continuing education in the scholarly continuum: back to school with publishers, librarians, and...

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Ana Arias Terry

The ultimate goals of academic and professionalpublisher and librarian communities are to develop,distribute, and discuss research. Other objectives in-clude furthering learning, teaching students how toconduct valid research, and disseminating scholar-ship, whether the topic in question is theoretical orpractical. But how do these adherents to scholarshipeducate their own staff in cutting-edge publishingstandards and practices, copyright developments,next-stage hardware and software versions, new au-tomation programs, the nuances of online searching,advances in training and customer service, and thelatest developments in management techniques?

In the past two decades, the winds of change haveswept the information world with particular ferocity.The Internet changed the marketplace’s perceptionsof information and scholarship; librarians, publish-ers, aggregators, subscription agents, and other ven-dors have been challenged to stay relevant in thefast-paced and rapidly consolidating electronic uni-verse. Now more than ever, continuing education isan imperative—a defining professional moment—for librarians, publishers, and other institutions inthe scholarly community, and at both the manage-ment and nonmanagement levels.

A vital first step in educating and training profes-sionals is a thorough immersion in their organiza-tion’s work. All the training in the world is useless if

Terry

is Vice President, Informed Strategies, 633 SouthCollege Avenue, Suite F, Fort Collins, CO 80524; e-mail:[email protected].

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staff are not taught how their particular duties affectthe health of their organization and are not given anopportunity to internalize, analyze, and fully under-stand the business that their organization is in. Jobperformance improves dramatically when individu-als understand the contribution they make in thelarger context of their business, since they under-stand the value that they add. A well-informed andeducated staff also is vital for recruitment and reten-tion of skilled professionals, as well as to customersatisfaction.

The thesis of this article is that continuing educa-tion, professional development, and ongoing train-ing needs within information organizations and li-braries should be of equal importance with thepromotion of scholarship to those in the researchcommunity. To test this assumption, the author inter-viewed a sample of publishers, librarians (academic,research, and corporate), serials aggregators, librarysystems vendors, and subscription agents to discusstheir organizations’ commitment to continuing edu-cation. I selected representatives on the basis oftheir extensive knowledge of educational and pro-fessional development initiatives within their insti-tutions. A related tenet is that organizations alongthe scholarly continuum may have an unprecedentedopportunity to cross train and cross educate eachother in similar skill sets and market awareness ob-jectives. The article identifies synergies among theinterviewed organizations’ training efforts, as well asopportunities for shared resources in continuing ed-ucation. It also provides an overview of the types ofeducational and training policies and programs thatexist to encourage continuing education and devel-opment of information industry and academic li-brary employees. Additionally, the rationale for thepolicies and programs in place and the level of insti-tutional commitment are considered.

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In 1997, the National Federation of Abstracting andInformation Services (NFAIS) surveyed twenty-twoof its members—database producers, CD-ROM pro-ducers, online services, and information consultants—about their support of professional development. Asreported by Wicks,

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most of the responding organi-zations offered some form of educational reimburse-ment. Annual employee allotments for continuingeducation ranged from $1,200 to $2,500. Wicks’ ca-

reer guide noted, “A focus on continuing professionaldevelopment was often reported by the respondents.Most of the information organizations support con-tinuing education—a necessary step in an industrymarked by fast-paced technological advances andnew delivery channels.”

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The NFAIS survey found on-the-job training pro-grams to be the norm in the electronic informationindustry. “Because of the specialized nature of thisform of secondary/A&I publishing, most informa-tion organizations deploy significant resources to-wards hands-on training of new employees. Trainingis an organized and ongoing effort.”

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The types oftraining mentioned included editorial policies andstandards, database production, orientation to thecorporate culture, management development, teambuilding, time management, whole-record process-ing, and supervised abstracting and indexing train-ing. Ongoing seminars and in-service training for jobdevelopment were also reported.

Beyond this survey, a literature search on thetopic of continuing education among publishers, ag-gregators, agents, and library service vendors turnedup relatively few hits. Most organizations along thescholarly continuum have highly developed but in-dividualized training programs and—as revealed bythe NFAIS survey—a healthy commitment to con-tinuing education. However, these organizations arenot publishing conference papers, white papers, orjournal articles on the topic. Perhaps the paucity ofliterature on continuing education in the publishingsector is an indication of the proprietary nature ofthese training programs as well as the uniquenessof each organization’s systems operations.

