College and Research Libraries The . Professional Development Activities of Academic Librarians: Does Institutional Support Make a Difference? W. Michael Havener and Wilbur A. Stolt Academic libraries provide institutional support for professional development activities in the belief that such support fosters the continuing professional growth of their staff members. A 1991 survey of 185 academic librarians furnished data on the relationships between institutional provision of release time and financial assistance and librarians' participation in various types of professional development activities. Institutional support was found to be strongly correlated with librarians' activity levels. • he library profession has long supported the idea of continu- ing professional development for its members. This support is reflected in the stated goals of our professional organizations. The Asso- ciation of College and Research Librar- ies, for example, gives as its first major goal: "To contribute to the total pro- fessional development of academic and research librarians." 1 Despite widespread support for the concept of professional development, there is a lack of consensus on the pur- pose of such developmental activities. Julia Gelfand has narrowly defined pro- fessional development as "activity to en- hance one's ability to perform work-related functions." 2 Sylvia Webb defines the term more broadly to include "a range of activi- ties aimed at developing and enhancing knowledge, skills and attitudes, and as such not only prepares the individual to carry out his or her job in the most effec- tive manner, but also heightens motiva- ti<;>n, and contributes to the individual's longer term progress and achievement."3 Such de-velopment is not narrowly aimed at the individual's current responsibilities, but rather should enhance perfonnance "t:hmlghout the practitioner's working life."4 Gelfand lists many different activities that fall under the umbrella of professional development, including "availing oneself of professional literature, attending rele- vant related workshops and seminars at local, regional, national, or international meetings, participating in continuing education courses and programs, and enrolling in academic courses." 5 W. Michael Havener and Wilbur A. Stolt are Co-directors of the University of Oklahoma Library and Information Research Center. Havener is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies. Stolt is Director of Public Services at the University of Oklahoma Libraries. The authors wish to thank the Council on Library Resources. A 1990/91 grant from CLR to the authors and Robert Swisher helped finance the research reported in this article. Philip Worrell, Graduate Research Assistant at the Library and Information Research Center, provided valuable assistance in the statistical analysis of data. 25 26 College & Research Libraries Gelfand asserts, "Making these kinds of [professional development] oppor- tunities available for employees to select is a responsibility of an organization and encouraging appropriate staff to partici- pate in such activities becomes the role of its management."6 Others have sug- gested that support for professional development activities is "a shared re- sponsibility between an individual en- gaging in appropriate activities, and the university providing appropriate time and resources." 7 Susan A. Stussy argues that the responsibility for professional development is shared not only by the individual and the employing institu- tion but also by "the library profession as a whole" as represented by our pro- fessional organizations. 8 A number of ar- ticles have focused specifically on the role of library associations in supporting professional development.9 This shared responsibility is apparently a reality for most academic librarians. Over half of those responding to a 1986 ACRL professional development survey indicated that their professional develop- ment activities were funded through "a combination of personal and institu- tional resources." 10 This paper examines the following questions: • To what extent do academic institu- tions provide formal support for the continuing professional development of their librarians? • Does the provision of this support have any effect upon the professional development activities of academic librarians? Articles relevant to the first question will be discussed throughout this paper as specific types of institutional support are examined. There is little in the litera- ture that attempts to answer the second question: Does the provision of institu- tional support have any effect upon pro- fessional development activities? Most articles on institutional support for pro- fessional development seem to be written with an underlying assumption that sup- port does, indeed, have a positive in- fluence upon professional development, but this positive correlation between sup- January 1994 port and level of professional develop- ment activity has not been demonstrated in the literature. Ann Hare has found that there is a strong correlation between the importance academic library direc- tors