related technical skills" (p. 2). This document further clarifies that this is not merely a method to accommodate the senior clerk within a library but to establish a separate category of staff. There is no designation in Canada equivalent to the "library associate" title used in the United States nor are there bachelor's level librarianship programs in Canada. Library technicians are usually classified as "support staff" or "paraprofessionals" along with library assistants and library clerks. A paraprofessional is one who works alongside professionals under the guidance and supervision of a professional thereby deriving practices and ethical framework from the theory and practice of the parent profession. The paraprofessional is not expected to take ultimate responsibility for the effectiveness of standards and practices designed by the professional. Library technicians fit this model well. Theory and practices derive directly from those of librarians with no body of knowledge specifically developed for or by library technicians. The education and professional development is largely designed by librarians for library technicians.