Better Salaries through Better Data: Introduction to the ARL Salary Survey webcast
In this webcast held on March 5, 2013, Martha Kyrillidou and Shaneka Morris of ARL's Statistics and Assessment program describe how to effectively use data from the ARL Annual Salary Survey to promote higher salaries for library professionals. They highlight salary comparisons from a number of perspectives, including geographic region, type of library (public/private), rank structure, and position categories. The webcast also touches on the history of the ARL Annual Salary Survey and its data collection approach, provides information on the utility of the salary information in the annual ARL publication, and discusses some key changes made to modernize the job categories to reflect current job titles.
New Roles for New Times: Research Library Services for Graduate Students
The report proposes that the growing number, and heterogeneity, of graduate students and programs presents opportunities for research libraries to provide segmented services targeted for students at different stages of their academic and demographic life-cycle.
Through their interviews, Covert-Vail and Collard found an enthusiasm for a broad range of new services, from advanced data manipulation and visualization to softer skills-based instruction in time management and writer’s block. They also report that new configurations of library space, housing aggregated services into research or scholarly commons, for example, can both create and leverage collaborations within the larger institution.
Finally, the authors present different strategies for staffing graduate student services, from dedicated positions and committees to more loosely structured teams comprising subject liaisons, technologists, data librarians, and others, who work together to deliver a suite of complex solutions to meet the needs of graduate students in research institutions.