Distinctions or differences between library faculty and staff

This post is being written in accordance with my portfolio panel to make minor changes to my portfolio.

Some differences between academic library faculty and staff are that faculty are generally required to publish or produce research, they can be tenured and have a masters degree from an ALA accredited school. Faculty generally have more responsibilities as well. Some tend to specialize in a certain subject area, select materials, weed, communicate with teaching faculty, and teach courses. They serve on committees and present at conferences or meetings. "Librarians use the latest information technology to perform research, classify materials, and help students and library patrons seek information." Currently more people are conducting more research on their own and the use of electronic databases is threatening for librarians, so hiring will be slow, but "librarians will still be needed to manage staff, help users develop database-searching techniques, address complicated reference requests, choose materials, and help users to define their needs." The jobs for librarians are beginning to be less traditional such as working for consulting firms, private corporations and nonprofit groups.

Staff are more restricted, they run the library and contribute to its function, are not required to have a masters degree and do not have to publish and perform the more routine jobs in the library. Usually only require an associates degree or high school diploma. They are the bones of the library, the record keepers, catalogers, acquisitions, check-in materials, receive materials, process materials, cataloging, circulation and reserve. Computer skills are neccessary as well has familiarity with online library catalogs and systems. Another thing is that librarians or faculty usually get paid more than staff. Also, they usually work under the supervision of a librarian. Employment is expected to grow for Library technicians. Technicians are also taking on more reponsibilities.

One good way to look at the difference between the two is that the librarian/faculty places an order for the book, the staff person will order it, receive, catalog and process it and send it out to be able to be used and checked out. Once it is available on the shelves the librarian may help the student or patron to find the book and show them how to utilize it for information or an assignment.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos113.htm