Changing Titles, Changing Duties

Abstract

An anticipated change in the proportion of print and electronic serial titles held at the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, coinciding with a vacancy in the Serials Librarian position, prompted Himmelfarb staff to re-examine the position's responsibilities and duties. In an effort to relieve the burden of managing an exploding number of electronic resources on the existing Electronic Resources and Instructional Librarian, electronic serials management was redistributed to the Kathe S. Obrig, MLS (mlbkso@gwumc.edu)

The Use of Paraprofessionals in Electronic Resources Management: Results of a Survey

“…Despite official distinctions between professionals and paraprofessionals, their roles remain profoundly blurred in the 21st century technical services environment (Cox & Myers, 2010;Jones & Stivers, 2004;Leibowitz, 2002Leibowitz, , 2012Milczarski & Garofalo, 2011;Montgomery & Sparks, 2000;Obrig, Thompson, & Lingle, 2005;West, Miller, & Wilson, 2011;Zhu, 2012). A familiar instance can be found in staffing for cataloging.…”

“…For example, at the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library at the George Washington University, the library administration restructured a vacant Serial Librarian position in order to "share the management of the electronic journals portion of the Electronic Resources Librarian position (Obrig et al, 2005)." In the concluding remarks, the authors speculated that paraprofessionals may be deployed in the future to maintain electronic resources links and troubleshoot access problems as their print collection continues to diminish.…”