place upon professional development and the funding they provide for pro- fessional development activities. Hare also found that 88 percent of the directors in her study believed that providing release time encouraged such professional development activities.11 Stone has been advocating a structured approach to institutional sup- port since the early 1970s, and Grace Saw has gone as far as to state that effective professional development cannot proceed without the provision of institutional fi- nancial support and leaves of absence.12•13 However, the validity of the belief that institutional provision of release time and financial support correlate positively with professional development activities has not been concretely demonstrated. THE SURVEY New data from a 1991 survey of all academic librarians in Oklahoma can shed light upon both questions. Ques- tionnaires were mailed to 230 academic librarians and, after one follow-up mail- ing, usable responses were received from 185 academic librarians, a response rate of 80.4 percent. The primary focus of the study was upon academic librarians' career patterns rather than upon institutional support for professional development activities. However, information collected by the sur- vey instrument included data on the availability of release time and financial assistance for four different types of pro- fessional development activities: pro- fessional meetings, continuing education programs, course work, and research. First, this paper will provide a sum- mary of the types of institutional sup- port available to Oklahoma academic librarians, and then it will explore the relationships between institutional sup- port and librarians' levels of participa- tion in various types of formal and informal professional development ac- tivities. It will also explore their con- tributions to the profession through such activities as grant writing and adminis- tration, service in professional organiza- tions, and contributions to the professional literature of library and information science. The authors recognize that there are many other potential types of institu- tional support in addition to the two kinds (release time and financial sup- port) examined in our study. Some of the additional means of support described in the literature include in-house train- ing, secretarial support, computer I statis- tical support, student help, positive performance appraisals, and mentoring programs. 14 However, time and money are the most commonly mentioned means of institutional support. INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT The overwhelming majority of re- spondents (84.3 percent) reported that some type of institutional support for professional development activities was available to them. As table 1 indi- cates, when institutional support was available, it almost universally included release time. Only one librarian (.5 per- cent) reported institutional support that did not include release time. Over 65 percent of the respondents reported that their institutions provided both release time and financial assistance. Formal institutional support for pro- fessional development activities varied dramatically from activity to activity. Ap- proximately 80 percent of the librarians indicated that their institutions provided support for attendance at professional meetings while nearly half (48.6 percent) reported that support was available for attending continuing education pro- grams. Fewer than 30 percent had support for credit courses. The type of professional development activity receiving the least support was research. Fewer than 15 per- cent of the respondents reported any sup- port for research activities. The availability of support for each of these activities is shown in table 2. This overall summary of institutional support can be broken down for further analysis. Just as overall support varied by activity, availability of the two types Professional Development Activities 27 of support examined varied, depending on the type of professional development activity. For all activities, release time was provided more often than financial aid. For three of the professional develop- ment activities monitored (meeting atten- dance, continuing education, and credit courses), it was unusual for financial support to be provided without release time also being available. Table 3, which illustrates release time, shows figures only slightly below table 2 for most ac- tivities. Nearly 80 percent of the librari- ans indicated that their institutions provided release time for professional meetings, but only 10 percent worked in institutions that provided release time for research. Release time for continuing education programs and credit course work fell between these two extremes. For each of the four types of pro- fessional development shown in table 3, TABLEt PROVISION OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES (n = 185) No. of Type of Support Subjects % No support 29 15.7 Release time 155 83.8 Financial assistance 122 · 65.9 Both time and financial 121 65.4 Percentages add up to more than 100% because most subjects fall into more than one of the categories in this table. TABLE2 INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT BY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY (n = 185) No. of Activity Subjects % Meetings 147 79.5 Continuing education 90 48.6 Credit courses 52 28.1 Research 26 14.1 Percentages add up to more than 100% because many subjects fall into more than one of the categories in this table. 