The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

CHAPTER IX
STAFFING THE LIBRARY SYSTEM
Most of the activities of the University library system have been
discussed in detail in previous chapters, and each activity implies
certain staffing needs. For the purposes of the discussion, several
categories of personnel have been either identified or implied:
• those connected with the selection and acquisition of library
materials;
• those who catalog and otherwise process the material and prepare
it for use;
• those who assist users in identifying and locating needed materials;
• those who deliver the material and otherwise assist in its use;
• those who provide information and reference service and who give
instruction in library use.
In addition to these, of course, there are personnel required for
administrative and managerial services and support, and for research in
library operations and service.
For budgetary purposes, however, the library operations of the University
have normally been divided into two broad categories, one called
acquisitions-processing, and the other called reference-circulation. The
acquisitions-processing category is conceived as including all of those
activities that vary with the rate of collection-growth: selection of
materials, purchasing, negotiation of exchanges and gifts, receipt of
materials and associated record-keeping, searching for bibliographic information
(both before and after receipt), cataloging, binding, and marking.
The reference-circulation category is seen as including those activities
that vary with the population served: circulating materials and providing
for their use, teaching the techniques of library use and bibliographical
research, answering reference inquiries, assisting graduate students and
faculty in their research, and providing both traditional and innovative