Paraprofessionals at the Reference Desk

"It has been suggested that to [use paraprofessionals to staff the reference desk] weakens our role as professionals, cheapens the value of an MLS degree, and has a dampening influence on professional salaries.(FN2) Furthermore, as noted in a recent Library Trends article, some librarians fear that the public will not be well served when paraprofessionals are on duty because, "The paraprofessional may not have the appropriate judgment to refer the reader to a professional librarian for further help or may not be able to distinguish a complex question from a simple one."(FN3) Countering this attitude is the belief that our professional status is actually cheapened "when we try to validate it by closing our institutions or organizations to other classes of library workers" and that "librarians have always done too much posturing about their professionalism."(FN4) Some librarians point out that "the MLS should not constitute a barrier to advancement and that librarianship ought to be competency, rather than degree, based."(FN5) Also, it is argued that properly trained paraprofessionals, by answering the bulk of repetitive and routine questions, free librarians to focus on more difficult tasks.(FN6) These tasks may include, for example, sophisticated information retrieval, long range planning, policy making, program implementation, program evaluation, budgeting, and resource sharing."

Understandably, most (but not all) librarians with the MLS/MLIS degree tend to hold that the degree is a necessary condition for being a librarian, while many non-MLIS librarians (again, not all) who have worked the reference desk for years and are very skilled at what they do, tend to think otherwise.

What do you think? Do librarians de-value their degree and professional status by having paraprofessionals staff the reference desk? Are we, in effect, saying "anyone" can do our job? Do the patrons lose out? Or, is there more than one path to librarianship? Can someone without the degree perform just as well and provide the same quality of service?

Further Reading:

Author(s): Courtney, Nancy.
Title: Evaluating the use of paraprofessionals at the reference desk at the University of Dayton
Source: College & Undergraduate Libraries v. 8 no1 (2001) p. 27-35
Standard No: ISSN: 1069-1316

Notes from a not so "humble" observer.
Author: Wilkerson, Laura M.
Source: Library Journal (1976) v. 126 no12 (July 2001) p. 60 ISSN: 0363-0277

Crossing over: from para to professional.
Author: Adler, Sara.
Source: Library Mosaics v. 12 no4 (July/Aug. 2001) p. 14-15 ISSN: 1054-9676

Author(s): Berry, John N.
Title: "Professional" is only a label. acknowledging support staff
Source: Library Journal (1976) v. 120 (July

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