The Presence of the Doctorate among Small College Library Directors

Abstract

Although a doctorate provides a library director with little practical assis tance toward fulfilling his or her job, many college and university admin istrators seem to expect library directors to have one. The presence of the doctorate has been studied extensively within ARL institutions, but not within small colleges. This article explores the presence of the doc torate among small college library directors, considering gender and tenure in addition to size of the library, the college, and the library staff. This research finds that 20 percent of library directors at Baccalaureate I institutions have doctorates, and 40 percent have second master's degrees. Librarians with doctorates do not direct larger institutions than those without Ph.D.s. The value of the doctorate, and its future among female directors in particular, is considered.ibrarians expend much energy, both informally and in journal articles and books, discussing the importance of the doctor ate in librarianship. About half the country's colleges and universities offer librarians faculty status, but unlike their teaching colleagues, very few of these li brarians hold doctorates. 1 A master's de gree in library science is considered a ter minal degree, and unlike in classroom teaching settings, a doctorate is not a re quirement for employment. Nevertheless, the advanced degree often provides a cer tain distinction that administrators and teaching faculty find irresistible. Al though a doctorate is not required for most librarian positions, and despite its lack of relevance to the administrative work of a library director, most institu tions desire, and some require, that the director hold a doctorate. 2Through the years, researchers have explored the educational background of directors at ARL libraries, and many con clusions can be drawn from these results. A few studies have attempted to compare ARL and non-ARL institutions, but prob lems in methodology have prevented comparable results. Smaller research projects have described the backgrounds of library directors in regional settings, and other authors have analyzed the na ture of the library director's work envi ronment in small college libraries, par ticularly in relation to large research in stitutions. 3,4 Julie O'Keeffe's recent study looked at the first directorship held by small college directors in the midwest.

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