28 College & Research Libraries TABLE3 INSTITUTIONAL PROVISION OF RELEASE TIME (n = 185) No. of Activity Subjects % Meetings 146 79.0 Continuing education 90 48.6 Credit courses 49 26.5 Research 19 10.2 TABLE4 INSTITUTIONAL PROVISION OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES (n = 185) No. of Activity Subjects % Meetings 116 62.7 Continuing education 65 35.1 Credit courses 35 18.9 Research 13 7.0 more institutions provided release time than financial assistance. However, the relative support provided for each activ- ity remained the same. More financial support was available for attending meet- ings than for any of the other three pro- fessional development activities. The next greatest level of support was for continu- ing education programs, followed by credit courses. Institutions were least likely to finance research activities. The number and percentage of librarians in institutions providing financial as- January 1994 sistance for each activity are shown in table4. If the support patterns for each of these four types of professional develop- ment activities are examined individu- ally, similar patterns emerge. Table 5 shows the types of support available for professional meetings, continuing edu- cation programs, credit courses, and re- search. Although provision of institutional support varied significantly across types of professional development activity, patterns of support tended to be similar. For all types of professional develop- ment activity, release time was more prevalent than financial assistance. However, if any institutional support was available, the most common pattern was to offer both release time and finan- cial assistance. The only exception to this pattern was for research support. Insti- tutional support for research was much less common than for the other types of professional development activity ex- amined, but when it was offered it was generally either release time only or fi- nancial support only. Only 23 percent of those at institutions providing research support reported that both time and money were available. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT AND SUBJECTS' PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Institutions provide various incen- tives, such as release time and financial support, in an effort to encourage and reward activities that they want their librarians to pursue. To assess whether TABLES INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES (n = 185) Continuing Meetings Education Credit Courses Research No. % No. % No. % No. % No support 38 20.5 95 51.4 133 71.9 159 85.9 Time only 31 16.8 25 13.5 17 9.2 13 7.0 Financial only 1 0.5 0 0.0 3 1.6 7 3.8 Both 115 62.2 65 35.1 32 17.3 6 3.2 such rewards are associated with any variations in librarians' professional ac- tivities, data were analyzed to see if any statistically significant relationships ex- isted between the institutional support variables and the extent to which librari- ans participated in both formal and infor- mal continuing professional development activities and/ or the types of contribu- tions they made to the profession. Formal activities included member- ship in professional library associations, attendance at professional meetings, workshop participation, enrollment in credit courses, and pursuit of additional degrees. Informal activities included vis- its to other libraries and reading pro- fessional books and journals. The professional development activi- ties listed above are not ends in them- selves, but rather the means to encourage librarians to make greater contributions to their home institutions and to the profes- sion as a whole. The data collected in this survey cannot illustrate whether the qualitative performance of librarians was improved through participation in professional development activities, but it can provide quantitative data showing the relationships between support and certain types of contributions to the pro- fession. Those contributions include grant activity, papers presented, associa- tion committee service, and publication activity. Because of the high degree of overlap between release time and financial sup- port, all statistical analyses were based upon availability or nonavailability of either type of institutional support for a Professional Development Activities 29 given activity. The analyses did not differentiate between time and financial support. Relationships between these variables and meeting support were an- alyzed for statistical significance at the .05 level.15 Support for Professional Meetings The environment in which academic librarians work is constantly changing because of technological advances, the information explosion, and financial rein- trenchment. Interaction