ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 688 / C&RL News tions and/or limitations, and to encourage staff members to broaden their personal career goals. The first group, a Budget Task Force which con­ sisted of three junior librarians, one clerical staff member, and the associate director, worked from October 1985 to March 1986. The group was pro­ vided w ith confidential and sensitive information regarding all aspects of the library budget includ­ ing salaries, materials budget, and general operat­ ing expenses. The main objective was to seek areas where cost savings could be made either currently or in the future. Each member was given a special assignment to gather data and present the findings to the group. The special assignments included the opportunity for savings by increasing use of work study students, centralized stack management su­ pervision for reshelving of materials in the general collection, and reducing number of service points or desks. On several occasions, two or more of task force members collaborated on a part of the proj­ ect. All ideas were considered and openly discussed within the group. The group suggested a final six­ teen recommendations as being those with the most potential for acceptance due to budget and person­ nel restraints within the next two years. The task force provided input into the final budget preparation, and observed the process of re­ finement to many of their recommendations as the recommendations were adapted to the final budget submission. This particular part of the experience brought with it some frustration when upper man­ agement made adjustments to recommendations which had been fully researched. However, the group had the opportunity to see how priorities, costs, and staffing configurations direct the under­ lying currents of decision-making. The members of the task force worked diligently to provide useful and creative suggestions. Each recommendation was succinctly stated w ith a list of advantages, disadvantages, and suggestions for further research, where applicable. Many of the suggestions were made from personal insight and work experience with a particular area. Particular personal expertise was demonstrated in such skills as computer applications, statistical analysis, and database searching which gave the task force mem­ bers new status in the eyes of their peers and noti­ fied the library adm inistration of untapped re­ sources. While it is significant that ten of the sixteen rec­ ommendations were adopted in some manner in the final budget, the library gained even more from the development opportunity offered to the partic­ ipating staff members. One of the librarians has since become a departm ent head within the library system, one received a promotion to another de­ partm ent within the library system which was a di­ rect result of the talents displayed during the proj­ ect, one has received an excellent position with a federal agency in W ashington, and the clerical staff member received an excellent position in an­ other area of the university. All of these individuals received their opportunities for advancem ent based upon recommendations from the associate director regarding their ability to work discreetly and competently under considerable pressure. The next task force in this ongoing program has just been organized to review the latest goals and objectives submitted by the library’s department heads and make recommendations regarding pri­ ority, library-wide goals, allocation of resources, compliance w ith the stated mission of the library, and university priority goals. This particular group is composed of four junior librarians and the associ­ ate director. The library’s Administrative Council entered into an agreement to perm it this series of training task forces with some trepidation. Many members were somewhat concerned about having confiden­ tial information placed in the hands of junior li­ brarians and clerical staff, while others felt that too much time would have to be devoted to developing a base of common knowledge upon which recom­ mendations could be made. However, in review of the Budget Task Force’s generally excellent results for both the library and the participating mem­ bers, a negative situation is being addressed with a creative, effective program incorporating the tal­ ents of a broader range of staff. A student assistant program for the Nineties By F. Jay Fuller Night Supervisor California State University, Chico Today’s academic libraries employ a great vari­ ety of people with different levels of education, ex­ pertise, and experience. Administrators, librari­ ans, clerical, and paraprofessional staff each play a vital role in maintaining the library as the aca­ demic center for information storage and retrieval. However, some core library functions such as cir­ culation, discharge, shelving, and even light bibli­ December 1987 / 689 ographical work are handled by individuals w ith little or no training in library work w hen they be­ gan their employment. Included in this category are student assistant employees. O ne innovative student assistant program th a t might serve as a model for other libraries is found at the Meriam Library, California State University, Chico. O u r o riginal stu d en t assistant p rogram was s tru ctu red so th a t each in d iv id u al d e p a rtm e n t hired and trained its own employees. W