Outside the office, publishing and related enter-prises advance their professional knowledge by at-tending industry conferences and educational coursesoffered by information industry trade groups and as-sociations. Lisa M. Dellwo,

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associate marketingmanager and director of publicity at the Universityof North Carolina Press, noted that “The scholarlypublishing world provides ample training opportu-nities for relative newcomers to the field. In NorthAmerica, both the Society for Scholarly Publishing(SSP) and the Association of American UniversityPresses (AAUP) offer annual and regional meetingsin which the sessions generally consist of experi-enced professionals passing on specific knowledge toless experienced staff members” (p. 241).

Dellwo continued, “But as people become moreexperienced in publishing, the formal training op-

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portunities dry up.” Recognizing this gap in educa-tion, in the mid-1990s the AAUP developed a week-in-residence program designed for middle- andsenior-level publishing staff at society presses. Oper-ating on the assumption that these experienced pro-fessionals already had command of basic skills, theresidence program focused on an advanced ex-change of ideas and strategies to benefit the partici-pants. The hosts of the program reported experienc-ing a valuable give-and-take with participants andgaining fresh perspectives on how they did their jobs.

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The library journal literature is rife with examplesof continuing education programs and needs assess-ment studies among academic, corporate, and re-search libraries. In 1990, an entire issue of

ReferenceLibrarian

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was devoted to the topic of continuing ed-ucation for reference librarians. In a mid-1990s arti-cle,

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Donna E. Cromer, coordinator for referenceservices at the Centennial Science and EngineeringLibrary (CSEL), University of New Mexico, andAndrea R. Testi, science and engineering collectiondevelopment coordinator, also at the University ofNew Mexico, said, “Dynamic and effective referencelibrarians are the single most important factor in en-suring quality reference services in any library. . . .Patron demands and heightened expectations add tothe volatility of the reference environment. It is im-perative for reference librarians to keep up; in fact,that should be number one on any list of job respon-sibilities” (p. 51). The authors estimated that withinten to twelve years of receiving their formal profes-sional education, most librarians become approxi-mately half as competent to meet demands of theirprofession as they were upon graduation.

“Cultivating an atmosphere of life-long learning,continuing education, and self-evaluation for refer-ence personnel is essential to responding to and an-ticipating change,” according to Cromer and Testi.

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Because of the time constraints experienced by busyreference librarians, those authors proposed a morerealistic approach: a continuing education programintegrated into existing reference desk roles and re-sponsibilities. They described such a program inplace at the University of New Mexico’s CSEL. It in-corporated formalized training, reference sourcelists, knowledge transfer from partners at the refer-ence desk, reference collection tutorial sessions, sub-ject-specific projects (physical properties data andlife sciences species identification), and subject-related hands-on exercises in reference sources. Thelibrary periodically surveyed the reference staff to

assess the effectiveness of this wide-ranging continu-ing education effort.

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As already indicated, much of the research in con-tinuing education and professional development oflibrarians targets needs assessment and motivation.In 1998, an article in

Emergency Librarian

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reportedthat teacher-librarians are motivated to pursue con-tinuing professional education by a desire to gainnew knowledge and skills, particularly through meet-ing and consultation with colleagues. A 1988–89study

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of 731 professional and paraprofessional li-brarians in the programs of the North Carolina Li-brary Staff Development Program examined thereasons given for those librarians’ participation incontinuing education programs. The four underlyingcomponents for participation were described as (1)personal concerns, (2) patron service, (3) collegiality,and (4) professional competence.

In 1981, the Southeastern Pennsylvania AreaContinuing Education (SPACE) Council conducteda survey of 141academic and public libraries, infor-mation centers, and media centers in southeasternPennsylvania to identify library continuing educa-tion priorities for both professional and nonprofes-sional staff.

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An analysis of the responses indicatedthat librarians from all types of libraries consideredcontinuing education important but felt that theirneeds were not being met by current programs. Thecontinuing education courses deemed most usefulby professional librarians were those that taught ex-ecutive, personnel, and management skills. Amongthe paraprofessional library workers surveyed, thedevelopment of people skills (public service abili-ties) was the priority in continuing education. Ques-tions about scheduling, format, and location of con-tinuing education programs revealed that all of thesefactors have an effect on attendance rates, with dis-tance and meeting times the principal deterrents toparticipation.