with colleagues at other institutions can give academic librar- ians new insights on how best to serve their users in a changing environment. Institutional support for attending pro- fessional meetings is designed to en- courage such professional interactions. Professional meeting support fosters meeting attendance and may also en- courage other related activities such as joining library associations, serving on committees, and presenting papers. The importance institutions place upon association participation is re- flected in Donna Pittman Blomberg and Karen Chapman's finding that over 90 percent of Association of Research Li- braries members use involvement in professional organizations as a factor in staff evaluations, and that 93 percent of those libraries support attendance at national library association meetings by providing travel funds. 16 Analysis of survey responses indi- cates that institutional support for pro- fessional meetings does, indeed, meet its objectives. As table 6 shows, during 1990 attendance rates for librarians who TABLE6 ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS WHO ATTENDED AT LEAST ONE MEETING DURING 1990 (n = 185) With Meeting Support (n = 147) Library association meetings Workshops No. 128 137 For library association meetings: x2 = 14.912; df = 1; p = .0001. For workshops: x2 = 21.546; df = 1; p = .0000. % 87.1 93.2 Without Meeting Support (n = 38) No. 22 24 % 57.9 63.2 30 College & Research Libraries indicated availability of institutional sup- port for professional meetings were 30 per- cent higher at both professional meetings and workshops when compared to the rates for their nonsupported colleagues. The mean number of library associa- tion meetings and continuing education workshops attended by librarians with and without meeting support was also analyzed. As table 7 shows, the mean number of library association meetings attended by librarians at institutions providing meeting support was nearly twice the number for librarians whose institutions did not provide such sup- port, and the differences in workshop attendance were even greater. TABLE7 MEAN NUMBER OF MEETINGS ATTENDED (n = 185) Library association meetings Workshops With Meeting Support (n = 147) 3.48 3.27 Without Meeting Support (n = 38) 1.76 1.29 For library association meetings: F value = 4.78; p = .000. For workshops: F value= 3.54; p = .000. The data demonstrated a positive cor- relation between institutional support for meetings and actual meeting atten- dance. Did such support also have a positive correlation with the other types of association activities mentioned ear- lier, such as association membership, committee service, and presentation of papers? Such correlations seemed likely. Meeting attendance is a gauge of asso- ciation involvement. Indeed, membership in an association is often a prerequisite for institutional support for meetings. Simi- larly, it is difficult to serve on association committees if one cannot attend meet- ings on a regular basis, and delivering a paper without being present is im- possible. When data were analyzed, librarians with institutional meeting support had statistically higher rates of library associa- tion membership and committee service. January 1994 The majority of those eligible for meet- ing support (51.7 percent) served on at least one library association committee, a service rate almost twice as high as that of their nonsupported colleagues. Very few librarians in the population had presented papers at meetings during the last year. The eleven subjects (6.0 per- cent) who presented papers represented too small a group to detect any statisti- cally significant differences in the meet- ing support status of these presenters. Statistics for all three types of activity are given in table 8. TABLES LIBRARIANS INVOLVED IN ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES DURING 1990 (n = 185) With Meeting Support (n = 147) Without Meeting Support (11 = 38) No. % No. % Library association membership 135 91.8 30 78.9 Library association committee 76 51.7 10 26.3 Presented paper 8 5.4 3 For library association memberships: r = 3.952; df = 1; P = .o468. 7.9 For library association committee: r = 6.834; df = 1; p = .0089. . Numbers are too small for a meaningful statistical analysis of presented papers. The mean number of association memberships held by librarians with and without meeting support was also analyzed, and a t-test was performed to test · for statistical significance. The re- sults are shown in table 9. Thus, although the average number of library association memberships held by TABLE9 MEAN NUMBER OF LIBRARY ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS (n = 185) With Meeting Support (n = 147) 2.24 F value= 1.37; p = .199. Without Meeting Support (n = 38) 1.66 librarians reporting support was 0.58 greater than for those with no support, the difference is not statistically signifi- cant at the 0.05 level. · Support for Continuing Education As James M. Matarazzo has noted, librarians need "to continuously update their skills, methods, and approaches to meet the challenges and changes in tech- nology, in industry, and in the scope of their responsibilities." 