Libraries at colleges and universities provide a challenging

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1 Human Resource Administration in the Academic Library Dennis R. Defa Libraries at coeges and universities provide a chaenging environment for the practice of human resource (HR) administration. The dynamics and structure of the academic ibrary within the higher education community create compex environments for the ibrary administrator attempting to navigate the myriad rues and reguations (state, federa, and institutiona) that affect staff recruiting, hiring, processing, compensating, and reated functions for ibrary personne. Depending upon the compexities of the HR function in any academic ibrary, the organization may be best served by designating an HR expert as a member of the ibrary s administrative team. This artice wi review the HR function at the coege and university eve, then evauate specific structures of the academic ibrary within this broader organization. The intent is to hep both ibrary and campus HR administrators in understanding each other s perspectives on HR issues and to evauate the importance of an in-house HR expert to address the situations encountered in the dayto-day administration of the ibrary. A review of the reevant ibrary iterature reveas that whie there are numerous exampes of discussions reating to HR issues and how to resove or hande specific situations, there is very itte information regarding the design or use of the administrative HR function. Questions reating to the best practice when deciding how the HR function in the academic ibrary is estabished are missing from the genera ibrary iterature. 1 The journa Coege and University Professiona Association Human Resources (CUPA HR) has not provided any in-depth discussion on deveoping or transforming the HR office in an academic ibrary and what roe the ibrary s unique staffing circumstances shoud pay in the overa HR function on a campus. 2 The compexities of the HR chaenges for ibrary administrators are unique to the individua coege or university. Size matters. A basic caveat: the more compex the institution, the more compex the ibrary organization. For exampe, when comparing ibraries at a research university to those at a comprehensive university or community coege, it is evident that research ibraries are physicay arge, have staff that may number in the severa hundreds, are generay open more hours a day, and may serve severa Dennis R. Defa (DefaD@cwu.edu) is Assistant Vice President of Facuty Reations, Centra Washington University. sites on a campus or in the community. By contrast, whie ibraries in a sma community coege may not have the numbers of empoyees compared to a arge research university, they may sti have the same variety of HR issues, ony at a esser scae. These specific organizationa eements in different ibraries create dynamic environments that, in many ways, are unike any other on campus. Whie many coege and university administrators beieve that their office, department, or function is somehow different from the rest of the institution, there are some organizationa and structura eements of the academic ibrary that truy are unique in the organization. 3 These factors, combined with federa and state aws regarding empoyment, benefits, compensation, discipine, and termination that continuay become more compicated, make the case for an in-house HR speciaist. Campus Human Resources The campus HR operation is charged with a variety of responsibiities that make it one of a reativey few departments that have direct, campuswide effects. The functions usuay incude, but are not imited to: staff empoyment, cassification, saary and benefits administration, empoyee/ abor reations, training and deveopment, empoyee assistance, workers compensation, safety, and so on. Because of the nature of these responsibiities, the campus HR operation is, in some fashion, responsibe for every empoyee on the campus. Facuty benefits are usuay administered through the HR department. Student empoyment may be separate, but payro forms and I-9 certification typicay come to HR to be processed. Often, the HR department is the primary repository of a officia empoyee fies. The HR function at an academic institution serves a mutifaceted community, and the ski eve and administrative expertise of the department varies according to the size and type of institution. As a genera rue, the arger an organization, the more decentraized the HR function. The HR department s professiona empoyees are required to understand the overa makeup and operation of their institutions. Expertise with the organizationa dynamics between the various vice presidents, deans, directors, and departmenta chairs is necessary to provide the services each unit requires. Knowedge of federa and state aws, university and coege poicies and procedures, 138 Library Administration & Management

