ASSOCIATES (vol. 4, no. 3, March 1998) - associates.ucr.edu
*THE ALA SSIRT LIBRARY SUPPORT STAFF ISSUES
SURVEY RESULTS*
by
Ed Gillen
Agency Training and Development Specialist
NYS Education Department
Albany, NY
egillen@mail.nysed.gov
My name is Ed Gillen and I'm presently acting as a process
guide for the American Library Association SSIRT in developing a
strategic plan to help resolve some long standing support staff
issues. Before joining the Office of Human Resources Management
Staff Development and Training Unit, I was a Library Technical
Assistant for 16 years at the New York State Library.
Have you heard about the SSIRT Support Staff Issues Survey and
ALA SSIRT's plan? Here is some background. At the 1996 ALA annual
conference, the SSIRT Executive Board gave their approval to a
strategic planning process that called for the identification of the
'most pressing needs of support staff and to develop recommended
strategies to address these needs.' A Steering Committee was formed,
a survey was identified as the methodology to use, it was piloted and
refined. On January 2 & 3, 1997 information on the process and how
to access the survey were announced to LIBSUP-L. Ten days later the
survey was posted to LIBSUP-L.
By ALA Mid-winter (1997), over 600 responses had been received.
The Steering committee extended the deadline to May 30 to allow for
survey distribution at a number of spring conferences. Surveys were
accepted up until June 9, 1997. Over 2,000 response were received
and we thank you all!
Results were tabulated in an expeditious manner considering the
numbers received and the number of individuals compiling the data.
However, since a large percentage of the surveys received were filled
out incorrectly (check marks instead of the requested 1 to 5 ranking,
the ALA SSIRT Executive Board at their annual meeting (6/28/97)
recommended that the results be reexamined to 'accurately determine
the top three [issues] prior to handing off to the subcommittees for
analysis.' That reexamination is now completed.
SUMMARY OF SURVEY TO DETERMINE TOP THREE ISSUES OF
CONCERN TO SUPPORT STAFF
Participants were asked to rank the five issues they would like
to see receive the highest priority from SSIRT in future strategic
planning. A large percentage of respondents did not rank the issues
but simply placed a checkmark beside those they considered important.
For that reason, a statistician from the University of Colorado at
Denver reviewed the issues ranked 1-5 and those checkmarked as
important.
The top three issues are listed in order of ranking.
1. Career ladders (few opportunities for advancement)
2. Compensation not appropriate to level of education, experience,
and responsibilities
3. Access to continuing education and training opportunities
Of the people who responded:
505 worked in Acquisitions
759 worked in Cataloging/Processing
1048 worked in Circulation
483 worked in Interlibrary Loan
740 worked in Reference
442 worked in Serials
774 worked in "Other"
Of the people who responded:
283 worked in a privately funded College or University Library
735 worked in a publicly funded College or University Library
96 worked in an Elementary/High School Library
747 worked in a public library
65 worked in a privately funded Special Library
61 worked in a publicly funded Special Library
100 worked in "Other" Library
Of the people who responded, worked in a library where the total
population served:
351 served a population of less than 5,000
277 served a population of 5,000-9,999
371 served a population of 10,000-24,999
395 served a population of 25,000-49,000
245 served a population of 50,000-99,999
190 served a population of 100,000-249,999
98 served a population of 250,000-499,999
73 served a population of 500,000-999,999
87 served a population of more than 1,000,000
Of the people who responded:
625 earned a high school diploma
279 earned an Associate's Degree
727 earned a Bachelor's Degree
64 earned a Master's Degree--MLS
116 earned a Master's Degree--"Other"
10 earned a Ph. D
Of the people who responded:
126 earned less than $10,000 annually
256 earned $10,000-$14,999 annually
444 earned $15,000-$19,999 annually
513 earned $20,000-$24,999 annually
346 earned $25,000-$29,999 annually
141 earned $30,000-$34,999 annually
83 earned over $35,000 annually
NEXT STEPS
SURVEYS! They're necessary as one way to collect data yet
often frustrating if nothing is done with the data once collected.
Library support staff issues have been previously identified and
examined. What often wasn't done was developing a plan that
identified action steps to address these issues. In all fairness to
past efforts, the infrastructure to carry out a plan wasn't in place
10 years ago as it is today.
Today there is e-mail, websites, discussion lists, ejournals,
teleconferences as well as a host of new local, regional, statewide
and national library support staff organizations. That network has
nurtured the career awareness amongst library support staff and has
resulted in a lot of positive change. It also led to the
collaborative effort to publicize and encourage completion of the ALA
SSIRT Support Staff Issues survey. That survey identified the top
three issues which should receive the highest priority in ALA SSIRT's
strategic planning.
The process continues with the formation of 3 separate task
forces whose main charge is to recommend implementable solutions to
address these issues -- internally within ALA and ALA working with
the larger library community. The ALA SSIRT Executive Board will be
kept up to date by a series of task force reports with final reports
due by June 1999.
Although this is an ALA SSIRT led effort, the Executive Board
recognizes that a lot of great people are working towards addressing
issues locally, regionally and on a statewide and national level.
They recognize that they will need your help in developing and
implementing the steps necessary to finally address the issues you
identified in the survey.
We will keep ASSOCIATES readers up to date as the process
continues. Results can be found on the WWW at the Library Support
Staff Resource Center at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/ssp/survey1.htm