MLS: Hire Ground?

So, who's a librarian? While some professions maintain strong professional boundaries, public librarianship remains a field in which a significant number of those delivering service do not have library degrees. A new hiring practices survey from LJ, coupled with interviews, looks at an ever-changing landscape, as library executives express fealty to the MLS at the same time that certain tasks gravitate to nondegreed staffers. Over the last few years, say 33% of survey respondents, they hired more paraprofessionals, while only 19% report they hired more professionals; 48% say the balance is unchanged.

In larger libraries, the adjustments are more pronounced. About half of the largest libraries, with budgets over $5 million, have hired more paraprofessionals. About one-third of that cohort say they will need fewer MLS staff in five years; in the overall sample, some 60% of all respondents say they'll need more MLS staff, with 12% needing fewer.

The San José Public Library, CA, for instance, aims to maintain service "while keeping staffing costs down." Technology frees clerical staff to "work directly with customers on basic reference questions and computer help," writes branch manager Daisy Porter. Degreed librarians, therefore, can focus on creating programs, developing partnerships with schools and other agencies, and working with collections.

There's a fine line between wise deployment of staff and downgrading professional work. A 2007 issue of the ALA-APA (American Library Association—Allied Professional Association) newsletter Library Worklife warns that "the systematic deskilling of professional positions" threatens "to corrode the foundation from which librarians justify their professional status."

That depends, of course, on the starting place. For example, some larger libraries have a workforce with well over 25% degreed librarians—the average reported—while smaller, more rural libraries find it tougher to recruit degreed librarians.

"My preference is to hire employees with the MLS degree," observes Rachel Orozco of the Smith Public Library in Wylie, TX, a small city north of Dallas. "They better understand the philosophy of librarianship and also have more of a passion for the job. I am fortunate to live in an area with two library schools."

The Orange County Library System, FL, with only 10% MLS holders, has 40 paraprofessionals working as technology and customer support specialists, teaching technology classes, which Director Mary Anne Hodel calls "our fastest growing library product." Hodel notes that an ongoing program called Librarians as Learning Leaders aims to "identify future roles and current opportunities" for librarians, such as shaping a new open source ILS and better promoting database content.

What tasks could be transferred to a non-MLS staffer? Some 17% of respondents say none, but 15% cite computer-related/tech services, 13% reference, 12% cataloging, and 9% collection development/acquisitions. Only 7% note programming, and even fewer mention children's or adult services. (The relatively small number of respondents lacking the MLS degree were somewhat more likely to say tasks could be done by those without the degree.)

The question, however, implies a full transfer, while many libraries have segued to a hybrid model, in which nondegreed staffers play a role. Some 80% of respondents say the head of collection management should have an MLS. About 60% say the director of children's service, branch manager, and head of tech services should have an MLS, but fewer than half say the head of systems requires an MLS.

Respondents say that the most crucial positions going forward are children's/YA programming (mentioned by 74%), children's collections (67%), adult collections (67%), adult programming (62%), and YA collections (59%). Also high on the list are relatively new positions like partnerships/PR (62%), web development, and the provision of digital media (59%). Lagging well behind is reference (40%).

Yes, librarians are doing less reference. For example, some 88% of respondents say that non-MLS staff do some reference work; the figure drops to 80% for libraries with budgets over $1 million.

At the Tacoma Public Library, which has always used parapros for reference, Director Susan Odencrantz reports that "librarians are taking on a mentoring role [in reference] more than was the case before."

As Google and Wikipedia become starting points for searches, and staffers at the desk often answer directional questions, only 40% of respondents say they see reference positions as crucial to their library in the next five years.

The Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL, will open a new 10,000 square foot branch soon, with exactly one degreed librarian (plus five FTE staffers), self-check, and a 24/7 DVD dispenser. For reference, customers will use a terminal where they can Skype librarians at the main library.

Some larger libraries have begun to dismantle longstanding reference setups. Two years ago, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, responding to budget pressure, eliminated 11 subject department reference desks and replaced them with a centralized reference desk plus roving reference librarians.

Other large libraries have seen a deemphasis on their research functions. At the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), BC, there's been a reduction in subject librarians, and some adult service librarians have been moved to the children's department, reports Alex Youngberg, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 391 (and a 2008 LJ Mover & Shaker).

Some 65% of respondents overall say non-MLS staff make materials selection decisions, but in larger libraries the percentage is 50%. Once that was a major task for librarians. Increasingly, however, selection has become centralized, with one or a few staff members selecting the content for multibranch systems. In recent years, that trend has included outsourcing collection development to vendors in specific subjects or formats or—in rare cases—entirely, as LJ reported in "Who's Selecting Now?" (LJ 9/1/07).

"It used to be that one thing that defined a librarian was selection," says Patrick Losinski, director of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH. "It still does, but it's done by five people." Indeed, all large libraries, and 90% of those with budgets over $1 million, say an MLS is a prerequisite to head collection management.

Columbus had centralized selection for the branches when Losinski arrived in 2002, but dozens of selectors worked in the main library. That soon changed, driven by both cost and technology. "I think it's very important for several people to really understand it at an enterprise level," he says. Moreover, the use of a floating collection means that "place doesn't matter as much as it once did."

But centralized selection has its critics; e.g., at VPL, a library with significant labor-management tension. Youngberg contends that, in a multicultural city like Vancouver, VPL's decision to centralize collection development disserves community branches.

Some 61% of respondents say that their library requires an MLS to run a branch, though the largest libraries, those with budgets over $5 million, are more likely to require the degree.

The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, NC, has small branches run by employees with bachelor's degrees. "We still very much value the MLS," says Rick Ricker, human resources manager, but the library wants to draw on a variety of staff strengths.