17 Continuing edu- cation programs are an important way of keeping librarians' skills and knowledge current. The authors' study found that institu- tional support for attendance at continu- ing education programs was strongly related to librarians' actual attendance at such workshops. Even without institu- tional support, a substantial percentage of librarians (77.9 percent) attended at least one workshop during the year. However, when institutional support was provided, the percentage attending in- creased to 96.7 percent. The probability of this difference occurring by chance is .0003. As table 10 shows, provision of con- tinuing education support almost doubled the mean number of workshops attended, and the differences shown are statistically significant. TABLE 10 WORKSHOP ATTENDANCE (n = 185) With Continuing Education Support (n = 90) 3.72 F value = 1.55; p = .036. Without Continuing Education Support (n = 95) 2.04 An important aspect of continuing ed- ucation is self-education through regu- lar reading of current professional literature. Matarazzo has expressed the belief that "keeping current with the lit- erature is a prerequisite of any continu- ing education program." 18 Reading professional journals is a vital part ofthis process, but as Peter Hernon has pointed Professional Development Activities 31 out, monographs also form an important part of our professionalliterature.19 The relationships between institu- tional support for continuing education programs and four types of self-directed continuing education activities were ex- amined in our study. Three of these activi- ties involved reading: number of library journals read regularly, number of other professional journals read regularly for purposes other than book selection, and number of professional books read. The fourth activity analyzed was traveling to observe other library-re- lated practices, techniques, or facilities. Librarians with institutional support for continuing education activities read more library journals and made more visits to other libraries than those without such support. However, those differences were not statistically signifi- cant at the 0.05 level. The relationship between institutional support for con- tinuing education and the reading of professional books and nonlibrary pro- fessional journals was the opposite of what was expected. Librarians without continuing education support read more professional books and more nonlibrary journals. Table 11 shows statistics for all four of these variables. TABLE 11 MEAN NUMBER OF ITEMS READ AND VISITS MADE DURING 1990 (n = 185) With Without Continuing Continuing Education Education Support Support (n =90) (n = 95) Library journals 4.64 3.32 Other professional journals 0.61 1.09 Professional books 3.90 4.14 Visits to other institutions 1.59 1.29 For library journals read: F value= 1.48; p = .060. For other professional journals read: F value= 5.47; p = .000 For professional books read: F value= 2.92; p = .000. For visits: F value= 1.46; p = .072. 32 College & Research Libraries Support for Credit Courses The educational levels of librarians at institutions that provided support for credit courses were essentially the same as the levels of librarians at institutions which did not provide such support (39.2 percent with degrees beyond the first master's versus 37.7 percent). However, these two groups varied dramatically in their current participa- tion in credit courses as well as in their pursuit of additional degrees. Academic librarians at institutions providing support for credit courses en- rolled in credit courses at rates over four times higher than those not receiving TABLE12 PERCENTAGE OF LIBRARIANS DOING CREDIT COURSE WORK DURING 1990 (n = 185) With Course Support (n =52) Without Course Support (n = 133) No. % No. % Enrolled in credit course 28 ~3.8 16 12.0 Enrolled in degree program 19 36.5 8 6.0 For credit courses: :r! = 33.791; df = 1; p = .0000. For degree programs: :r! = 25.548; df = 1; p = .0000. TABLE13 MEAN NUMBER OF PROFESSIONAL ITEMS READ DURING 1990 (n = 185) Library journals read Other professional journals read Professional books read With Course Support (n =52) 4.63 0.98 6.52 Without Course Support (n = 133) 3.70 0.81 3.05 For library journals: F value = 1.86; p = .005. For other professional journals: F value = 2.01; p = .002. For professional books: F value= 7.77; p = .000. January 1994 such institutional support. Librarians re- ceiving support for credit courses were also over six times as likely to have an additional degree in progress. As table 12 reflects, those differences were statis- tically significant. The survey data also show that those receiving institutional support for en- rollment in credit courses read more library journals, more nonlibrary pro- fessional journals, and more books. Figures for these activities are given in table 13. Support for Research The participation of academic librari- ans in research and publication provides benefits for individual librarians and the libraries in which they work. Dale S. Montanelli and Patricia F. Stenstrom cite job advancement and personal recogni- tion as potential advantages to the in- dividual. They also state that research benefits the institution by generating knowledge which can improve library services, encouraging innovation, in- creasing the library's responsiveness to change, and improving relationships with teaching faculty. 