hen the li­ brary was relatively small and the num ber of stu­ dent employees few, this system sufficed and ran quite well. However, w e found th a t this com part­ mentalized system perpetuated significant incon­ sistencies in student employee training, discipline and evaluation, and developed a series of inescap­ able flaws as the library’s collections became larger and more diversified, and the m achinery to care for these collections becam e m ore complex. I t also proved to be unwieldy w hen budget restrictions caused the num ber of full-time staff to decrease and the size of the student work force to increase to compensate for the loss. And there existed a distinct lack of flexibility in the movement of personnel from one departm ent in the library to another. If a student employee wished or was needed to move to another departm ent, th a t person literally had to quit, reapply to the library for a job w ith the other departm ent, and be rehired. In 1968 the library m ade a decision to move from this fragm ented system to one th a t was centralized. The D epartm ent of Student Personnel w as estab­ lished to handle all student personnel transactions throughout the em ploym ent process. Tw o staff people, the manager of student personnel and the n ig h t su p erv iso r, c u rre n tly ru n th e p ro g ra m , which employs 240 students. These two individuals are also in charge of the library’s physical plant. This restructuring of student employment has rectified a num ber of inconsistencies and solved countless problems. First, it frees the staff in tech­ nical and public service departm ents from the re­ sponsibility of keeping up w ith developments con­ ce rn in g th e em ploym ent of stu d en t assistants. Changes in university policy, tax laws, hiring prac­ tices, w age scales and increases, etc., th a t involve student employees are handled by one office, and the staff in technical and public service areas can concentrate on the vital w ork of their units. Second, it ensures th a t the hiring, training, per­ formance expectations and evaluations of student employees are standardized and uniform ly im ple­ m ented. A m anual was w ritten (and is constantly updated) th a t outlines the basics for every student employee. All new students know w hat is expected of them and by w hat criteria they will be evalu­ ated. T hird, it allows flexibility in using the student work force through the central referral of needs. The work force can be easily m anipulated so that shortages, overloads, changes in priorities, or spe­ cial projects can be dealt w ith efficiently by mov­ ing personnel w here they are needed most, without red tape or delay. Fourth, it guarantees th a t student employees are treated fairly w ithin the employment structure. All student employees are under the authority of a cen­ tral office th a t is directly responsible for their wel­ fare and provides a built-in grievance system to en­ sure th a t students’ com plaints or problem s are heard, and th a t any action taken by the library is consistent. Interview and hiring procedures for potential student employees are the same, w hether the indi­ vidual is going to be funded by Federal W ork Study or State Student Assistant monies. The manager of student personnel and the night supervisor inter­ view and rank candidates for each type of funding, taking special note of any skills the individuals have indicated on the employment application. Those few w ho have w ord processing or typing skills are directed to further interviews w ith the departm ent heads of public service units. A smaller num ber w ith other skills or expertise (carpentry, electron­ ics, com puter program m ing, etc.) are directed to the supervisors of any of our numerous technical service units. T h e m ajority of others w ho rate highly, b u t have limited or no specific skills, are routed to the stacking unit. Provided th a t inter­ views w ith unit supervisors go well, students then return to the manager of student personnel’s office to fill out the necessary paperw ork for university employment. Individuals who rate less highly are placed on a w aiting list, forming a ready pool of students in case of student employee shortages dur­ ing the academic year. Student employees are used extensively in the public service areas. D epending on th e specific needs of the departm ent, student employees may find themselves doing jobs th a t, in libraries lacking effective student training program s, are often filled by full-time staff. Some copy cataloging, biblio­ graphic verification, occasional billing, and fine collection are carried out by students. Each stu­ dent, especially in circulation, must become fam il­ iar w ith and be able to use the library’s com puter system to perform a variety of tasks. They must be able to compile a new patron record, update an old record, make hold and call requests, search for ti­ tle, author, call num ber or item requests, as well as w ork th e desk a n d do ro u tin e check-outs and check-ins. Student employees are also an im portant ele­ m ent in the technical areas of the Meriam Library’s com puter system operation. They are responsible for starting and shutting down the com puter sys­ tem , preparing the system for the next day’s opera­ tion, running reports and m aintenance programs, doing some onsite trouble-shooting, system up ­ grading, and m inor term inal