Library Support Staff Job Titles

By Denise M. Davis
Director, Office for Research & Statistics

Since 1993, the annual questionnaire for the ALA Survey of Librarian Salaries has included a “Supplementary Questions” section to gather, for one time only, information needed to answer questions from the field about library human resources. In 2004, the question asked about the most frequently used job titles for library support staff. This supplement was to inform the ALA-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) < www.ala-apa.org > in preparation for a separate Library Support Staff Salary Survey to be conducted in 2005. Beginning with the 2005 survey, both the librarian and the support staff salary surveys will coordinated by the ALA-APA as part of its mission of “improving the salaries and status of library workers.”

Thirty-seven commonly used titles (shown in Figure 1) were listed on the 2004 supplementary questionnaire. For each one, respondents were asked to check all job titles used for non-MLS staff (shown in Figure 2), and had an opportunity to provide titles not listed. In reviewing the results described below, the reader must remember that this survey did not cover all libraries. The sample was restricted to academic and public libraries with at least two ALA-MLS librarians, even though we were asking about library support staff. Eight hundred thirty eight libraries responded to the supplemental questions, or 95% of total respondents. An open-ended question asking about “other” support staff position titles yielded 4,221 cases, with 2,571 unique responses. > in preparation for a separate Library Support Staff Salary Survey to be conducted in 2005. Beginning with the 2005 survey, both the librarian and the support staff salary surveys will coordinated by the ALA-APA as part of its mission of “improving the salaries and status of library workers.”

Thirty-seven commonly used titles (shown in Figure 1) were listed on the 2004 supplementary questionnaire. For each one, respondents were asked to check all job titles used for non-MLS staff (shown in Figure 2), and had an opportunity to provide titles not listed. In reviewing the results described below, the reader must remember that this survey did not cover all libraries. The sample was restricted to academic and public libraries with at least two ALA-MLS librarians, even though we were asking about library support staff. Eight hundred thirty eight libraries responded to the supplemental questions, or 95% of total respondents. An open-ended question asking about “other” support staff position titles yielded 4,221 cases, with 2,571 unique responses.

Figure 2 is a summary of responses for the 37 titles. In addition to the 37 pre-determined titles, libraries provided an additional 507 titles they used and recorded these as “other.” The top 20 responses by each library type are reflected in Figure 3. Figure 4 presents response frequency by position title for all libraries excluding “other.” Not surprisingly, titles associated with general administrative or clerical positions were the most common regardless of library type.

The supplemental questions allowed for an open-ended response by libraries if they had support staff position titles that were not reflected in the 36 prescribed titles. There were 4,221 cases in the “other” response, and 2,571 unique responses. Figure 5 lists the responses to “other” from more than 20 libraries. Not surprisingly, the most frequently mentioned “other” titles were quite general staff positions present in most libraries – custodian, secretary, assistants, and clerks. It also is the case that general position titles were identified by as few as one library, but the titles did not match well to the prescribed titles in the questionnaire.

Figure 6 summarizes the top 36 prescribed functional areas identified from all responses, and “other.” This list was determined by looking at frequency of departmental and functional areas, such as reference, acquisitions, etc. Thirteen core staff classifications or rank were derived from the total of responses (prescribed titles and “other”) and also are presented in Figure 6. Both the functional areas and classifications will be used in the field-test instrument for 2005 ALA-APA Support Staff Salary Survey.