Keywords

libraries; student assistants; media centers; competency based training

Abstract

According to recent Association of Research Libraries (ARL) statistics, the cost of employing a student assistant is approximately 25% of the hourly wage of a librarian (ARL 1997). From this cost perspective alone, there is a strong incentive for academic libraries to staff with student employees rather than librarians wherever possible. It appears student assistants will continue to be an integral part of many academic library departments. Nowhere else, however, is this more true than in academic media centers. Depending upon the scope of the collection and services offered by the particular media center student assistants perform a variety of functions vital to the day-to-day operation of the unit. Student employees assist users in setting up and operating audiovisual and electronic equipment, circulate and reshelve items, and conduct collection searches to retrieve a variety of materials often arranged in a complex fashion. Because student assistants often staff centers alone and work in highly visible locations, their performance can have an inordinate impact upon the center's reputation. As a result, thorough training for student assistants is a pressing concern for many media centers.

Date Created

January 1997

https://works.bepress.com/penny-beile/10/download/

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