1. Introduction: The staffing is an
assessment of the staff which is meant to give the library a competent staff in
all the different categories and to get the best out of them. According to
Evans, “staffing is the function by which a manager builds an organization
through the recruitment, selection and development of individuals as capable
employees”. The staffing in libraries consists of the different categories of
person with experience and expertise. The library staffs provide materials,
they also provide the services of specialists who are experts in finding,
organizing and interpreting information needs.
2. Types of Library
Professionals:
There are various types of LIS professional in general which can be grouped
into the following:
a)
Professional: Professional
consists of those who are employed on professional job and who possess degree
in library and information science as well as in some other discipline.
Professionals are employed at higher level and middle level and are responsible
for administration and managerial and professional job. Usually Librarian,
Deputy Librarian, Assistant Librarian and Senior Library Assistants, whatever
may be their designation, are included in this category.
b) Para Professional
/ Semi Professionals: They are
with diploma or certificate in LIS. Their designation may be library assistant,
technical or professional assistant, junior cataloguer or equivalent. They
usually perform the routine professional and technical job.
c)
Unskilled / Supporting Staff:
They are with the minimum educational background and are adequately experienced
in doing a particular job or trade and usually have a non-library degree. The
designation may be reprographic assistant, book arranger, book binder,
conversation assistant, typist and equivalent.
Besides
the above categories of staff, some other staffs are also necessary. They
include attendant, cleaner, peon, gardener, and sweeper.
The
quantum of the staff depends on the total service area of the library, the
number of departments / branch and other organized unit, the hours of opening,
population and size of library users, amount of circulation and demand for
reference service, and the financial support available.
3. Activities of LIS Professionals: The
different categories of library personnel are assigned specific public service
activities, some of the functions may overlap while some of these can vary from
library to library but in general these are of the following types
a) Activities of a Professional
i) General Activities: Establishes operating policy, assigns the
personnel, public relations, general supervision, work with faculty.
ii) Professional: Book selection, performing the book order; do
classification and cataloguing, indexing, etc. Selection of circulation system,
non-routine registration, schedule staff. In case of Interlibrary Loan determine
interlibrary loan code.
iii) Reference: Initial patron contact at the Reference Desk or Information
Desk, gives general information and answers directional questions, interviews
patrons and answers reference questions, searches computer databases, compiles
bibliographies, explains the use of library catalogues and periodical indexes,
recommends material for purchase.
iv) Miscellaneous
Activities: Establishes subject headings for vertical files,
works on displays, bulletin boards and exhibits.
b) Activities of a Paraprofessional
i) General: Assigns personnel, public relations, general
supervision, and work with faculty.
ii) Professional: Their
job includes book ordering, accessioning and preparation of books for the
shelves, physical verification of books, membership registration, to maintain files, deal with
disputed fines. Supervise collection and catalogue maintenance, circulation,
stock verification, charge out and check in materials, accepting interlibrary
loan requests, and bibliographic and location search, to identify overdue and
carry out overdue procedures, collecting fines, re shelving, shelf reading,
shifting materials on shelves, inventory.
iii) Reference: Initial patron contact at Reference Desk or
Information Desk, to answer general information and directional questions,
answer simple reference questions within limits established by the library, to
interview patrons and answer reference questions, compile bibliographies,
explain the use of library catalogues and periodical indexes, bibliographic
work under librarian's direction, recommend material for purchase.
iv) Miscellaneous
Activities: Establishes
subject headings for vertical files, upkeep of files and assign subject
headings under librarian's direction, work on displays, bulletin boards,
exhibits, demonstrates the use of audiovisual equipment and compiles
statistics.
c) Activities of an Unskilled / Supporting Staff
i) General: Public relations.
ii) Professional: Typing and other clerical work, book binding, maintaining
files, to receive and return different types of material other than document,
reprography, micrography, operation of different types of equipment,
maintenance of fumigation chambers, de-acidification, lamination and other
conservation processes.
iii) Reference: Initial patron contact at the Reference Desk or Information
Desk, answering general information and directional questions, answering simple
reference questions within limits established by the library, typing and other
clerical work.
iv) Miscellaneous
Activities: Compiling statistics, upkeep of files and
assigning subject headings under librarian's direction, work on displays,
bulletin boards, museum exhibits, demonstrating the use of audiovisual
equipment.