"We still really like to have librarians lead our branches," says Columbus's Losinski, citing the value of people "well rounded, well grounded in librarianship" not only leading and managing people but serving as a public face to the community.

Last November, the New York Public Library (NYPL) and its union traded the branch manager position for a new site manager role. The job includes hiring, team building and tailoring services to the community, customer service, facilities and maintenance issues, and community relations and outreach.

NYPL spokesman Herb Scher says the new job allows candidates with a wide range of expertise to apply and provides options for experienced staff to move up. An MLS is preferred, he notes, and 72 of 80 site managers have the degree. Still, retiree Harriet Gottfried, a former NYPL director of training and development and branch librarian, criticizes the library: "The education of a librarian, according to NYPL, is no longer worth anything."

Consultant Joan Frye Williams tells libraries not to put their most skilled people at the desk requiring the most interaction with the public. "We need to separate intake, which does not require a master's, from execution, which does," she says. "I think we want to reprofessionalize."

Indeed, Gail Borden PL aims "to unchain our librarians from the desk," says Sharon Wiseman, director of staff development and training, citing community outreach, partnering, and "appointments with customers."

Rivkah Sass, director of the Omaha Public Library, won LJ's 2006 Librarian of the Year award for reorganizing a staff with an unusually high number—well over 50%—of degreed librarians.

After once cracking that she wasn't "de-skilling" but "desk-killing"—targeting librarians bound by inertia—Sass says she's enthused about proactive librarianship. Two new degreed librarians, she reports, team up on projects like Have Laptop Will Travel, an outreach program to local businesses. "They also have revitalized our public computer classes and on Valentine's Day organized an awesome speed-dating event that brought out about 70 people."

"I think we are misguided when we define professional status around technique and task," Frye Williams suggests. "What makes us a professional is commitment to principles. I'm going to go to the battlements on the right to read, but the tools I use to make that happen, and the different personnel...are going to vary with times and need."

Still, the Core Competencies recently approved by ALA suggest an interplay between the two, such as the "application of information, communication, assistive, and related technology and tools consistent with professional ethics and prevailing service norms."

More than three-quarters of respondents say they have hired or will hire people with advanced degrees but not the MLS. Most likely positions are in technology and children's services and as library assistants, which might be seen as underemployment for some with the master's degree.

The most common advanced degree is in education. "We've gotten into educational support, preschool, homework help," says Columbus's Losinski, citing staffers with undergraduate or master's degrees in early childhood education. At the Howard County Library, MD, some teachers have been hired for a job once known as a librarian, now called instructor.

Louise Schaper, director of the Fayetteville Public Library, AR (LJ's 2005 Library of the Year), says "customer service attitude, teamwork, and personality"—not simply the MLS—are key at her library. And Huntsville—Madison County Public Library, AL, director Laurel Best says a couple of branch managers have degrees in social work, with one well situated at a branch in a housing project.

The debate is moot in some locales. At the 15-branch Southeastern Public Library System, McAlester, OK, serving a large, rural, and poor area, Director Wayne Hanway says that only two others on staff have an MLS, and both earned the degree on the job.

"Professional is as professional does," he says, noting that one well-respected non-MLS branch manager is the VP/president-elect of the Oklahoma Library Association.

"Of the 23 library directors in Wyoming, only ten have an MLS," reports Jane Bramwell, director of the Weston County Library System, Newcastle, WY. Bramwell acknowledges a paradox: she knows exemplary library workers without the degree but believes "that having an MLS is necessary to being a complete professional."

The Committee of Concerned Librarians (CCL), a British Columbia—based group, suggested in a June 2007 article for Library Worklife that the "all-too-prevalent stereotype" of librarians—"selfless, inclusive, timid"—"has accelerated deprofessionalization" as budget-conscious managers hold sway.

Though library unions might seem to be a bulwark against deprofessionalization, they're often conflicted, the CCL suggests, because they represent both professionals and parapros. The group's blog (www.concernedlibrarians.blogspot.com) keeps track of examples of deprofessionalization, notably in the UK, where budgets face even greater pressure.

The CCL points to a recent job description at a British Columbia library for an information assistant who provides reference, information, and readers' advisory services, plans and delivers programs, and performs circulation duties, collection development (including weeding), and even basic equipment maintenance. No MLS degree is required.

Canadian library technician (and MIS student) Greg Smith, writing in his LibTechConfidential blog, recently pondered the issue: "If nonlibrarians are genuinely capable of providing top-notch service without the degree, then either the degree, the work, the paraprofessionals, or some combination of the three must have changed." Presumably managers and budgets help define the work, as well.

For instance, in Columbus, Losinski's six-member management team includes two degreed librarians at the top and four others, including director of digital services Helene Blowers (a 2007 LJ Mover & Shaker). He suggests the ongoing debate about the MLS is "almost a call for embracing more change than we [already] have."

As attrition occurs, some libraries have reclassified MLS positions as library associates. That's the case at the Jacksonville Public Library, FL, which has a relatively high 36% MLS staff and wants more staffers to offer computer help, such as accessing e-government services. Nevertheless, says Deputy Director Carolyn Shehee Williams, the library also encourages paraprofessionals to get their LIS degrees: "It's a balancing act."

On May 20, 2009, 19 national and global organizations, including ALA, launched Professionals for the Public Interest: Associations and Unions Defending Professional Integrity (www.pftpi.org), targeting external pressures on integrity and linking to the ALA Code of Ethics and ALA Policy Manual, which states ALA supports "provision of library services by professionally qualified personnel" with graduate degrees.

However, as LJ's survey indicates, some pressures are internal, part of the ongoing professional debate, and are unlikely to be easily resolved.