ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Women and Minorities in Academic Libraries

Kathleen M. Heim

Assistant Professor Graduate School of Library Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Statistical information about academic library personnel is often embedded in larger surveys and therefore overlooked by those needing data for affirmative action purposes. One such survey by Carol Van Alstyne, et al., Women and Minorities in Administration of Higher Education Institutions: Employment Patterns and Salary Comparisons (Washington, D.C.: College and University Personnel Association, (CUPA), June 1977), provides information on the “head librarian” position in four areas of interest to academic librarians.

“Employment Shares by Race and Sex ’ found that white men predominate as head librarians in all institutions except white women’s private and minority public and private.

“Job Concentration of Administrators by Race and Sex” notes that among 52 administrative positions in academic institutions the head librarian position accounted for the highest concentration of white females.

“Salary Comparisons: Share of Jobs Held for Positions Ranked by Salary’’ used the median white male salary to rank the 52 positions for white coed public and private institutions only. The table illustrates that the head librarian position ranked in the third quartile for both types of institutions. Deans of all sectors with the exception of vocational education (public) ranked higher. Clearly those holding the head librarian position do not receive monetary compensation equal to other administrators of comparable experience and preparation.

The “Totals and Median Salary” section used the Carnegie Commission of Higher Education Classification to group institutions by educational mission. Interestingly, the small number (18) of minority men and women at public white institutions earned a higher median salary than did their 491 white counterparts (white males: $23,590; white females: $18,062; minority males: $25,570; minority females: $20,500), although the actual number of minorities serving as head librarians in these institutions is discouragingly small.

These data add somewhat to our meager statistical information about women and minorities in academic librarianship. Several clear facts do emerge. Within higher education the head librarian position is the single most concentrated area of white female achievement. Librarianship, unlike many of the other positions surveyed by CUPA, has been relatively open to white women. However, academic librarianship still lags behind in true equalization between the sexes and races at its highest level.

A more complete summary of these data as they relate to academic librarians is available by writing to: Kathleen M. Heim, Graduate School of Library Science, 410 David Kinley Hall, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.

Editors Note:The data summarized here were taken from a survev conducted in 1975-76 and are not guaranteed to be current. CUPA has conducted a similar survey based on 1978-79 data and plans to issue a status report in February 1981 comparing the two sets of statistics. For further information, write: College and University Personnel Association, 11 DuPont Circle, Suite 120, Washington, DC 20036.

Salary Comparisons: Share of Jobs Held by Women and Minorities for Head Librarian Positions Ranked by Salary (jobs ranked according to median salary paid to white males)

	Percent of Jobs Held by
Institution	Median Salary	Rank	Quartile	White Men	Minority Men	White Women	Minority Women
White Coed/Public	$23,590	29	3	69.4%	1.3%	27.1%	2.2%
White Coed/Private	$18,500	32	3	60.2%	1.6%	37.9%	.3%

Source: Summarized from Carol Van Alstyne, et al., Table 10, pp. 41-42.

LIBRARY LITERATURE INITIATIVE GROUP

The American Library Association has established the Library and Information Literature Membership Initiative Group (LIL MIG), organized at the ALA 1980 Annual Conference in June. The group will develop new forums for discussion and action on a variety of issues relating to library literature and information needs in the field.

Interest in this topic has been sparked by increasing publication about the literature of librarianship and information services, and concern for the quality, coverage, indexing, collection and use of the literature. The group’s organizers have identified a number of potential discussion topics including:

• abstracting and indexing scope;

• research needs;

• current awareness;

• improving writing and editing skills;

• locating and using research collections.

They hope to draw a broad spectrum of participants, representing the range of creators and users of library literature—writers, editors, and publishers; library science librarians; library educators; researchers; and those who read and use the field’s literature.

The membership initiative group, a newlycreated structure within ALA, provides a shortterm means for prompt membership activity on special topics. These groups can form, for a period of two years, to discuss and develop programs in their special subjects, and then either disband or find a permanent place in ALA. The Library and Information Literature MIG is the first such group to be created.