4. S. R. Ranganathan Staff
Formula: In 1948, Dr. S.R. Ranganathan constructed
a staff-formula to determine the strength of the staff required in a library in
terms of various factors such as accession, circulation, hours of functioning
and so on. In the book of “Library Administration” 2nd edition
(1959) in pages 28-30, Dr. S. R. Ranganathan has recommended the following
staff formula. It may be noted that requirement of staff for each section has
been calculated on the basis of experience. According to formula, the number of
professionals required for different sections is based on the assumption that those
number of professionals are sufficient for managing that volume of work.
a) Staff for Book Section
(SB): One person for every 6,000 volumes added in a
year i.e. SB = A/6000 where “A” means number of volumes (books) accessioned in
a year divided by “6000” (a constant).
b) Staff for Circulation
Section (SC): One person for every 1,500 hours for
which the library has to be kept open a counter gate in a year i.e. SC = G/1500
where “G” means number of gate-hours for a year (if the library has two or more
counter gate then the gate hour should be calculated accordingly) divided by “1500”
(a constant). Here one gate hour means one counter gate kept open for one hour
so, if two counter gate need to be kept open for one hour the number of gate
hour will be 2.
c) Staff for Leadership
Role (Supervisory Function) (SL): Number of persons
as librarian and his/her deputies. For every 1,500 opening hours of a library
in a year there should be 1 librarian and 1 deputy librarian i.e. HW/1500 where
“H” means number of hours library is kept open in day multiplied by “W” which
means number of working days in a year divided by “1500” (a constant).
d) Staff for Maintenance
Section (SM): One person for every 3,000 volumes
added (accessioned) in a year i.e. SM = A/3000 where “A” means number of
volumes accessioned in a year divided by “3000” (a constant).
e) Staff for Periodical-publications
Section (SP): One person for every 500 periodicals
currently taken i.e. SP = P/500 where “P” means number of periodicals currently
taken divided by “500” (a constant).
f) Staff for Reference
Section (SR): One person for every 50 readers using
the library in a day of the year i.e. SR = (R/50) (W/250) where [“R” means
number of readers per day divided by 50 (a constant)] multiplied by [“W” means
number of working days in a year divided by “250” (a constant)].
g) Staff for Technical
(i.e. Classification and Cataloguing) Section (ST):
ST = (A+40D)/2000 where “A” means number of volumes accessioned in a year plus
“40” (a constant) multiplied by “D” means number of periodicals abstracted and
indexed (documented) in a year divided by 2000 (a constant).
So, based on the
above, the total requirement of staff can be calculated as follows-
a) Professional Staff
Pattern: The formula stated by Dr. Ranganathan is:
SB + SC + SL + SM + SP + SR + ST where “S” means staff and the other letter
means the name of the section. Here, SB = Number of persons in book section; SC
= Number of persons in circulation section; SL = Number of persons as librarian
and his deputies; SM = Number of persons in maintenance section; SP = Number of
persons in a periodicals section; SR = Number of persons in reference section
and ST = Number of persons in technical- that is classification and cataloguing-section.
So, in general
SB + SC + SL + SM + SP + SR + ST
= {(A/6000) + (G/1500) + (HW/1500) + (A/3000) + (P/500) + [(R/50)
(W/250)] + [(A+40D)/2000]}
= {3(A+20D)+2(G+3P)+2W(H+6[R/50])}/3000
b) Non-Professional Skilled
Staff: B/30,000+(S/100) where “B” means annual
budget allotment in rupees and “S” means number of seats for readers.
c) Unskilled Staff: SB/4+SC/2+SL+SM/4+SP/2+SR/8+A/20,000+D/500+B/60,000+
(S/100)/4+V/30,000 where “SB” means staff required for book section,
“SC” means staff required in the circulation section; “SL” means staff required
in supervisory section; “SM” means staff required in maintenance section; “SP”
means staff required in periodical-publications section; “SR” means staff
required in reference section; “A” means number of volumes accessioned in a
year; “D” means number of periodicals abstracted and indexed in a year; “B”
means annual budget allotment in rupees; “S” means number of seats for readers
and “V” means number of volumes in the library.
