Review of Current Librarian Work; and the Role of Librarians in the
Transformed System at The College of New Jersey
Supporting Document to:
Revision of Item 12, Memorandum of Agreement #62: The Fair Application to Librarians of the Principles of the Transformed System at The College of New Jersey.
Summary
This document describes the librarians’ response to the Memorandum of Agreement #62 directive that “the principles of the transformed system of faculty work should be applied fairly to librarians… [C]ontingent on a comprehensive review and revision of the role of librarians in the transformed system of student and faculty work.” This document outlines current librarian work; discusses the alignment of the role of librarians and library services in a transformed system; and justifies the need for additional lines in the library to achieve meaningful, effective transformation.
Review of Current Librarian Work
Librarianship
Introduction
Librarians at TCNJ are broadly categorized as either public services librarians or technical services librarians. Public services librarians work with TCNJ students, faculty and staff, as well as with the general public. Their work usually involves some combination of reference, instruction and departmental liaison duties; collection development and maintenance; and in some cases administrative and coordinating responsibilities. Technical services librarians generally work behind the scenes, either in cataloging or in oversight of integrated library systems, in some cases with additional administrative and coordinating responsibilities.
The distinction between public services and technical services often becomes blurred, however, as all technical services librarians also staff the reference desk, and may provide instruction, collection development, and departmental liaison duties. Similarly, public services librarians are often closely involved in making revisions to the library catalog and other integrated library systems. All full time librarians go through the TCNJ tenure, reappointment and promotion process and must meet expected standards for librarianship, scholarship, and service.
Cataloging
Accurate authoritative cataloging provides access to the TCNJ library’s print, electronic, and media collections. Following professional standards and procedures, catalog librarians classify materials and revise and update the catalog’s bibliographic records so that library users can easily identify and locate materials. Workflow patterns are constantly reevaluated and modified for the ease and timeliness of getting new materials to the shelves for the users. Additionally, catalog records for digital publications or other online resources are monitored and updated to maintain timeliness and accuracy.
Instruction
Through various forms of library instruction, TCNJ librarians seek to introduce students to an array of print and electronic resources; to teach students how to construct targeted search strategies and how to evaluate materials found as a result of these searches; and to promote independent searching and critical thinking skills among students, in anticipation of enabling them to develop into information literate lifelong learners. Instruction formats range from the introductory electronic tutorial for first year students to subject-specific library classes designed to support students engaged in research in upper level and graduate level courses. Librarians prepare, update, and improve their classes and tutorials and consistently explore new ways of interacting with students, such as through development of online, point-of-need, interactive tutorials and research guides. TCNJ librarians expect a continuing increase in requests for instruction in upper level classes to promote the resources needed to support enhanced research expectations for transformed courses.
Reference service
Librarians at the College provide reference service in person at the reference desk or by individual office appointment, by phone, and by email. Reference service ranges from answering directional questions and offering quick verification of facts to lengthy discussions with students and faculty on research strategies and resource options.
Liaison work with departments
TCNJ librarians with subject-area specialization work closely with faculty in departments to evaluate and select new materials to support the transformed courses. Librarians also provide course-specific instruction on use of information resources; prepare print and online guides to subject-specific research resources; and with increasing frequency provide class-specific research guidance by establishing a presence in SOCS. Subject specialist librarians regularly provide individual guidance to students working on their senior research projects. Librarians anticipate more collaboration with teaching faculty on the design and evaluation of the research-intensive transformed courses.
Collection development and maintenance
The goal of collection development, a responsibility shared by many librarians at the College, is to provide a substantive, comprehensive, timely collection of books and other media to support the transformed curriculum. Rigorous evaluation and selection of books and other resources; development of enriched collections of resources in support of new courses and subject areas; and selective weeding of current collections are activities necessary to keep the collections responsive to students’ research needs.
Administrative and coordinating responsibilities
Librarians in each area of the library have significant responsibility for the planning, initiating, and codifying or coordinating of library operations and services. Cataloging, electronic resources, interlibrary loan, the library archives, media services, public services, and library systems are areas where librarians have such responsibilities. Some librarians coordinate the work of librarian colleagues or supervise the work of support staff. Some librarians participate in training colleagues or support staff. Electronic resources and media collections present separate challenges, such as licensing and copyright compliance issues, requiring oversight by a librarian.
Library systems
Professional oversight of the library’s online integrated system is vital to the functioning of the cataloging, acquisitions, circulation and interlibrary loan departments. In addition to periodic upgrading and troubleshooting of the present library system, the systems librarian continuously identifies process improvements that make the system run more efficiently. The systems librarian also serves as a leader in the identification and implementation of new technologies in the library.