repair. They must also m aintain, service, and trouble-shoot the li­ b rary’s microfiche an d m icroform m achines, as well as the videodisk-based “Infotrac” computers December 1987 / 691 and CD-based indexes. As noted above, training for the majority of the stu d en t em ployees begins in th e stacking u n it w here they learn the L ibrary of Congress call num ­ ber system and the locations of the library’s m yriad collections. This familiarizes new student em ploy­ ees w ith different collections and how they relate to one another, gives them a sense of the building’s physical layout, and prepares them for directing patrons in search of materials. The library con­ siders th a t offering this w ide range of employment is a significant contribution to the students’ overall education. As w ith any system, problems are sometimes en­ countered and our library’s student assistant pro­ gram is constantly being scrutinized, modified and renovated to deal w ith these difficulties. The num ­ ber one problem is the high turnover rate of the work force. Minimum w age ($3.35) is the starting pay for the m ajority of workers. Some inevitably think this w age is inadequate compensation for their efforts and abandon their jobs. Others find the job monotonous, the hours difficult given their class loads, or have not sufficiently developed their w ork habits to be reliable employees. A nother problem is the tendency for student employees to take vacations from work at th e same tim e as they take vacations from their classes. This occasionally leaves the library critically short of help during the summer months and over the w inter holidays— times w hen the library’s collections are shelf-read, shifted, and generally prepared for the next semes­ te r, and w hen large special projects are done, such as recarpeting, stack building and furniture rear­ rangem ent. In order to com bat these problems, w e im ple­ m ented a pay scale th a t rew ards those who m ain­ tain a solid work schedule and receive a good evalu­ a tio n ea ch sem ester. G ood w ork a tte n d a n c e , punctuality, consistent performance on the job, tact w hen dealing w ith patrons, and the ability to handle criticism and follow directions, are all rated on each evaluation. Since pay raises are not based on the duration of one’s em ployment (there are no autom atic raises), b ut on individual performance, most student assistants take their jobs seriously. Personnel shortages during vacation periods have been dealt w ith by treating semester breaks and the sum m er months as if those times w ere additional semesters. This gives student employees w ith poor evaluations a chance to im prove them by upgrad­ ing their skills and work perform ance, and gives those w ith good evaluations a means to move up the pay scale more quickly, provided their evalua­ tions rem ain strong. Added incentive is generated by the student supervisor program , which gives a select num ber of outstanding student workers more responsibility, greater flexibility of action, and sig­ nificantly higher pay. Starting at $4.45 per hour, an individual in this program , w ith good evalua­ tions, can quickly move up the scale and peak at $7.20 per hour, currently the top wage perm itted a student assistant employee on a California State University campus. The student supervisor is the linchpin of our stu­ dent assistant program . It was developed to pro­ mote leadership and responsibility. Student assis­ tants in this program are chiefly responsible for training new student workers, m onitoring worker attendance and perform ance, pay voucher verifi­ cation, scheduling work assignments and carrying out emergency procedures. O ften these students work independently of direct staff supervision, and have the latitude to use their own initiative and re­ sourcefulness to get the job done. This has proven especially effective w here stu­ d en t talents an d enthusiasm in relation to aca­ demic majors have been applied to library work. Engineering majors have given their coursework life by constructing machines to keep the library’s shelving intact during recarpeting. In the past tw o years this has involved m oving approxim ately 400,000 volumes and atten d an t shelving. All the w ork has been done by student crews, and all the collections affected have rem ained completely ac­ cessible during the recarpeting process. Interior de­ sign majors have renovated existing M eriam L i­ brary furniture, applying their carpentry skills to m ake obsolete n o n p rin t m edia carrels for new equipment. M athematics majors have had oppor­ tunities to do statistical w ork and to develop theo­ retical models for book flow and shelving distribu­ tion. C om puter majors have been able to work w ith the library’s m ini-com puter and gain experi­ ence w ith some of the latest technology. Liberal studies majors have used their skills to w rite a com­ puterized training program series th a t takes stu­ dent trainees through the various call num ber sys­ tems (Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal, etc.), instructs them in the intricacies of shelving, and tests their knowledge. M any veterans of this pro­ gram , including myself, have either gone on to a t­ tend library school or have been recruited to fill paraprofessional or clerical positions w ith the Me­ riam Library. In all, our experience has shown th a t student employees are not only a major p a rt of this univer­ sity lib r a r y ’s o p e r a tio n , b u t a v it a l—even Errata In the October issue “Publications” column, the title of the Society of North Carolina Archi­ vists’ dire cto ry w as given incorrectly. T he proper title is Archival and Manuscript Reposi­ tories in North Carolina: A Directory. The person to contact if you wish to be con­ sidered for appointm ent as chair or m ember of a com mittee in the ACRL Law and Political Science Section is Carole A. Larson, Social Sci­ ences Reference L ibrarian, Reference D epart­ m ent, University of Nebraska at O m aha L i­ brary, O m aha, NE 68182-0237. 