ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Letters

Research needed on library compensation

To the Editor:

I read with interest the “Research Agenda for College Librarianship” (July/August 1995). I was surprised that the individuals your committee consulted did not consider the issue of library compensation important enough to include. With library faculty earning 30% less than their teaching faculty colleagues who hold comparable qualifications (the master’s degree), and typically having to work a 12-month contract instead of their nine, I would think that this issue merits study. If the purpose of a professional association is to represent the needs of its members, this is one major issue that is crying out to be addressed. I urge your committee not only to add it to its research agenda, but to ask ACRL to prioritize and fund such research.—R. Neil Scott, Georgia College

The committee chair responds

As we state in the introduction to the Agenda, “the questions that follow are not intended to limit inquiry but to provide an example of concerns that might be pursued in each of the seven research areas. . . .” The issue of library compensation is certainly an important one to the profession, and agenda questions such as “What is the status of librarians in colleges?” and “What is the impact of collective bargaining on library organizations?” were intended to promote more specific research in this area. The committee encourages Professor Scott and others to submit additional questions to be included in future editions of the Agenda.—Mickey Zemon, Chair, CLS Research for College Librarianship Committee

One article fits right in

To the Editor:

As soon as I read the article “Research Across the Curriculum,” by Steve McKinzie (June 1995), I forwarded a copy to the chair of our university curriculum committee. McKinzie’s ideas fit right into some plans that this committee is formulating.

—Jenny Petty, Ouachita Baptist University