ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Continuing Education for Academic Librarians—VII

A position, one of several similar positions advertised, appeared recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education. It was for an assistant to the library director to be responsible for business operations of the library. Educational qualifications included courses in statistics, in personnel administration, and in budgeting, all of which are present only to a limited degree in the MLS program and often tend to be viewed by the library school student as of secondary importance.

The academic library is an administrative unit and requires the same level of efficient management as any other unit of the college or university. The library manager, to do this, needs the skills of library and information science and of business administration. This combination of requisite skills does not fit into the traditional one-year MLS program, and the typical library school does not have sufficient courses in business administration in its curriculum.

A coordinate program resulting in a joint MLS/MBA degree is one possible solution. The graduate of such a program would have the administrative skills and the information skills necessary to manage an academic library. Libraries have many fine librarians who have administrative responsibilities but who are not able administrators. Few administrators have a knowledge of and sensitivity to library and information services as they are or should be performed. Many aspects of librarianship—acquisition of materials, contracting for services, union negotiations, in addition to the daily responsibilities for personnel and financial accountability—are administrative. They cannot be performed well without a knowledge on the part of the library manager of both information services and administration.

A second alternative in educational programs for schools of library and information science would be to promote courses in business and public administration for students and to provide independent study and internships in library management.—Ann E. Prentice, Director of the School of Library and Information Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.