692 / C&R L News essential—p a r t of the library’s com m itm ent to make inform ation readily available to patrons. It shows th a t these students, like our other library employees, are capable and responsible individ­ uals, willing and enthusiastic colleagues, w orthy of our praise in recognition of their efforts, and one of the most effective and productive uses of our li­ brary personnel budget. Linking a high school with academic and public libraries By M ichael W. Loder Campus Librarian Penn State/Schuylkill Campus an d Jam es S. Fogarty Curriculum/Media Specialist Schuylkill Interm ediate Unit An electronic bulletin board, set up by the local Interm ediate U nit and involving the Schuylkill Campus of Pennsylvania State University, has be­ come a major means of communication for the li­ brarians and libraries of the county. In early 1984 the Interm ediate Unit for Schuyl­ kill County (I.U. 29), Pennsylvania, set up an elec­ tronic bulletin board for interlibrary cooperation. Twelve high school libraries, the Pottsville Free Public Library, and the Schuylkill Campus of Penn State agreed to share resources among themselves. An LSCA Title III grant provided a microcom­ puter, communications equipment, and software for each library. The I.U . sponsored training and provided a host com puter in the form of a Tandy 6000 w ith electronic mail capability. Libraries used the system by posting IL L and other requests and checking a general notice bulletin board and their individual mailboxes each day. An existing I.U . courier system delivered m aterials tw ice a week. For the high school librarians, many of whom had never before looked farther than their own lo­ cal public libraries for outside materials, the pro­ gram was a great benefit and a major learning ex­ perience. W ith no ideas as to w hat the other high school libraries had available, many early requests were subject-based fishing expeditions: “A student needs m aterials on Model–T cars. Anyone have anything?” Despite this loose approach the pro­ gram flourished, and w ithin its first year more than 500 print and non-print items were exchanged. For Penn State/Schuylkill the value of this pro­ gram was at first not apparent. The I.U . needed us because the Title III grant called for cooperation between different types of libraries. But did we need the network? The campus is p art of Pennsyl­ vania State University’s Commonwealth Campus System, and its library had always relied prim arily on Pattee Library at University Park and the other campus libraries for meeting needs for outside m a­ terial. O ur hands were already full w ith IL L re­ quests from our own faculty and students, and we were not particularly thrilled at the prospect of sev­ eral hundred high school requests piling up on our p art of the bulletin board. A nother benefit for the high schools was the availability of LIAS (Library Inform ation Access System), Penn State’s own online catalog, which the high school librarians could search by dialing a local number. W ould they bother w ith subject re­ quests to each other when Penn State’s holdings were so accessible? Anticipating many problems, w e specified some conditions for our participation in the system. First, w e w ould only respond to requests for spe­ cific items identified by call number. Second, the high schools first must check am ong their own holdings and w ith the Pottsville Free Public Li­ brary before coming to us. Third, we insisted that requesting libraries provide us w ith all the infor­ m ation we normally put on IL L forms. W e did receive a sorely needed microcomputer, modem, and printer. But “free” hardw are could not be the only justification for participating in a consortium w ith other non-academ ic libraries. However, as Hugh Atkinson has w ritten, “it is not necessary for outcomes, products, and uses of net­ works to be the results of an equal system.”1 We joined the group in order to get to know our previ­ ously anonymous associates in the county and to build a shared experience and working relation­ ships. The Schuylkill Cam pus of Penn State is the only academic institution in the county. The area is pre­ dominantly rural w ith a scattering of towns and small cities, most of which saw their fortunes dis­ appear in the 1950s w ith the dem and for anthracite coal. The county does not have a large professional or college-educated population; yet most of our students come from this area and many are the first in their families to attend college. O ur future, both as a campus and a library, is tied to this local popu­ lation. W e felt th a t getting to know the area librar­ ians could be im portant for recruitm ent, public re- 1Hugh C. Atkinson, “Atkinson on Networks,” American Libraries, June 1987, p.432.