So, in general
SB/4+SC/2+SL+SM/4+SP/2+SR/8+A/20,000+D/500+B/60,000+
(S/100)/4+V/30,000
={27A+2(B+120D)+40(G+3P)+30,000[S/100]+4V+2W(40H+3[R/50]}/120,000
5. Library Committee, 1957
Appointed by UGC: The University Grants Commission
(India), appointed in 1957 a committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. S.R.
Ranganathan to advice the UGC about development of university and college
libraries and their organisation. The Library Committee laid down the strength
of the staff for different sections in university and college libraries to be
determined roughly on the following basis.
a) Book Section and
Acquisition Section: One person for every 6000
volumes added in a year.
b) Periodical Publication
Section: One person for every 500 current
periodicals subscribed.
c) Documentation Section: One person for every 1,000 entries prepared in a year for the development
of information products like bulletins.
d) Technical Section: One person for every 2,000 volumes added in a year and processing
it for the availability in library viz. cataloguing, classification and
indexing.
e) Maintenance Section: One person for every 6,000 volumes added in a year, one person for
every 500 volumes to be replaced in a day and one person for every 1,00,000
volumes in the library.
f) Administrative Section: Minimum one accountant, one steno typist and one clerk for managing
administrative jobs.
g) Reference Section: One person for every 50 readers (other than the users of the
textbook collection) in a day for providing short range and long range
reference services as well as referral services.
h) Circulation Section: One person for every 1,500 hours for which one wicket gate of the library
has to be kept open in a year who looks after all the circulation activities.
i) Supervision Section: One librarian and one assistant or deputy librarian for undertaking
managerial tasks.
j) Unskilled Staff: One cleaner for every 30,000 volumes in the library, one attendant
each for every 6,000 volumes added in a year, one attendant for every 500
current periodicals taken, and for each of the shifts in the circulation section,
besides unskilled and the semiskilled workers normal to any institution
Later on, in 1965, S.R. Ranganathan suggested certain changes in the
above mentioned norms as given below:
a) Periodical Publication Section: 1500 periodicals subscribed.
b) Documentation Section (to supplement the work done by the INSDOC and the international abstracting
services): 30 research workers in the university.
c) Maintenance Section: 1500 volumes newly added, 50,000 volumes to be looked after
6. UGC Staff Formula of 1979: The staff formula for library firstly proposed by the library
committee under the chairmanship of Dr. S R Ranganathan in 1957. This formula
was modified later in 1965 and during March 5-7, 1979. The UGC Workshop on
formulating standards for college libraries was held at Khandala from March
5-7, 1979. The recommendations made by the Workshop were considered and
approved by the UGC Sub-Committee at its meeting held on August 30, 1979. The
recommendations made by the Sub-committee regarding library staffs are given
below.
Basic staff for the college having the strength of 500 students and
the collection of 5000 volumes in the library should have a total of 8 staff i.e.
Librarian (1), Assistant Librarian (1), Library Assistant (2), Library
Clerk-cum-Typist (1), Library Attendants (3).
Besides the above staff, for an increase of every 500 student’s
enrolment, 1 library assistant and 2 library attendants should be added. Similarly
a college will be required to appoint 1 library assistant and 2 library attendants
for every addition of 25,000 volumes upto the limit of 80,000 volumes.
When the strength of students exceeds 2000, one more Assistant
Librarian and one Library Clerk should be appointed.
7. UGC Staff Formula for Delhi
University Colleges: In Delhi University day
college libraries, the following staff strength has been sanctioned by UGC
(vide letter No. F.1-18/63(CUP) of 25.9.1964 and letter No. F.1-35/47(CU) of
18.2.1968).
Librarian (1), Professional Assistant (1), Library Assistant (2), Typist
(1), Attendants upto a collection of 15000 volumes (2), Attendants for more
than 15,000 and less than 30,000 collection (3). If the collection is more than
30,000 volumes, then 4 attendants are provided. For an extended college (having
more than 1500 students), 2 additional attendants are given. In case, a library
opens for 12 hours, then 2 additional attendants are provided.
In Delhi University Evening Colleges, the following staff has been
sanctioned: Librarian (1), Library Assistants (2), Typist (1), Attendants upto
a collection of 15,000 volumes (2). A
collection of above 30,000 volumes, 4 attendants are provided, 50% of the attendants
are placed in the senior scale.