Service to the Campus and to the Profession
An integral part of every librarian’s responsibility is service to the department, to the College, and to the profession. Within the library, there are personnel committees (for reappointment and tenure, and for promotion); committees on librarian faculty issues; a committee for oversight of the library website; and other committees essential for the functioning of the library. Librarians also serve as members or chairs of College committees and councils. In addition, librarians are active participants and leaders in numerous local, state, regional, national and international professional organizations. Such committee work advances the mission of the library and the College, and contributes to the advancement of the profession of librarianship.
Scholarly/Creative/Professional Activity
As teaching faculty are guided by a teacher-scholar model, librarians at TCNJ are guided by a librarian-scholar model. The Final Report of the Task Force on the Teacher-Scholar Model at TCNJ, dated May 8, 2006, notes that:
“Just as College expectations for excellence in teaching and scholarship parallel expectations for excellence in the practice of librarianship and scholarship, the term “teacher-scholar” in this document should be understood to include “librarian-scholar.”
Librarian-scholars at TCNJ develop and evaluate new services and programs to provide access to information for the College community’s advancement of knowledge, inquiry, and teaching. It is recognized that scholarly inquiry in the field of librarianship grows out of professional practice. The teacher-scholar model put forth by Ernest L. Boyer in Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate (1990) advocates a broad definition of scholarship and serves as a model for the librarian-scholar. Boyer’s concept of “Scholarship in Support of Teaching” can be extended to “Scholarship in Support of Librarianship.” The researcher who is rooted in librarianship is linked to the mission of undergraduate education at TCNJ. Scholarship in support of librarianship enhances the TCNJ intellectual community and furthers the mission of the College as a national exemplar, dedicated to free inquiry and open exchange.
The Final Report of the Task Force on the Teacher-Scholar Model at TCNJ also calls for a “more inclusive, dynamic model of the teacher-scholar at TCNJ.” This dynamic model is distinct from “scholarship in support of teaching” and reflects and builds on the changes that have taken place at the College since 1995. This inclusive and dynamic model is reflected in the current Disciplinary Standards for Promotion for librarians, which recognizes that librarian-scholars at TCNJ pursue a variety of research interests that may encompass a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Scholarly activity includes disciplinary research, applied research, pedagogical research, or artistic expression. Because much library scholarship arises in tandem with development of new practices in librarianship, we expect to be able to more fully integrate scholarly inquiry with the transformed practice of librarianship at TCNJ. Scholarly activity for librarians extends beyond the field of library science for subject librarians who seek to pursue scholarly/creative/professional activities in one of their fields of subject responsibility. Librarians who do not serve as subject specialists may also focus on research beyond librarianship, as in the case of a systems librarian pursuing research in computer science or human-computer interaction. Artistic expression for a music or art librarian could involve a performance or participation in a juried show.
TCNJ librarians communicate what they have learned to their professional peers in order to advance knowledge of the field of librarianship. Librarians communicate their research in both peer reviewed and non peer-reviewed publications, acknowledging the importance of peer review as the highest mark of prestige and significance.
Revision of Librarian Work
Revised librarianship load under a transformed system
Faculty work has been transformed to accommodate the needs of the teacher-scholar. Student work has been transformed to emphasize intensive learning experiences, self-directed study, and an increased workload outside of class. However, the work of librarians at TCNJ remains to be transformed to accommodate the needs of the librarian-scholar. As noted in the separate document, Revision of Item 12, Memorandum of Agreement #62: The Fair Application to Librarians of the Principles of the Transformed System at The College of New Jersey, and reflected in Table 1, provision to librarians of approximately seven hours per week of alternate assignment within load for 32 weeks would partially satisfy the requirements of MOA #62.
Additional librarian lines in a transformed environment
Opportunities are not available to revise librarian work in a way similar to the revision of teaching faculty workload (i.e. shifting the number of FWH devoted to teaching) to meet the requirement for alternate assignment within load for research and scholarship for librarians. As noted in Table 1 and described in the separate document, Revision of Item 12, Memorandum of Agreement #62: The Fair Application to Librarians of the Principles of the Transformed System at The College of New Jersey, an equitable plan for alternate assignment within load would reduce librarianship hours by 227.5 hours per librarian per year. As shown in Table 2, the library would need two additional librarian lines to recover this shortfall in librarianship hours.
With these two additional lines, the library essentially would be able to sustain the practice of librarianship at TCNJ as it currently exists. However, the current practice of librarianship at TCNJ primarily involves maintaining services and workflows that have been in place for years. While the result is an adequately run library that provides an acceptable level of service, there is no room for the reflection, thoughtful planning, experimentation, and continuous consideration of new initiatives that are needed to propel the TCNJ library to its desired status as a national exemplar of academic librarianship.