A 1979 survey of librarians and library directorsat Southeastern Community College in Florida sup-ported similar findings.

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The participants’ first choicefor continuing education activities was two- or three-day workshops held within a 100-mile radius of thecommunity college; they expected library associa-tions or local universities to sponsor continuing ed-ucation activities. Taking its continuing educationcharge to heart, in 1986 the Special Libraries Asso-ciation (SLA) commissioned a survey of its mem-bers to determine whether they participated in con-tinuing education activities, and, if so, the types of

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programs they preferred.

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The SLA found thatrespondents were active participants in continuingeducation programs, especially those dealing withonline database searching and those sponsored bythe SLA.

A significant number of museum, arts, and hu-manities (MAH) librarians participate in continuingeducation programs, according to a 1988 study of arandom sample (148) of this specialized librariangroup (a submembership of the SLA).

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Nonethe-less, the respondents reported lack of fiscal support,scarcity of suitable topics, and difficulty in arrangingtime off from work as deterrents to taking full ad-vantage of such programs. The MAH librarians ex-pressed the need for continuing education programsin specific subject areas such as preservation. Theyalso indicated an interest in joint continuing educa-tion enterprises from library schools, professionalassociations, and agencies such as libraries, archives,and museums that pool resources and knowledge.

The most popular means of staff developmentamong health sciences librarians is through personalcoaching or training by other library personnel. Themajority of these librarians acquire their specializedskills on the job. Findings of a national survey of 102health sciences librarians in 1990

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revealed enthusi-asm for the Medical Library Association (MLA) andthe National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) continu-ing education courses. Among the primary con-tinuing education needs reported by respondentswere instruction on the nomenclature of the fieldand subject background knowledge.

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To date, research on continuing education largely hasbeen segmented among specific groups—referencelibrarians, institutions, and geographic locations. Theliterature reports on circumscribed studies in thelarger context of scholarship. To broaden the focusto include institutions in the complete scholarlyspectrum—publishers, librarians (academic, research,and corporate), subscription agents, serials aggrega-tors, and library system vendors—the author con-ducted one-on-one, e-mail interviews with represen-tatives from a sampling of these institutions.

I approached the representatives from variousfactions in the scholarly continuum to answer severalquestions about their continuing education practices(see Appendix I and Appendix II for a listing of the

questions). The questions probed each organiza-tion’s general approach to continuing education, thetypes of training and staff development opportuni-ties available (both formal and informal), the inter-viewee’s personal experience with training, and theorganization’s annual budgets for continuing educa-tion activities per employee. The e-mail interviewswere designed to gather up-to-date, meaningful in-formation about each organization’s commitment tocontinuing education and professional development.

I received responses from three publishers, theAmerican Psychological Association, CambridgeScientific Abstracts, and Emerald (formerly MCBUniversity Press). Responses also came from twouniversity librarians, one from New York UniversityLibraries and the other from Georgia State Univer-sity Library. In addition, two corporate librarians—one from Dow Chemical Company Business Intelli-gence Center and the other from Sun Microsystems’SunLibrary—provided input on their continuing ed-ucation activities. Finally, I solicited feedback from asubscription agent, EBSCO Information Services;a serials aggregator, RoweCom; and a library auto-mation systems vendor, Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

The criteria that I used to select the interviewsubjects—representatives from various scholarlyorganizations—included the subjects’ depth of knowl-edge about continuing education practices and pol-icies of their organizations. The interview responsesare reported in the following section, and continu-ing education findings and trends that emergedfrom these responses are analyzed in the Discus-sion section.

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American Psychological Association (APA)

Based in Washington, DC, the APA is a scientific andprofessional organization that represents psycholo-gists in the United States. The association is involvedin both primary and secondary publishing, amongother member services. It is renowned for itsPsycINFO database: an abstract database of psycho-logical literature from 1887 to the present. The APA’sposition on educational/professional developmentand training for staff is to provide opportunities foreveryone, no matter their job level. Financial assis-tance for educational activities is not tied to an em-

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ployee’s job, and employees are not required to re-main with the organization for a certain period oftime to take advantage of continuing education.However, the tuition reimbursement policy requiresthat if employees voluntarily depart within threemonths of completing coursework paid for by APA,they reimburse the organization.

