3.8.3 Qualified Staff

The institution provides a sufficient number of qualified staff – with appropriate education or experiences both in library or other learning resources to accomplish the mission of the institution.

Judgment of Compliance:

Compliance

Narrative:

All University Library employees are highly trained and qualified to provide services to the students, faculty, and ASU community. The professional librarians hold either a Master’s of Library Science (M.L.S.) Degree, Master’s of Library and Information Science (M.L.I.S.), or Master’s of Library Science and Information Studies (M.S.L.S.) Degree which are accredited by the American Library Association (ALA). These degrees are considered the terminal degree in the field of librarianship. The paraprofessional staff members hold, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree in a subject field as required by the university.

Library

The University Library is staffed with professional, paraprofessional, and support staff during all operating hours. As of FY2009, the University Library has a total of 23.5 staff positions [1]. Salaries for these positions are paid from the university’s general fund budget. The general fund budget pays for ten professional librarians, eight paraprofessional staff, 1.5 technology staff, one archivist, one secretary, and one security officer assigned to the library. The general fund budget also pays for six part-time staff members to assist in keeping the library open during the evening, night, and weekend hours. The Office of Academic Affairs also provides funding for one full-time library security officer. The library’s Title III budget pays for three professional librarians and .5 technology staff. The library’s Title VI budget pays for four professional librarians and one paraprofessional staff. The library’s Media Center budget pays for two technicians and one secretary. The National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African American Culture’s budget pays for two staff associates and one part-time staff member. The National Center is a specialized operation that reports to the University Library with the dean of the library serving as project director. The National Center was endowed by the National Endowment for the Humanities and serves as an outreach/public programming activity related to University Archives and Special Collections.

Sufficient Number

While the University Library’s current staff possesses appropriate education and experience to accomplish the library’s and institution’s mission, there is a need to hire additional library staff in order to continue to extend the operating hours and carry out library services. There is a current staff shortage to support requests from library users for extended hours [2]. The LibQUAL+ survey also indicated requests for extended hours that cannot be completely addressed with the current staff levels. A Staff Reclassification Proposal has been submitted to support current staff needs and to extend library hours. The University Library has identified the most crucial positions currently needed and has asked for the following positions that would enable the Library to operate effectively and also allow for extended hours to support its growth to doctoral level status. These positions are listed in order of priority in the Staff Reclassification Proposal for FY2009: library associate to the dean, microcomputer applications programmer, police officer, humanities librarian, education librarian for undergraduate programs, interlibrary loan librarian, staff associate for the library, and library human resources manager.

The university recognizes the need to add additional library staff and has done so as funding has been made available. Several new professional librarians’ positions have been added with new academic programs funded by budgets specifically provided for library staff. The University Library has also requested funding to restore the following positions that were previously unfilled: collection development assistant, reference assistant, serials librarian, special collections assistant, and assistant catalog librarian. Two previously deleted positions were requested to be restored for the Educational Media Center: media inventory clerk and coordinator of media and information systems. Three new positions were requested for the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African American Culture: staff associate for special events, research assistant, national center coordinator, and two part-time staff assistants. Two new positions were also requested to support the Microbiology Doctoral Program: the science reference librarian and microcomputer systems technician. The University Library has requested supplemental staff to cover nights and weekends for extended hours as well as a corresponding evening and weekend manager.

All of the above staff positions reflect a growing need to support a doctoral level institution, and they also include requests to restore positions that were cut during periods of state-wide proration. In October 2008, the University Library received funding from the Title III program for a serials librarian position. Also, the library received funding from the Title VI program for a science reference librarian position to support the new Ph.D. in Microbiology. The library is currently in the process of recruiting for both positions.

Although peer reviews [3] indicate that University Library staff levels are comparable in number to similar classed institutions, these reviews do not take into account that some library positions are counted in varying categories that do not adequately lead to an accurate assessment among peers. For example, the archivist position at the ASU Library is counted in the group with paraprofessionals in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data (IPEDS) surveys due to varying interpretations for classing professional staff. Therefore, the library has assessed library staff needs not only using quantitative peer data, but also using other types of assessment measures to more adequately determine our needs to serve the ASU academic community. Assessment regarding needs for staff is based on plans for an expanded facility of 46,000 square feet now under construction.

Appropriate Qualifications

The staff members are highly qualified with extensive experience and educational backgrounds to accomplish the mission of the University Library and Alabama State University. Additional information can be obtained on the educational backgrounds, library experience, computer skills, language skills, publications, professional activities, and awards received by library staff members by consulting the SACS Staff Qualifications Narrative Summary [4] and the SACS Staff Resume Charts filed in the administrative office. The management and supervision of the University Library is under the leadership of the library dean. The library dean holds a Ph.D. in Library Science from Texas Women’s University, a Master of Library Science and Information Studies from Atlanta University, and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Tuskegee University. The dean has a total of 32 years of professional library experience including management and supervision of the University Library since 1993.

All of the professional librarians hold terminal degrees in the field of librarianship. In addition, the following librarians hold second master’s degrees:

The paraprofessional staff members also have very comprehensive educational backgrounds, and several of them hold more than one degree. One of the serials assistants holds a Master of Education in Early Childhood Education and a Master of Education Certification Library Media Specialist. One of the cataloging assistants holds a Master of Science in General Counseling.

The technology and media staff members are highly skilled in providing technology and media services. Both media technicians have over twenty years of experience at Alabama State University, and they are highly skilled in providing radio, television, and video production. Both media technicians graduated from ASU with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. The network coordinator manages and supervises the Library Automation Systems Office (LASO) which is responsible for all of the library’s computer and technical operations including over 100 computers. The network coordinator holds a Master of Business Administration degree and has over 13 years of experience with the University Library. The network support manager holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has over nine years of experience in working with the Library Automation Systems Office.

The university archivist has four years of archival experience at Alabama State University and has served as archival consultant at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum from 1998-2003. The archivist has training in multimedia and television production. Furthermore, the archivist has published several book reviews in the Alabama Review and three biographies in the Booker T. Washington Encyclopedia.

Professional Development

All library staff members are highly competent and knowledgeable in performing their job duties. On-the-job training is provided for each new staff member according to the requirements of the job description and job responsibilities. Furthermore, all staff members are provided with on-going job training by attending conferences and workshops. The University Library provides professional development workshops on an annual basis conducted by instructors contracted with the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET), which changed its name to Lyasis in April 2009. A SOLINET workshop entitled “5 Minutes to Team Excellence” was held for all library staff members on August 18, 2008. All library members attended similar SOLINET workshops entitled “10 Quick and Easy Team Initiates and Cooperative Games for Staff” in FY2007 and “Leading from the Middle” in FY2006.

In addition, several staff members hold memberships in key professional library organizations and have attended very important annual meetings including the following: the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, Alabama Library Association (ALLA) Annual Convention, Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference, Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Annual Conference, Network of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL) meeting, Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) meeting, Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Library Alliance meeting, Alabama Health Library Association (ALHeLA) meeting, Medical Library Association (MLA) meeting, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH) meeting, Southern Conference on African American Studies (SCAAS) meeting, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) meeting.

The library also has implemented its own staff development program entitled Staff Opportunities for Learning and Enrichment (SOLE). Professional librarians teach fellow staff and update their library skills monthly. From the above programs, each library staff member has unique job experience, job training, and educational credentials that qualify them to deliver outstanding library services to all users of the University Library. SOLE presentations that have been presented thus far include Survey Monkey, e-reference services, Alabama Library Association, and online full-text journals. Topics covered in future SOLE presentations will be determined by that month’s presenting librarian.

Supporting Documentation