20 Many libraries attempt to foster re- search through various support mecha- nisms, such as those described by Bonnie Gratch: scheduling time for research, budgeting funds for research support, promoting collegial contacts, and pro- viding educational and operational sup- port.21 However, even when institutions recognize the benefits of research, and therefore encourage or require librarians to engage in research, institutional struc- tures to support research activities are often not provided. Emmick reports, "Li- braries that provide release time for re- search-related activities . . . are in the minority."22 Her contention is supported by at least two other studies. In their sur- vey of Virginia academic libraries, Donald J. Kenney and Gail McMillan found that 31.9 percent provided leave and 20 percent gave financial support for research ac- tivities.23 Gray and McReynolds' study of academic libraries in six southeastern states found that only 19 percent pro- vided paid leaves for research.24 In the authors' study, institutional support was lower for research than for the other three types of professional development activities examined. Only 26 subjects (14.1 percent) reported that research support was available from their institutions. Although institutional research was available to relatively few librarians, two major indicators of re- search activity, grants and publications, indicate that the research productivity of those few supported individuals was dramatically higher than that of their nonsupported counterparts. Subjects receiving institutional sup- port were twice as likely to have received grants during 1990. Nearly 27 percent of those receiving research support re- ported grant activity during the year while only 13.2 percent of those notre- ceiving support reported such activity. Analogous differences between these two groups (those with research support and those without support) were evident when career and annual (1990) publication patterns were analyzed. Librarians at in- stitutions that provided research support had significantly higher publication rates. Statistics were compiled for six different types of publications: book reviews, arti- cles other than book reviews, books, book chapters, proceedings, and journal edi- torships. Analyses were performed to provide statistics on individual publica- tion types and to produce composite figures summarizing all publication ac- tivity. Table 14 illustrates that over 60 per- cent of the librarians with institutional research support had published during their careers. This figure drops to under 36 percent for those without such sup- port. Since these composite publication figures include book reviews, which are not generally considered to be research publications, differences between pub- lication activity were also computed without 'that variable. The differences between groups remained statistically significant at the .05 level. All publications during the course of a librarian's career may not have been finished in the same type of support en- vironment. Support patterns within an Professional Development Activities 33 TABLE14 LIBRARIANS WHO HAVE PUBLISHED DURING THEIR CAREERS (n = 185) Any type of With Research Support (n = 26) Without Research Support (n = 159) No. % No. % publication 16 61.5 57 35.8 Any type of publication except book review 14 53.8 48 30.2 For any type: x2 = 5.145; df = 1; p = .0233. For any except book reviews: x2 = 4.601; df = 1; p = .0319. institution often change over time, and librarians (like the majority of those in the authors' study) who have worked at more than one institution are even more likely to have experienced varying levels of institutional support. Because of this, publications during the last full year re- ported (1990) are probably a more accu- rate reflection of the relationship between institutional support and pub- lication activity than are career publica- tions. When 1990 publications were analyzed, with and without book re- views, the annual differences between the two groups were even greater than the career differences. (See table 15.) When publication activity is analyzed by type of publication, the career pub- TABLEtS SUBJECTS WHO PUBLISHED DURING 1990 (n = 185) Any type of With Research Support (n = 26) Without Research Support (n = 159) No. % No. % publication 14 53.8 31 19.5 Any type of publication except book review 10 38.5 26 16.4 For any type: x2 = 12.518; df = 1; p = .0004. For any except book reviews: x2 = 5.630; df = 1; p = .0177. 