2 recruitment phiosophy, market anaysis, affirmative action and diversity, and myriad campus-specific detais (for exampe, private vs. pubic, secuar vs. reigious, civi service vs. noncivi service, union vs. nonunion) are integra to the successfu management of the HR function on a campus. It is important that the campus HR professionas working with departmenta administrators are empowered to make decisions, waive procedures, and provide fexibe operations to address the individua department s concerns. Laws cannot be broken and institutiona poicies cannot be vioated, but, even so, the compexities of arge organizations require a ess rigid and more creative approach to probem soving. A trend in HR management in higher education is to push out many of the day-to-day functions to the appropriate administrative office (deans, directors, and department chairs) instead of handing every issue or task. With the improvement in eectronic data management, many human resource information systems aow individuas to access their own information and make changes and updates. Larger administrative units, such as coege deans or directors of arge departments, may have access to empoyee records on their desktops and assume much of the data integrity responsibiity that historicay has been given to HR. Exampes of this sef-service function are the abiity to change addresses, W-4 deductions, and some benefit enroment information. This trend makes administrative offices more accountabe for HR-reated issues in their areas of responsibiities. Whie HR professiona empoyees are experts in the fieds they represent (compensation, staff empoyment, saary and benefits administration, recruitment practices, empoyee/abor reations, and so forth), they do not, for the most part, have the experience of working in an academic or support department. Whenever the campus HR professionas examine an issue within any department, they generay do so from the perspective of the HR department s mission and not necessariy from that of the department s needs. In arger coeges and universities, the sheer size of the campus dictates that HR professionas wi be unabe to create cose, working reationships with empoyees in the many academic and support departments. Thus the HR department has teams that are responsibe for specific areas of the campus (for exampe, one team may be responsibe for the ibrary and another for the coege of socia and behaviora science). The disadvantage is that not a HR team members can be expected to become famiiar with the many issues of ibrary operation. So it becomes critica for arge departments with empoyees in a variety of categories to have a professiona HR empoyee on their management team. HR in Academic Libraries The academic ibrary is a microcosm of the institution because it faces most of the issues confronted by the campus HR office. The scae of the issues may be smaer, but, in terms of their affect on the operation of the ibrary and its abiity to fufi its mission, they are just as critica. Again, depending upon the size and compexity of the campus, the ibrary wi be staffed by a cross-section of campus empoyees. Librarians may hod facuty status or a modified academic appointment. Staff empoyees incude administrative empoyees exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and cerica, support, and paraprofessiona nonexempt empoyees that are subject to FLSA. Part-time empoyees incude both permanent and temporary, student and nonstudent, and some student empoyees that quaify for various forms of financia aid, ike work study. If the institution has a ibrary science program, there may be the added issue of having a teaching facuty and a service facuty sharing the same faciities. Each wi have a different set of criteria for recruitment; each wi have different promotion, retention, and tenure/permanent appointment documents. Or, it may be that ony the teaching ibrarians are facuty and the service ibrarians are professiona/administrative empoyees without tenure or continuing appointment. Some instructiona ibrarians may not have any administrative reationship to the ibrary but simpy have their academic department ocated in the ibrary faciity. Cases such as these provide a number of chaenges for the HR professiona in academic ibraries. Whie the academic ibrary is not the ony administrative unit on a campus with this mix of facuty, exempt, nonexempt, part-time, permanent, temporary, student, and nonstudent empoyees, it is one of the ony paces where a these empoyees interact in a number of ways, and in none of these other offices is the mix of empoyees such that patrons can mistake one for the other. For exampe, there is no mistaking medica facuty for the staff, and there is no mistaking professors for the staff, but when a patron approaches any service point in the ibrary, there is often no visibe differentiation between the ibrarian, paraprofessiona, and even the student empoyee. Despite working side-by-side at a service desk, a categories of empoyees are hired, processed, and administered in different ways depending upon the institution s poicies and procedures. In addition to the workforce diversity, there are the issues reated to being open ong hours each day, incuding weekends. During the weeks before fina exams, many ibraries are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The hours of coverage creates issues reating to shifts, overtime, compensation, and scheduing of empoyees. Thus, for these and other reasons, a compeing case can be made for the estabishment of an HR professiona position in the academic ibrary. Once acknowedging the need for such a position, ibrary administrators must consider how they expect the HR function to operate. Do they 22, no. 3 Summer