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Although APA has a small Human Resources De-partment, two staff members are devoted to trainingactivities. They manage internal training opportuni-ties and make recommendations on external courses.Human Resources is charged with administering aformal professional development program to pro-vide options for a staff of approximately 500 to at-tend workshops, training seminars, or conferences tohone their skills and increase their knowledge inbusiness, professional, technical, or other areas. Thisprofessional development program is offered in ad-dition to conferences that program units budget forand expect employees to attend, such as meetings ofthe SSP or the Council of Science Editors (CSE).Employees are eligible to participate in the formalprofessional development program after completingthe association’s initial probationary period.

“APA takes a very active role in providing accessto education and training for all staff, regardless ofposition or job,” said Linda Beebe, senior directorof PsycINFO. “Through professional development,employees can become more effective in their cur-rent jobs or enhance their opportunity for advance-ment within the association.”

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In addition to the professional development pro-gram that includes continuing education options, theHuman Resources Department offers monthly in-house training programs, including many optional,full-day events. The department’s fall 2000 coursecatalog included such courses as “Recruiting Skills,”“Projecting a Professional Image,” “KnowledgeManagement,” “Effective Communication,” “Profes-sional and Technical Writing,” and “Negotiation Skills.”

Employees who are not on performance-relatedprobation and have been with the APA for at leastsix months are eligible for tuition assistance as longas they enroll in courses at an accredited college orinstitution and receive a grade of C or better; coursesdo not need to be job related. In 2000, the maximumreimbursement level for tuition assistance alone was$1,200 per person per year; for 2001, the amount in-creased to $2,000 per employee per year.

The APA provides external training courses ifmanagers request that a number of staff members in

their areas be provided with specific skill or contenttraining—for example, HTML coding. According toBeebe, individual units are expected to offer bothon-the-job and refresher training. For example, theAPA provides a regular course of training for ab-stractors and indexers supplemented by a thoroughtraining manual, followed by refresher training.

Commenting largely on the PsycINFO section ofthe APA, Beebe shared insights into the value of aneducated workforce. “In this increasingly competi-tive environment, we need to continue to improveour products and the speed with which we deliverthem. Therefore, we need skilled and knowledge-able staff who are excited about what they’re doingand are eager to contribute their talents. It is increas-ingly difficult, particularly for a non-profit organiza-tion, to attract and retain trained people with tech-nical skills. Providing training gives them the skillsneeded to ‘grow’ into new responsibilities, and wehope they will also feel a greater commitment to theorganization.”

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Presenting a nonmanagement, operations per-spective, Lyndsey Curtis, documentation specialist/webmaster for PsycINFO User Services, thinks theopportunities that the APA offers are vital to stayingcurrent, indicating that the “APA is very supportiveof professional development and educational oppor-tunities. Given the many new developments in com-puter hardware and software and other technology,I think computer training is imperative to keepingstaff skills current.”

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Curtis said she has benefitedfrom in-house computer software training providedby the APA’s Management Information Systems(MIS) Department and other types of training of-fered through the Human Resources Department.

Through the training she has received at the APA,as well as the support she has received to attendclasses, Curtis believes that her capacity to performher day-to-day duties has improved significantly andfeels more qualified to perform her job. Curtis alsobelieves that some courses she has taken have hadimplications beyond the workplace: “I took a classon time management offered by a Franklin-Coveyrepresentative, and I benefited from it greatly, prob-ably more so in my personal life.”

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Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA)

CSA is a privately held information company lo-cated in Bethesda, Maryland, with offices in HongKong, France, and the United Kingdom. For over

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thirty years the company has been publishing ab-stracts and indexes to scientific and technical researchliterature. The types of opportunities available toCSA employees are similar in form to those offeredby the APA. This secondary publisher promotes edu-cation and training through providing monetary sup-port for continuing education, reimbursement forhigher education courses, and funding to attend rele-vant conferences and seminars. In addition, manystaff members take advantage of regularly sched-uled, internal cross-training sessions to ensure theylearn other aspects of the business and can step intoother functions and provide support as needed.

