staffing for the future
DESCRIPTION
This presentation, by Tito Sierra, was given as part of the Program on Information Science brown bag series. This study investigates how research libraries are staffing for the future by examining their planned investment in new professional positions. The data for this study are vacancy announcements for full-time professional positions advertised by ARL member university libraries throughout the 2011 calendar year. This yearlong survey of ARL hiring provides insight into current research library staffing priorities, and evidence of emerging job specializations in the research library field.TRANSCRIPT
Staffing for the FutureARL University Library Hiring in 2011
Tito SierraMIT Libraries Information Science TalksJuly 15, 2013
Research Questions
How are research libraries staffing for the future?
What are the new and emerging jobs in the research library
profession?
Data Source for Study
Vacancy announcements for professional positions advertised by ARL university libraries in 2011
Methodology
Scope of Research Study
• 2011 calendar year• 113 ARL member university libraries• Full-time librarian/professional staff• Excludes
• Contract and term positions• Support staff, civil servant, student workers
• Medical and law libraries
Data Collection
• Method – Manual retrieval of job descriptions for all 113 libraries
• Source – University-wide employment website or library website
• Frequency – Four quarterly sampling periods in 2011
Data Collection Summary
Data Collection Summary
Supplemental Data
• Method – questionnaire• Completed by library administrators• Assign a single category for each job
• Position is a refill for existing role• Position is similar to existing role, but
description significantly redefined• Position is new to the organization
• Responses collected for 96.6% of jobs!
Study Limitations
• Excludes jobs that are posted and filled between quarterly retrieval periods
• No trends can be inferred by a single year of data
• Data set is 1.5 to 2.5 years old• Posted vacancies, not filled positions
Analysis
Degree Requirements
With special thanks to Randi Shapiro for data capture and analysis
Type of Job Responsibility
Type of Job Responsibility
Job Role Newness to the Org
Job Role Newness to the Org
Job Titles: Existing Role
Job Titles: Redefined Role
Job Titles: New Role
Key Findings
Over 80% of ARL university libraries had at least one job in
the data sample during the 2011 calendar year.
Data Collection Summary
Over half of all jobs advertised by ARL university libraries in 2011 were newly created positions or
significantly redefined roles.
Two-thirds of Functional Specialist positions were newly
created or redefined roles.
Less than a third were “refills”.
Less than 10% of Subject Specialist positions were newly
created, however 30% were significantly redefined.
‘Digital’ figures prominently in newly created Functional
Specialist position job titles
New ‘Digital’ Jobs
• Digital Preservation Officer/Librarian• Librarian, Digital Projects (x3)• Digital Humanities Librarian (x2)• Metadata and Digital Resources Librarian• Librarian for Digital Research and Scholarship• Digital Humanities Technology Consultant• Chair, Digital Services and Shared Collections• Director of Digital Scholarship• Digital Records Archivist• Digital User Experience Specialist
Research libraries continue to create plenty of new positions in ‘traditional’ library areas such as
special collections, administration, and public
services.
Thanks!
2011 ARL Job Descriptions:http://bit.ly/2011-arl-jobs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Selected New Jobs Lists
New ‘Administration’ Jobs
• Assistant/Associate Dean for Collections• Assistant/Associate University Librarian –
Information Technology and Digital Initiatives• Associate Dean for Learning and Outreach• Associate Dean for Public Services• Associate University Librarian for Research• Chief Technology Officer
New ‘Department Head’ Jobs
• Head of Access Services• Head of Archives Processing• Head of Cataloging• Head of Collection Development• Head of Library Instruction and
Undergraduate Outreach• Head of Research Services• Head of Technical Services
New ‘Archivist’ Jobs
• Archivist• Digital Archivist• Manuscripts Processing Archivist• Baron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space
Exploration• Digital Archivist, Digital Curation Services• Digital Records Archivist
New ‘Subject Specialist’ Jobs
• Librarian for Romance Languages• Middle East and North African Studies
Librarian• School of Languages, Literatures and
Cultures Librarian• Science Reference Librarian – Biomedical
Specialist
New ‘Technology’ Jobs
• Discovery Systems Librarian• Digital Initiatives Applications Librarian• Emerging Technology Services Librarian• Digital Humanities Technology Consultant• Digital Technologies Development Librarian (2)• Innovation and User Technology Research Librarian• Geographic Data Infrastructure Developer• Library Web Developer/Designer• Senior Software and Systems Engineer• Web Services and Emerging Technologies Librarian
New ‘Data’ Jobs
• Data Visualization Coordinator• Data Management Planning Consultant (x2)• Manager, Data Management Services• Data Curation Librarian• Digital Data Outreach Librarian• E-Science Librarian (x3)