3 anticipate the HR function to be primariy transactiona in nature, processing paperwork and competing forms? Or is there a strategic roe for HR in the ibrary? Wi the HR functionary be part of the management team and have input into the ibrary operation? Or wi the function be primariy cerica? Then administrators need to decide how they want to interface with the HR functions at their institutions. There reay are ony two choices. The first is to assign HR duties to one of the ibrary administrative personne, who assume this roe in addition to their existing duties. The second is to create an in-house HR position and hire someone with the skis and experience to function in that capacity. The first choice is used primariy if the ibrary is smaer and reies upon the campus HR department to provide much of the personne gatekeeping operations. The individua who fis this position typicay has itte or no forma training in HR management, and the position is chiefy task oriented: making sure forms are signed, fied as necessary, and meet processing requirements. In many such instances, the responsibiity of being the primary contact with the campus HR department is added to the duties of the ibrary s senior cerica support person. In cases where the ibrary reies on the campus HR department to provide necessary oversight compiance, it can request that the department designate a primary contact person for a HR matters and estabish a working reationship. Minimay, the HR contact to the ibrary must estabish a working reationship with ibrary administrative empoyee, become aware of how the ibrary is organized, and earn what kinds of issues may arise. Whie this approach ceary has merit, the empoyees report to the HR department and not to the director/dean of the ibrary. The issue with this mode is that the HR professiona wi sti evauate issues on the basis of the HR department s mission instead of the ibrary s needs. In ight of today s more compex staffing reationships on campus, many academic departments are reevauating their organizations and reaizing the advantages of having an HR speciaist. Many academic ibraries have addressed this interna administrative need by creating an in-house HR position that reports to the director of the ibrary and who aso interfaces with the various campus HR administrators. A ibrary s HR officer works with its facuty, staff, and student empoyees to coordinate a aspects of their particuar job-reated issues. Engaged in both the academic and administrative sides of the institution, these persons may ikewise be invoved in budgeting and panning and function on the management team that reports to the ibrary director. The nature of a ibrary HR officer s work varies. But a are ikey to incude certain basic functions. The ibrary HR officer is responsibe for deveoping, impementing, coordinating, and monitoring a human resource programs and processes for academic ibrarians, professiona, and cassified staff, and houry assistants. The HR officer manages human resources, incuding empoyment, cassification, saary administration, staff training and deveopment, and empoyee reations. Specific duties and responsibiities in each of the HR areas coud incude the foowing: Recruitment. Coordinate the recruitment, seection, and appointment of professiona staff and academic ibrarians, pus the recruitment of cassified staff, students, and houry assistants. Empoyment/Compensation. Monitor ibrary s saary budgets in conjunction with the ibrary financia/ administrative manager. Oversee annua saaries and houry wages for market equity. Position Administrator. Oversee the position-cassification and job-anaysis process; coordinate the performance management process, incuding evauations for ibrarians and staff. Oversee and coordinate the facuty ibrarian s tenure, retention, and promotion process. Ensure that affirmative action, equa opportunity, other federa and state reguations, and university and ibrary poicies are foowed. Training/Staff Deveopment. Deveop and oversee comprehensive ibrary empoyee orientation and empoyee training programs, incuding needs assessment, curricuum design, and evauation. Training may invove safety and security instruction as we as overseeing ibrary security operations (for exampe, emergency pans and procedures). The incumbent in the ibrary HR position may aso be a member of the director s management team. This reporting reationship ensures that HR issues are reviewed in the strategic context of the ibrary as a whoe. It is aso important that this administrative body be made aware how any decisions it makes wi affect ibrary empoyees. There is sometimes concern as to how a ibrary HR person wi fit into the campus organizationa structure. Campus HR operations generay wecome the creation of a ibrary HR functiona expert. To have a trained, knowedgeabe HR professiona overseeing the day-to-day functions at the campus ibrary enabes the institutiona HR department to work cosey with one individua to better ensure a the functiona needs of the ibrary are met according to estabished protoco, and it frees campus officias of the responsibiity of oversight. In turn, this reationship aso aows the ibrary HR officer to hande basic matters in-house, take broader ibrary issues directy to the campus HR department, and represent the eadership of the ibrary in addressing any reated issues. Creating a Library HR Position The position of ibrary HR officer can be estabished in severa ways. Two methods are probaby most common in academic ibraries. Both have distinct merits and concerns. 140 Library Administration & Management