Ideas Solicited

Scarecrow Press is seeking brief submissions by librarians of ideas that have improved efficiency or cut costs, improved service, helped in collection development, ordering, acquisitions, or generated public support for their library. For each item selected and published in their brochures and catalogs, Scarecrow will award a $50 credit to the institution or individual submitting the item, which may be applied to the purchase of any in-print Scarecrow publications. Ideas should be submitted in written form (350 words maximum) to Scarecrow Press, P.O. Box 656, Metuchen, NJ 08840. Selection of the ideas for publication will be made by Eric Moon, former president of Scarecrow and former president of ALA.

The LIL’MIG will hold a planning session at the 1981 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Washington, at 2-4 p.m., Monday, February 2, and will be preparing activities for the Annual Conference as well. Those interested in participating in the group should contact the coordinator, Tim La-Borie, Drexel University Librarv, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

LINKING THE DATABASES

The Council on Library Resources (CLR) has released a study prepared by Battelle-Columbus Laboratories concerning the benefits and costs of linking computer-based bibliographic utilities. The report recommends that the Library of Congress, OCLC, the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN), and the Washington Library Network (WLN) develop online links using the automatic translation of requests and responses.

Battelle s recommendation is based on an analysis of the economic and service benefits to libraries and library users if three library operations were to be linked: shared cataloging of current monographs, interlibrary loan, and reference searching.

Hit-rate studies were used to calculate benefits of linking for shared cataloging. They revealed that while LG, RLIN, and WLN had the most to gain in terms of finding records for current cataloging (the study was performed in 1979 when RLIN only had three full Research Libraries Group members), OCLC libraries, because of their number, would save the largest amount— over $2 million per year.

A similar study focused on verification of records for purposes of interlibrary loan and found that RLIN and WLN members stood to benefit substantially in terms of increased service. However, the economic benefits for individual member libraries of any network were less substantial and may even be neutralized by costs of processing larger numbers of interlibrary loan requests.

Economic benefits were not calculated for reference searching, but it was estimated that 2 million additional successful reference searches would be possible if the utilities were linked.

Battelle recommended that the linkage be in a “translation” mode, in which the computers automatically translate one system language into another. This mode, using dedicated leased lines, was found to be the most efficient.

The Battelle report, Linking the Bibliographic Utilities: Benefits and Costs, together with a companion document prepared by CLR, is available for $9 (prepaid) from the Council on Library Resources, One DuPont Circle, Suite 620, Washington, DC 20036.

STUDENT FEES FOR LIBRARY PRIVILEGES

In these trying days of the shrinking dollar and budget trimming, libraries are forced to explore new ways of increasing revenues to maintain their current standard of library service. Some traditional income-producing techniques have been interlibrary loan fees, overdue book charges, online database searching fees, and fees for library use bv non-students.

But have librarians ever experimented with assessing a special fee to students that specifically allows them the use of the library, just as a lab fee permits students the use of laboratory facilities and equipment? Several member insitutions recently posed that question to ACRL headquarters.

In October, ACRL polled the institutions that are participating in the ACRL 100 Libraries Project on whether they have ever had, currently have, or plan to establish a fee for privileges to students enrolled in their institution. Ninety-five per cent of all the academic institutions responded to the questionnaire.

Absolutely none of them had ever levied a fee for library privileges.

However, a few libraries indicated that thev had assessed similar student fees for specific library projects. For example, two librarians reported a fee that was established to assist in paying off revenue bonded debts on new library buildings or additions. The fees had nothing to do with the use of the library, but both were related to the number of credit hours for which each student was enrolled. One university assessed a fee of 63 cents per credit hour, while the other charged $34 per year for full-time students and $17 per year for part-time students.

Another institution reported a $2 fee used to pay for materials, equipment and personnel needed to produce a library card that could be used with an automated circulation system and as a campus services (I D.) card.

In the student activist 60’s, a student running for student body president at a western university was elected on a platform advocating the imposition of a library fee to help offset rising periodical costs. As the university librarian reported, the $5 fee “ultimately forced the university administration to recognize that inflation of periodical costs rises much faster than student growth; so the administration increased the library’s budget to cover those costs and discontinued the fee for library support” after six years.

Undoubtedly the maze of red tape surrounding the imposition of a library privilege fee has discouraged its utilization by many institutions, but it is hard to believe that one has never been tried. If your institution has ever had a library fee or plans to implement one, please contact George M. Eberhart, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

Midwest Library Service Announces Its Newly Expanded CONTINUATION AND STANDING ORDER SERVICE

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Once your order is received, a Personal Customer Service Representative will be assigned to your library to assist you.