The purpose of this paper
is to describe the historical development of the education for library support
staff (LSS) in the United States of America.
The paper discusses the
LSS education first by dividing the topic into two parts: the pre-21st century
and 21st century. Then, each part is divided into two subparts: “the Role of
American Library Association in Educating LSS” and “Institutions and Programs
for Educating LSS”.
It was found that ALA played a significant role for LSS
education in the pre-21st century, as they did for the professional librarians.
The ALA
adopted a policy in 1970, “Library Education and Manpower” in order to deal with
the then shortage of library staff. The policy classified LSS into three
categories: clerk, library technical assistant, and library associate. Though it
was expected that this classification could contribute to effective utilization
of the library manpower, it did not result in what was expected partly because
the libraries did not expand in 1970’s and 1980’s. The policy, however, has
become significant for LSS since the ALA officially recognized the role of LSS in
the library and described their educational requirement. The ALA prepared “Criteria
for Program to Prepare Library Technical Assistants (CPPLTA)” in 1971, revised
in 1979, and again in 2004. This criteria provides two kinds of programs:
Associate Degree and Certificate. It also prepares the model of core courses.
Notwithstanding, many colleges have adopted “A Suggested Two-year Post High
School Curriculum: Library Technical Assistant”, published by U.S. Office of
Education in 1973.
In the 21st century, the
ALA
established the certification program for LSS in 2010. It will greatly improve
the employment of LSS since a LSS with the ALA’s certificate could be employed by any
library at any state. Before establishing the program, each state has had its
own certification program and a LSS with a certificate from one state was not
qualified to be employed in another state.
Regarding the Institutions of LSS education, it is said that
Los Angeles
City College first started LSS education in
1937. In 1960’s, many colleges established educational programs for LSS and in
1976 there were about 130 programs with about 7,000 students enrolled. The
majority students were part-time students. However, LSS had hard times to find
their employment in 1980’s and in 1984 there were only 67 institutions
(community colleges) that offered the programs for LSS. In 1999, there were 47
institutions across 17 states which provided the programs for LSS. And most of
the programs were developed by the library staff of the institutions. The
majority of institutions provided both associate and certificate programs and
most of the courses were traditional ones.
In 2005, there were 48
institutions which provided the programs for LSS. Most institutions provided
both associate and certificate programs and offered their programs based on
ALA’s CPPLTA.
In 2009, there were about 50 institutions.