8. Staffing Pattern
Suggested by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE): The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is another
accrediting body in India for recommendations in technical education throughout
the country. It has developed norms and standards for engineering colleges
(degree programs) in 1990 (AICTE 1990 p. 53-54), and has made them applicable
too. These norms gave number of staff admissible and job description, the council
proposed minimum staff for engineering college libraries as one librarian, two assistant
librarians, four library assistants and two library attendants.
9. The Indian Library
Association: The Indian Library Association (ILA)
took initiative in 1982 and 1985 and had a discussion on the problem of
staffing pattern for libraries and suggested to revise the staffing pattern but
the identification filed as suggestions only.
10. Advisory Committee for
Libraries Recommendations: The professional and
non-professional staff that will be required for a public library service has
been estimated by the Advisory Committee for Libraries set up by the Government
of India (PSG Kumar, 2003, P.151) as follows:
a) State Central Library: One state librarian, one deputy librarian, one assistant librarian,
twenty-two Non-professionals;
b) District Library: One librarian, one assistant librarian, three professional
assistants and nine other non-professional personnels;
c) City Library: One librarian, one deputy librarian, (except in cities with a
population of less than 5 lakhs), one assistant librarian (except in cities
with a population of less than 2 lakhs), professional assistants minimum 2, and
maximum 18 according to population served;
d) City Branch Library: One librarian, two professional assistants and five non-professional
personnels;
e) Mobile Library: Two professional assistants and three other personnels;
f) Block Library: One librarian and two other personnels.
Besides these, a few state governments also
proposed some staffing structure for the libraries, like the Government of
Karnataka issued orders in 1981 (p.3) and prescribed the staff pattern for
college libraries. The Himachal Pradesh Government has suggested minimum (core)
staff for academic colleges in their manual for college libraries (p. 263). In
1971, the Kerala Government issued orders regarding staffing at colleges in
Kerala and classified the college libraries into four grades and prescribed norms
for appointment of librarians. Further, in 1982 the pattern of non – teaching
staff in science and arts colleges was revised. Maharashtra government in 1980 (p.3)
issued orders regarding the staff for academic college libraries. The formula
suggested one class IV servant for every 250 students in the college and every
fourth is a clerk.
11. Problem with the Staff
Formula: No recommendations regarding staff structure
of libraries were implemented fully. Even S. R. Ranganathan staff formula is very
difficult to apply in case of any public / college / school library that subscribe
to less than 6000 volume in a year, where, a person to look after the book section
independently may not be possible. It can only be true in case of the
university library. Similarly, in case of
maintenance section there are hardly any public / college / school library where
3,000 volumes added (accessioned) in a year. So, one independent maintenance staff
is also not possible. To add on this, there are hardly any public / college / school
/ university library where 500 periodicals currently taken. So, appointment of an
independent staff for periodical section is also not feasible. Again, the
formula does not suggest staff for property counter, watchman, reading room, photocopy
service, digital library section and so on.
In the UGC Staff formula of 1979, the recommendation does not
suggest core staff for colleges having student strength of less than 500. Hence
the formula is inefficient for the small institutes.
In the UGC Staff formula for Delhi University colleges there is discrimination
between Day College and evening college libraries. There should be a common
library for both the day college and the evening college; so long both were
using the same premises. This provision would have required lesser staff and
the savings could have been used on extending the library buildings,
collections and the services.
The formula proposed
by AICTE does not suggest staff for other purposes like watchman, cleaner, and so
on and do not have any scope of increase in staff if number of readers,
documents or timings of the library increase.
12. Conclusion: In 1948, Dr. S.R.
Ranganathan constructed a staff-formula to determine the strength of the staff
required in the library. Later on, the University Grants Commission (India),
appointed in 1957 a committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan to
advice the UGC about development of university and college libraries and their organization.
In the report of the committee, we can see a modified staff formula of earlier forum
proposed by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan. This formula was modified later in 1965 and
during March 5-7, 1979 in the UGC Workshop on formulating standards for college
libraries held at Khandala from. The recommendations made by the Workshop were
considered and approved by the UGC Sub-Committee at its meeting held on August
30, 1979. However, still a lack of a standardize staff formula and its acceptance
by the concerned body created the missing link among the staff available and
number of staff required in the libraries.
No comments:
Post a Comment