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The company actively encourages employees totake advantage of continuing education opportuni-ties, and training is a line item in nearly all depart-ment budgets. A key motivation to encourage staffto capitalize on available opportunities is that well-trained employees are better prepared to communi-cate effectively with customers. In fact, it is this com-petitive advantage that drives CSA’s commitment toan educated workforce. “A particularly difficultchallenge in today’s rapidly changing technologicalenvironment is simply keeping pace,” said MattDunie, president of CSA, “not just with the technol-ogy, but with the products it spawns. New productsare being released almost daily into our core mar-kets, and we must stay current to continue to pro-duce products that our customers want and, in fact,lead the market.”

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Dunie explained that CSA’s entire managementteam—from sales and marketing to editorial andaccounting—is responsible for knowing their mar-ket. Even positions typically defined as “internal”have customer awareness objectives built into theirjob descriptions. This mandate enables the staff tokeep current on as many new developments andchallenges as possible. CSA also has a staff of edu-cators who are responsible for training customers touse CSA products; this same team also is responsiblefor alerting the company about perceived marketneeds for product enhancements as well as newproducts.

If no internal expertise is available to handle thenew developments or challenges that the companyidentifies as important, CSA brings in external ex-perts to brief relevant staff. In cases where no exter-nal expert can be readily identified for a particularissue—especially one that may have a long-term im-pact for its business—CSA develops internal staff tobecome experts.

For CSA, success is closely linked to an educatedstaff that understands the needs of the market. “Aneducated workforce is as important as the veracity ofour products and what we promote. It doesn’t matterhow good development is, how useful the product,how helpful the staff,” said Dunie. “What matters isthat the organization understands its role and therole of the business relative to customer require-ments. In order to do that, we do our best to providethe knowledge necessary within the company to com-municate effectively across departmental boundariesand customer-vendor lines.”

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Emerald (formerly MCB University Press)

An international publisher of academic and profes-sional titles in the field of management and engi-neering, Emerald is a privately owned companybased in Bradford, United Kingdom. It currentlypublishes over 100 journals. Professional develop-ment and continuing education and training havebeen key to Emerald’s objectives since the com-pany’s inception more than thirty years ago. Pro-grams that support this culture include action-basedlearning, internal and external training, and formaldegreed education. “We have driven growth, cul-tural change, and change management through de-velopment and learning opportunities provided tostaff. Learning in the workplace is supported bothinformally and through formal development pro-grams. It is intrinsic within Emerald,” said KathrynToledano, director of Business Development. “Wefrequently re-examine practices, procedures, andpolicies to ensure that these reflect the businessneeds of the organization and the development ofindividuals.”

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Professional development and skills-based train-ing are treated as separate but related functionswithin Emerald. With regard to skills, managersdevelop a Human Relations Development (HRD)plan that they review with their employees twice ayear. The objective is to assess critical businessneeds and match them with the training and devel-opment needs of staff. Managers encourage em-ployees to identify their own learning and skill de-velopment needs. Skills training typically falls intothree categories:

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the use and development of technologies andsystems

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management roles (e.g., appraisal training).

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Both external and internal training opportunitiesare offered.

Emerald encourages its employees to attend for-mal development programs run internally by eitherother experienced staff or by external expertsbrought in-house and run externally by accreditedbusiness bodies. The company offers internal Busi-ness Awareness Sessions (BASs) that consist of pre-sentations by a staff member or a team of employees,which are open to all other employees. These sessionsfocus on the company-wide dissemination of informa-tion about topics such as the role of a specific depart-ment or insights gained by staff working directly withcustomers, markets, and authors. Staff also may makepresentations about new technologies, relevant stan-dards, and recommendations gleaned from attendingconferences. Finally, the sessions are used to informstaff about new initiatives, especially those related toin-house and competitors’ electronic developments.

Emerald supports its staff pursuing formal MBAprograms, and it provides an internal skills-based andprofessional development program entitled

Et Stel-las Educamus

(ESE), which, translated from Latin,means “developing stars.” Core modules are offeredover a twelve-month period; trained staff determinethe content based on an assessment of business needs.Examples of the modules include team and valuechain management, market and strategic knowledge,and leadership skills. During various phases of theprogram, librarians, subscription agents, and authorsare invited to offer their insights on supply chainneeds and how Emerald can best serve these.