34 College & Research Libraries TABLE16 INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH SUPPORT AND CAREER PUBLICATION ACTIVITY (n = 185) With Without Research Research Support Support (n = 26) (n = 159) No. % No. % Articles 12 46.2 38 23.2 Book reviews 8 30.8 28 17.6 Books 5 19.2 11 6.9 Book chapters 4 15.4 15 9.4 Proceedings · 1 3.8 20 12.6 Journal editorshies 3.8 8 5.0 For articles: :1- = 4.540; df = 1; p = .0331. For book reviews: :1- = 1.701; df = 1; p = .1922. For books: :1- = .0902; df = 1; p = .0902. Numbers are too small for meaningful statistical analyses of book chapters, proceedings, and journal editorships. lication activity of those with institu- tional support was higher for four of the six types of publishing activity ex- amined. However, as table 16 shows, only the difference for journal articles is statistically significant. Subjects receiv- ing institutional research support were twice as likely to publish journal articles as those lacking such support. Although the figures are not statistically signifi- TABLE17 INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH SUPPORT AND 1990 PUBLICATION ACTIVITY (n = 185) Articles Book reviews Books Book chapters Proceedings Journal editorships With Research Support (n = 26) No. % 8 30.8 6 23.1 1 3.8 2 7.7 0 0.0 1 3.8 Without Research Support (n = 159) No. % 11 6.9 10 6.3 7 4.4 1 0.6 7 4.4 6 3.8 For articles: :1- = 11.327; df = 1; p = .0008. For book reviews: ::C = 5.988; df = 1; p = .0144. Numbers are too small for meaningful statistical analyses of books, book chapters, proceedings, and journal editorships. January 1994 cant, those receiving institutional sup- port also published an observably higher percentage of books, book chap- ters, and book reviews. The analysis of publication rates for proceedings produced unexpected re- sults. Unlike most other types of publica- tions, which had a positive correlation with research support, those without re- search support published papers in pro- ceedings four times more often than those with support. This figure is not statistically significant because of the small number of subjects involved in this kind of publication, but it does under- score the fact that other elements besides institutional support influence publica- tion patterns. When publication activity for the most recent year (1990) was analyzed, only the two most common types of publications, articles and book reviews, were present in large enough numbers for meaningful statistical analyses. In both cases, publica- tion productivity of those with research support was approximately four times that of those lacking such institutional support, as shown in table 17. Positive correlations between institu- tional research support and grant and publication productivity are clearly de- monstrated by this study. Institutional support apparently makes a difference in librarians' research output, but does it also influence other activities which can help to develop research interests, such as professional reading or visits to other libraries? Four factors were examined for rela- tionships between each factor and re- search support. Those factors were: reading of professional books, reading of professional journals in the field, read- ing of professional journals in other fields, and visits to other libraries. Librarians receiving institutional re- search support were more involved in three of these four activities (reading professional books, reading journals in other fields, and visiting libraries), but none of the differences was statistically significant. There were statistically sig- nificant differences in the fourth factor, reading of library journals, but not in the TABLEtS MEAN NUMBER OF ITEMS READ AND VISITS MADE DURING 1990 (n = 185) Library journals Other professional journals Professional books Visits to other With Research Support (n = 26) 3.35 0.92 6.08 Without Research Support (n = 159) 4.06 0.85 3.69 institutions 1.69 1.40 For library journals read: F value= 2.31; p = .016. For other professional journals read: F value = 1.85; p = .072. For professional books read: F value = 1.53; p = .213. For visits: F value= 1.19; p = .511. direction expected. Librarians at institu- tions that did not provide research sup- port read more library journals than did those at institutions that did provide such support. These data are shown in table 18. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study confirm Saw's belief that a supportive organizational climate has a major positive impact on librarians' professional development ac- tivities.25 Institutional support policies correlate positively with academic librari- ans' professional activities. The existence of positive correlations between institu- tional support and academic librarians' professional activities does not prove causality. Nevertheless, these correlations Professional Development Activities 35 do strongly suggest that institutions wanting to encourage their librarians' con- tinuing professional development can do so by providing release time and financial support for their staff members. Further findings suggest that aca- demic libraries can influence the types of professional development activities in which their employees engage by target- ing the activities that they support with release time and financial assistance. Librarians who receive institutional sup- port to attend meetings are more