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

Students take a course dedicated to materials acquisitions, including serials control. Students learn to complete acquisition forms, use standard acquisition tools, maintain budget accounts, check-in and route serials, and handle order and receipt problems. Another course covers circulation and interlibrary loans with half the time spent on circulation and half on interlibrary loans. Again, the majority of time is spent on the acquisition of skills--i.e., conducting circulation routines, solving common circulation problems, conducting interlibrary loan routines, and using appropriate resources for interlibrary loan. Policy is dealt with on a practical level in this course also. The teaching techniques and methods of student evaluation described for the "Reference Services" course are the same for circulation and interlibrary loan.

Since library technicians often have supervisory responsibilities in the areas of acquisitions, circulation, and interlibrary loan, some classroom time is spent on tasks usually performed by clerks. Skills such as materials processing, materials repairs, shelving, filing, and weeding are taught in a first semester course called "Basic Library Skills."

Database Searching

Given the prevalence of electronic products in libraries, there can be no dispute that library technicians must learn database searching. In fact, nearly as much curriculum time is spent on database searching as is spent on cataloging and reference. Students begin searching library catalogs and using Internet search engines in "Computers in Libraries," a first semester course. They proceed to "Database Searching 1" in the second semester where the emphasis is on menu-based searching as available through EBSCO, KR OnDisc, SilverPlatter, etc. Finally, in the third semester, they take "Database Searching 2" and learn to use online applications, including the command languages used by major online services and via the Internet.

Traditionally, research for reference has been the predominant use of database searching by librarians. This function is only one of many that necessitates technicians to search databases. Following from the skill areas developed in the reference component of the program, graduates are more likely to use their database searching skills to retrieve ready reference answers or to instruct users in searching library catalogs, CD-ROM products, and Web sites. They also search databases extensively for acquisitions work, interlibrary loans, and derivative cataloging, functions within the library that have previously been discussed as falling within the domain of library technicians. Where technicians have library jobs with a large research component and use database searching for this function, they most often have qualifications in addition to their library technician diplomas.

Libraries, Ethics, History, Legal Issues

While the curriculum overall emphasizes skill-based components that form the vast majority of topics taught, there are two courses with strong knowledge-based components. In order to provide a context for the skills that students are learning and in order to socialize them into the profession, students are introduced to the types of libraries, to the roles which libraries perform in their communities, and to a brief history of library development. The students are not expected or taught to evaluate the validity of the roles. Rather, they are expected to use this knowledge in order to better understand the service needs which they will be providing. Similarly, the ethical and legal issues (e.g., copyright, censorship, privacy, and access to information) are presented so that graduates will understand their own responsibilities. The ethics of the profession are presented again to provide context and socialization. There is no debate or exercise suggesting that students should spend time theorizing. In every case, the issue at hand is dealt with in terms of libraries' needs, clients' services, and workers' development.