ESE was recently recognized for its scope, rigor,and effectiveness, and was instrumental in the com-pany being granted the Investors in People (IiP)Award. IiP is the national standard in the UnitedKingdom for effective investment in people. The stan-dard was established in 1990 in collaboration with theUnited Kingdom’s leading business, employee, andtraining organizations. It recognizes organizationsthat have established good practices for improving acompany’s performance through its people, that en-courage excellence in that development process, andthat create a culture of ongoing improvement.

Among Emerald’s numerous learning opportuni-ties are participation in cross-functional task forces,special project assignments based on scholarly prin-ciples applied to actual business situations, and inter-national assignments. Staff are given free access to thecompany’s database products to stay current with re-search and trends in Emerald’s core publishing areas.

As with CSA, Emerald believes that to remaincompetitive, everyone in the company must under-stand the big picture. “The challenge within theknowledge industry is immense. It is not sufficientfor market knowledge, customer intelligence, tech-nological advances, etc., to be explored and under-stood by the managers and directors,” Toledano ex-plained. “It is imperative that staff throughoutEmerald also gains this understanding to ensure thatthe business can rise to that challenge.”

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Cathie Spivey, business development coordina-tor, has first-hand experience of Emerald’s trainingand development initiatives. “I have partaken in anumber of training and development opportunitiesduring the eight years I have worked for Emerald.These range from job-specific training—such ascourses on project management, market analysis,software training, and presentation skills—to careerdevelopment programs such as ESE. The skills-based training has been invaluable in assisting mewith completing the ‘job-in-hand,’ whereas the de-velopment programs have helped to evolve my man-agement competencies and given me the confidenceto develop my career within the company. Withoutsuch opportunities, my career would not have pro-gressed in the direction that it has.”

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Emerald’s management is convinced that its suc-cess is directly attributable to its educated team ofprofessionals. They believe that the company as awhole must be able to demonstrate that staff have agood understanding of the issues facing the knowl-edge industry and that they can provide solutionsthat customers expect. Staff must ensure strategic ef-fectiveness while providing operational efficiency. Inmanagement’s eyes, continuing education requirescontinuous assessment, review, and the ability to im-plement change company wide. It also represents anongoing challenge that requires an educated, enthu-siastic workforce. “Maintaining our commitment toskills training and personal management develop-ment is paramount,” added Toledano. “We could notdo what we do without investing in our staff—it’s assimple as that. We need motivated, educated think-ers and deliverers, and that’s what we’ve got.”

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New York University (NYU)

NYU, located in the Greenwich Village neighbor-hood of New York City, is a university of higher

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learning with an international reputation. The ElmerHolmes Bobst Library houses the university’s maincollections serving its Washington Square programs;the library has a circulating collection of 2.5 millionvolumes that grows by 50,000 volumes annually. Dr.Michael Stoller, director of collections and researchservices at the NYU Libraries, commented, “NewYork University Libraries has a long history of sup-port for professional development and continuingeducation for its staff. Indeed, on my first day ofwork last January, much of the library staff was at-tending a three-day management training seminar.”28

This support for professional development in-cludes attendance at a wide range of conferences andother professional meetings in job-oriented fields.The former includes general-interest conferencessuch as those of the American Library Association(ALA), Association of College and Research Li-braries (ACRL), and the International Federationof Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).The latter pertains to more focused, subject-orientedconferences for the libraries’ bibliographers andother subject specialists. NYU Libraries’ staff haveattended a wide range of management training, andthe libraries have actively supported staff participa-tion in initiatives such as the Association of Re-search Libraries’ (ARL’s) LibQual, a study identify-ing new measures of library quality.

In Stoller’s view, an educated workforce servestwo parallel needs at NYU. “On the one hand, our li-brarians are faculty, and so ongoing professional ed-ucation is fundamental to their participation in thetenure process. On the other hand, an academic li-brary setting requires a library staff capable of inter-acting with faculty and students who have very highexpectations. Professionals must be both well versedin the skills of library management and experts in thefields of study in which they are building collections,providing reference service, or cataloging librarymaterials. It’s therefore essential that they be able toexperience the finest training in both their libraryskills and in the academic disciplines they service.”29

Georgia State University (GSU)

A leading research university located in the heart ofdowntown Atlanta, Georgia State University’s mainlibrary is the William Russell Pullen Library. It fea-tures extensive electronic and print collections.GSU supports educational and professional de-velopment options for the library faculty and staff.