4 First, the ibrary HR officer coud be incuded in the academic ibrarian ranks, with a the requirements and responsibiities necessary to hod an academic appointment. This woud incude a master s of ibrary science from an American Library Association accredited program (or equivaent). A second master s degree in a reated fied or substantia work experience in HR may aso be a requirement. In this case, the incumbent is accountabe to meet the promotion, retention, or tenure procedures for ibrarians, and thus wi be reviewed by peers on a predetermined time basis. Whie reporting to the ibrary director, the incumbent in the academic ranks can be terminated by a recommendation from the appropriate campus reguatory bodies. In this scenario, an issue to consider is that if the position is hed by a ibrarian with an academic appointment, the majority of the empoyees, who are not part of the facuty, may view it as being designed for the benefit of the facuty. The perception may be that decisions and recommendations wi aways fa in ine with the ibrarians, since the HR ibrarian, with an academic appointment, wi aways be mindfu of how any decision or recommendation may affect their own careers. Conversey, uness the individua in the position aready hods tenure or continuing appointment, academic coeagues wi evauate the performance, often in the anonymity of the promotion, retention, or tenure meeting. That can be probematic because coeagues who know very itte about the day-to-day HR function may participate in these processes without having any specific HR expertise, and it coud be an detriment to how some sensitive personne issues are handed. The second option is to insta someone with an administrative appointment in an FLSA exempt, professiona position. The position can be recruited for someone with specific academic training and experience in HR, preferaby in a higher education environment. The position woud be part of the director s administrative team and be responsibe for a of the in-house ibrary HR functions, incuding ibrarian recruitment. The person for this position may even come from the campus HR department, or some other HR entity. The immediate benefit of hiring someone from a campus HR department is that the ibrary administration has someone who understands the campus processes and has connections. Even if hiring from outside the university or coege, recruiting someone from esewhere with reevant HR experience is a viabe option. Another issue to consider is how the empoyees in the ibrary view this position. If the HR officer is an exempt, professiona/ administrative empoyee, the facuty ibrarians may view this position as an additiona administrator, someone not famiiar with ibrary facuty issues. The ibrarians may not appreciate a nonfacuty member having any roe in facuty issues such as promotion, retention, or tenure. It is then important to carify to the facuty that the HR officer coordinates reated facuty processes to ensure that poicy and guideines are foowed, but takes no roe in the facuty decision-making process. By contrast, the nonibrarian empoyees may view the HR officer as their voice on the director s counci and see this position as a conduit for staff information and concerns to reach ibrary administration. This reationship can be beneficia because the majority of individuas working in any academic ibrary are nonfacuty staff empoyees. Many of these empoyees can be concerned about being represented in ibrary decision making, especiay since those in contro are professiona ibrarians and may have a very different perspective on issues that reate to the ibrary as a whoe. Each option has its own merits, and the decision to fi the position in either category must depend upon the specific needs of the ibrary and institution. Here are some of the questions to consider: What is the cimate in the ibrary with respect to staff issues? Is there friction between the facuty, paraprofessiona, and administrative empoyees? What is the genera sense of trust regarding the administration by a the ibrary empoyees? Does the campus HR operation understand the needs of the ibrary and make decisions and recommendations accordingy? Does the ibrary need someone to provide strategic input for panning for the future, or is cerica and transactions support a that is needed? The reationship between the ibrary administration and the campus human resources department must aso be considered. Are the HR needs of the ibrary being met, or is there room for improvement? Concusion Library administrators must constanty assess how effective the HR function is in the ibrary. To do