active in professional organizations. Librarians who receive institutional support for continuing education programs attend more workshops. Librarians who re- ceive institutional support for credit courses enroll in more courses and degree programs. Librarians who re- ceive institutional support for research publish more and receive more grants. Some of these results may appear to be common sense, but the strength of many of the correlations examined indicates that institutional support can be a stronger factor than many might have imagined. Certainly, many academic librarians continue to pursue pro- fessional development activities even without such support, ·and individuals' internal motivations such as personal satisfaction play an important role in their level of professional growth.26 As noted earlier in this paper, the indiVidual and the institution share responsibility for continuing professional develop- ment, but the results of this study indi- cate that institutional support policies can greatly facilitate librarians' pro- fessional development. REFERENCES AND NOTES 1. ALA Handbook of Organization 1991/1992, (Chicago: ALA, 1991), 44. 2. Julia Gelfand, "Professional Development for Reference and Adult Services Librari- ans," RQ 24 (Summer 1985): 402. 3. Sylvia P. Webb, "Continuing Professional Development~ The Way Forward," Informa- tion Management Report, (Apr. 1992): 14. 4. Ibid. 5. Gelfand, "Professional Development for Reference and Adult Services Librarians," 402. 6. Ibid. 7. llene F. Rockman, "Promoting Professional Development: A Local Approach," College & Research Libraries News 50 (Nov. 1989): 903. 36 College & Research Libraries January 1994 8. Susan A. Stussy, "A Need for the Professional Development of Academic Librarians," Catholic Library World 59 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 82-83. . 9. Donald J. Kenney and Gail McMillan, "State Library Associations: Hf>w Well Do They Support Professional Development?" RQ 31 (Spring 1992): 377-86; /Kathy L. .Warye, "SLA' s Professional Development Program: Where It's Been and Where It's Going," Special Libraries 78 (Fall1987): 251-56;1 Gelfand, "Professional Development for Refer- ence and Adult Services Librarians" [a description of RASD's support of professional development activities], 402-3. 10. Sandy Donnelly, "Professional Development Survey," College & Research Libraries News 48 (Apr. 1987): 200. 11. Ann Hare, "Professional Development in the 1980s in College Libraries in the South- east," Southeastern Librarian 39 (Spring 1989): 18-19. 12. Elizabeth W. Stone, New Directions in Staff Development, (Chicago: ALA, Library Ad- ministration Division, 1971); Elizabeth W. Stone, Continuing Library Education as Viewed in Relation to Other Continuing Professional Education Movements, (Washington, D.C.: American Society for Information Science, 1974). 13. Grace Saw, "Staff Professional Development in Libraries: The Organisation's Role," Australasian College Libraries 7 (Mar. 1989): 22. 14. Saw, "Staff Professional Development in Libraries: The Organisation's Role," 17, 19-20; Melissa D. Trevvett, "The Professional Development Program," Journal of Academic Librarianship 17 (May 1991): 73-75; Peter Durey, "The Appraisal and Professional Development of Staff in Academic Libraries," New Zealand Libraries 46 (Mar. 1991): 7-9; Donald J. Kenney and Gail McMillan, "Librarians in Academic Limbo: Support for Scholarship," The Southeastern Librarian 39 (Winter 1989): 139-41. 15. All means were compared using t-tests. Nominal measurements were analyzed using chi-square tests, and all reported p's for chi-square tests reflect Yates' correction. All analyses were done using SPSS PC+. · 16. Donna Pittman Blomberg and Karen Chapman, "Survey of Travel Support Policies at ARL Libraries," Journal of Academic Librarianship 15 (May 1989): 90-93. 17. James M. Matarazzo, "Continuing Professional Education," Special Libraries 78 (Fall 1987): 247. 18. Ibid., 249. 19. Peter Hernon, "Academic Librarians and the Library and Information Science Mono- graph: An Exploratory Study," College & Research Libraries 52 (Nov. 1991): 507-19. 20. Dale S. Montanelli and Patricia F. Stenstrom, "The Benefits of Research for Academic Librarians and the Institutions They Serve," College & Research Libraries 47 (Sept. 1986): 482-85. 21. Bom\ie Gratch, "Fostering Research Activity: Examples of Institutional Support," College & Research Libraries News 50 (Dec. 1989): 979-80. 22. Nancy J. Emmick, "Release Time for Professional Development: How Much for Re- search?" in Academic Libraries: Myths and Realities, Chicago: ACRL, 1984. 23. Kenney and McMillan, "Librarians in Academic Limbo: Support for Scholarship," 140. 24. Becky Bolte Gray and Rosalee McReynolds, "A Comparison of Academic Librarians with and without Faculty Status in the Southeast," College & Research Libraries 44 (July 1983): 285. The figure of 19 percent was derived by combining categories from their Table 1. 25. Saw, "Staff Professional Development in Libraries: The Organisation's Role," 22. 26. Kenney and McMillan, "Librarians in Academic Limbo: Support for Scholarship," 141.