In order to realize TCNJ librarians’ vision for library services that are fully aligned with transformed student and faculty work at the College, as described below, the library would need another two full-time librarian lines. Only with these four additional lines can the library expect to consistently offer the level of service and support of scholarship that matches the College’s mission of providing engaged and accomplished learners with an intensive and transformational learning experience. It is recognized that in the process of transforming the work of librarians and evaluating the role and mission of the library in a transformed environment, the current roles and responsibilities of TCNJ librarians may also undergo further revision. This is especially true for librarians with significant administrative and coordinating responsibilities, as their duties cannot easily be shifted to new librarian lines in a way that would allow for meaningful use of alternate assignment within load.
Alignment of library services with transformed student and faculty work
The new library building partially accommodates the transformation of faculty and student work by providing comfortable learning spaces, group study rooms, and up-to-date technology. However, library collections and services have not been sufficiently transformed to foster and promote intensive learning experiences; to fully support self-directed study and other characteristics of a transformed curriculum; and to facilitate successful accomplishment of increased workload outside of class.
Librarians in a transformed community expect that they may be called upon to collaborate more closely with teaching faculty at TCNJ. The extent of this collaboration could range from offering input on the design and implementation of research assignments to establishing an ongoing presence in an online course management system.
Librarians at TCNJ can also expect to work with teaching faculty to develop different collection development strategies best suited to different disciplinary cultures, and to carefully build collections of library resources that support the College’s expanding focus on interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary programs. For example, if the library were to realize the successful implementation of an institutional repository at the College, TCNJ librarians could work closely with teaching faculty in using this resource to showcase and share the College’s scholarly achievement in order to strengthen the scholarly community at TCNJ.
Librarians, in addition to facing a transformed learning environment at TCNJ, also operate within a continually changing technology environment that is transforming the way information is created, preserved, transmitted and used. The application of technological innovations to library services at the College will be continual and ongoing. Moreover, as early adopters of technological innovations in instruction, scholarly communication, and information storage and delivery, librarians at the College are well situated to take a leadership role in adopting and applying emerging technologies.
Likewise, librarians at the College are also well positioned to offer multiple innovative learning initiatives that engage students in a meaningful way as developing scholars; student participation in the ongoing activities of a continuously transforming library can promote deep understanding through practical yet intellectually rigorous real-world applications of subject disciplines. For example, collaborations among librarians, students, and teaching faculty in projects that would enable the transformation of library services and provide meaningful opportunities for student learning could involve application of advertising and market research; organizational communication; instructional design; technology education; or graphic design and interactive multimedia.
A transformed library
The work of librarians is intricately connected to the many different operations of each department in the library. A review and revision of the role of librarians in a transformed environment will naturally extend to include an examination of workflows and operations in every department of the library. In order for the library to remain relevant in a transformed environment, a mechanism must be put into place for ongoing evaluation and assessment of the role and mission of the library at TCNJ.
What follows are examples of additional ways that TCNJ librarians may transform library processes and services. After giving effect to the shifting workload needed to accommodate alternative assignment within load for librarians, such transformation can only be expected to occur successfully with an increase in librarian lines. Finding the best balance of streamlined and meaningfully transformed library services while maintaining a focus on the needs of students and faculty in a transformed environment will arise from an ongoing and iterative process, involving continuous implementation, evaluation, assessment, and re-implementation of library processes and services.
Promote the library’s status as the intellectual and cultural center of campus by improving outreach services for library programs and initiatives; becoming an integral component of the Teaching and Learning Initiative; sponsoring lectures, programs, film series and workshops that contribute to the intellectual life of the College; enhancing collections to facilitate the free and open exchange of community- and civic-issues reading materials; and establishing a browsable new books area and a recreational reading collection.
Advance the library’s role in supporting the College’s mission to sharpen students’ critical thinking skills and provide powerful and transformative learning experiences by establishing a formal departmental assessment of student learning outcomes and proactively responding to curricular needs; engaging in co-disciplinary teaching and learning assessment (e.g. subject-specific information literacy; quantitative literacy; applied research skills; and research-related issues of academic integrity); and investigating opportunities for meaningful student involvement in library work, including internships and independent studies.
Establish improved integrated library systems and innovative technology by investigating a new open source online public access catalog (OPAC) that incorporates faceted browsing and Web 2.0 technologies; implementing new online library services that utilize social networking software and other emergent technologies; collaborating with teaching faculty to investigate and implement new technology that will enable easy access and effective management of scholarly resources for the academic community; and expanding access to the librarians beyond the reference desk by making the best use of emergent technologies to reach out to users in the online environment.