this, they need to assess their current needs and the cimate in their operation. One constant concern is the morae of the empoyees. Others are, what is the reationship between the ibrary administration and the facuty (professiona) empoyees? Between ibrary administration and the staff empoyees? Between facuty and staff? Aso, what is the working reationship between the ibrary and campus HR? Library eaders need to evauate the nature of the HR function in their organizations. Do they view a strategic roe for HR? Or is the function transactiona and taskoriented, providing imited input to ibrary administration and governance? If the compexities of the ever-changing HR word in higher education seem to keep the ibrary in turmoi, or if the service provided by the campus HR department is not as responsive as required, the ibrary management team may wish to ook at making some continued on page , no. 3 Summer

5 The more you practice good management skis, the better you be. Read good books and artices on management, find strategies that suit your stye, and use them. Listen to your empoyees and et them know that you care about them. If it s time to have a difficut conversation with an empoyee, practice taking to yoursef in the mirror or find a trusted coeague to work with. Know when to deegate. This demonstrates trust in another s abiity and heps deveop that person s decision-making skis. Save Your Money and Buy a Postcard This is a cever trave technique that I ve come across severa times. Do you reay think that your photo of the Eiffe Tower is going to match any postcard that you coud buy? So, if it s just a picture of the monument that you want, pay for it. On the other hand, if you fee that you ve found a particuary unusua ange that speaks to you, or if you spot a unique photo opportunity, go for it! Did a normay reiabe staff member drop the ba on a project? Find out what the circumstances were behind it and then move on (buy the postcard). On the other hand, you may need to spend a ot of time coaching an empoyee who isn t aways abe to foow through on a project. In this case, be prepared to examine different ways to motivate and encourage the empoyee. Have Fun! If photography is your hobby, you shoud enjoy it. Focus on fowers, or set up that sti ife that you ve been visuaizing for a whie. Capture some exciting cityscapes. Genuine interest wi keep you going and encourage you to continue earning. Simiary, discover the joys of management. Watching peope grow and deveop, providing opportunities for others, or managing projects a contribute to your growth, both persona and professiona. Human Resources Administration continued from page 141 changes. Athough this artice focuses soey on the roe, scope, and purpose of ibrary HR officers in academic institutions, pubic ibrary directors in arger systems face many simiar situations and may ikewise benefit from using speciaized HR administrative modes. In many cases and for many reasons, the prudent decision is often to have an in-house HR expert famiiar with the ibrary s issues. References and Notes 1. For exampe, see Simmons Weburn, Janice McNei, and Beth McNei, eds., Human Resource Management in Today s Academic Library: Meeting Chaenges and Creating Opportunities (Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unimited, 2004). 2. CUPA HR Homepage, We Are Higher Education, (accessed Mar. 13, 2008) 3. Library administrators need to be judicious in appying their uniqueness argument to the campus HR department. Whie there are indeed severa unique eements in the administration of the academic ibrary, there are many more administrative simiarities to the campus as a whoe. For an exampe of a ibrary inappropriatey appying this uniqueness argument, pease see Dennis R. Defa, Position Anaysis of Library Assistants, Library Administration & Management 9, no. 2 (Spring 1995): Leading from the Midde continued from page 149 ing poy, a pretense that the customer is important. That ack of conviction comes through in the corporate voice, and it is most obvious when staff are not given freedom to resove customer probems. When staff have to iteray stick to the script, there is no passion for customer service. There s a quote in a customer service book that Ms. Barrett gave me: When the heart is in the right pace, the ego gets out of the way. 3 Simpe and compex, it expains to me why some new ways of work catch on and why some do not. References and Notes 1. Aen B. Veaner thusy sums up business management derivates. He eaborates on the topic in his Paradigm Lost, Paradigm Regained? A Persistent Personne Issue in Academic Librarianship, II, Coege & Research Libraries 55 (Sept. 1994): Whie admittedy critica of business fads, he does not suggest that we cannot earn from business and industry or shoud not appy appropriate business techniques to managing academic ibraries. The key is in the words appropriate and proper (398). 2. Donad Trump and Bi Zanker, Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life (New York: HarperCoins, 2007). 3. Ken Banchard and Barbara Ganz, The Simpe Truths of Service Inspired by Johnny the Bagger (Napier, I.: McMian Media & Simpe Truths, 2005), Library Administration & Management