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You are invited to participate in an online survey about the role of paraprofessionals in technical services in academic libraries. This survey is intended for both professionals and paraprofessionals who are working in technical services in academic libraries. For this survey, a professional position is defined as a position requiring a master's degree in library science/information science or equivalent. A paraprofessional position is defined as a position not requiring a master's degree in library science/information science or equivalent. Typical paraprofessional positions include library associates, library clerks, library assistants, library technicians, library paraprofessionals, or library support staff. Paraprofessional positions could also be management positions, such as unit heads, supervisors, and coordinators.

For this survey, "technical services" is defined as library functional areas that are responsible for selecting, acquiring, organizing, processing, and providing access to library collections in all formats, as opposed to the delivery of public services. Typical technical services functional areas include collection development, cataloging, acquisitions, electronic resources management, physical processing, serials (print, electronic, microform, tec.), documents, and preservation. In some libraries, technical services functional areas are centralized and belong to one unit/department/division; in some libraries, technical services functional areas are not centralized and belong to different units/departments/divisions. This survey applies to both centralized and non-centralized technical services.

Library literature noted that more and more complex duties were assigned to library paraprofessionals in technical services in academic libraries. The purpose of this survey is to identify the type of complex duties assigned to paraprofessionals in technical services in academic libraries and to what extent paraprofessionals perform library work that has been considered professional.

Responding to this survey constitutes informed consent to participating in the research. The survey is voluntary, and you may withdraw from it at any time. All responses will be kept confidential and anonymous. The results of this survey are intended for publication.

The survey will remain open until February 18, 2011. It should take around 30 minutes to complete. Please feel free to forward this survey to any librarian or staff who is working in technical services in academic libraries.

To access the online survey, please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PRFNQ5K

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lihong Zhu, Head of Technical Services, Washington State University, email: lzhu2@wsu.edu.

Thank you for your participation.