“Specifically, we support developing skills and con-tinuing education that assist faculty and staff indoing their primary job responsibilities,” said RogerPresley, associate university librarian for resourcemanagement.30

Georgia State offers three categories of relevanttravel assistance:

• Administrative travel relates to specific job re-sponsibilities within library administration and isfully funded whenever possible. These may in-volve such library functions as collection acquisi-tions and transfer, donor cultivation and develop-ment, and outreach to primary user groups.

• Support for training is considered when a libraryprofessional’s or paraprofessional’s attendanceor participation at a conference, workshop, class,or seminar is deemed to offer an overall benefitto the library or a department, or when it hasstrong relevance to the staff member’s primaryjob responsibilities. In this category, beginningprofessionals, staff with new job responsibilitiesor who are working with new technologies, and li-brarians learning about new developments intheir areas of primary responsibility are givenmore substantial support.

• The third category, scholarship and professionalservice travel, covers a portion of a staff mem-ber’s expenses to attend meetings to encouragegreater participation in professional events. Theamount of funding provided is determined by theextent of the staff member’s participation or re-sponsibilities at the event. In support of scholar-ship, activities that are considered for funding in-clude invited papers and presentations; postersession presentations; participation on panels orserving as a commentator, moderator, or sessionchair; and research-related travel. In support ofprofessional service, partial funding is availableto support staff who are appointed or elected of-ficers of a professional organization and/or whohave primary responsibilities for, or are servingon, committees, sections, or roundtables. Staffmembers who receive funding for these kinds ofactivities are encouraged to share what they learnwith colleagues through the distribution of hand-outs or informal lunch sessions.

Other professional development and educationalopportunities at Georgia State include release timefor a wide range of classes offered by the university’s

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Human Resources Department and the ComputerCenter. These may include training in computer andsoftware skills, supervision and time management,and stress reduction. Library faculty and staff arealso able to take university courses tuition free.

The library at Georgia State is committed to on-going support for travel and continuing training andeducation activities for its faculty and staff. As doesNYU, Georgia State believes in the need to ensurethat libraries are staffed with well-educated andhighly skilled employees. “Having an educated, well-trained faculty and staff are crucial to the library’smission and the fulfillment of its strategic initia-tives,” said Presley.31

Dow Chemical Company Business Intelligence Center

The Dow Chemical Company is a leading scienceand technology company with annual sales of $30billion and approximately 50,000 employees. It pro-vides chemical, plastic, and agricultural productsand services to consumer markets in more than 170countries. The company’s Business Intelligence Cen-ter serves the information needs of Dow’s marketingprofessionals, scientists, and researchers. Staff at theDow Chemical Company are encouraged to takepart in conferences and appropriate training in theirareas of expertise, explained Nancy Cundiff, leader,Content Development and Delivery.32 The companyalso has an annual meeting that brings together all ofits employees from around the world. “During thismeeting we invite guest speakers from the industryto keep us up-to-date with new developments.Training is often provided on-site by vendors,” shecommented.33

Cundiff described the company’s continuing edu-cation culture: “Our corporation has a very strongeducational drive and provides many opportunitiesfor employees to take part in a wide variety of inter-nal training on such things as team building, effectivework habits, goal setting and accomplishment, andmuch more. These classes are offered at almost all ofour sites around the world.”34 From her own experi-ence participating in professional development ini-tiatives, Cundiff has broadened her skill set and im-proved her effectiveness as an employee. Advancedtraining and education have helped her keep abreastof new ways to use information tools so that she candeliver better, higher-quality results to business cen-ter clients.

Cundiff summed up the impact of continuing ed-ucation on the success of the business intelligencecenter: “Continuing education allows us to be moreprogressive—to look at new ways of analyzing datausing tools such as text mining software. It also pro-vides us with the skills to bring the most up-to-datedesktop resources to our clients so that they can bemore self-sufficient. We communicate learning op-portunities that we have taken advantage of so thatthey know we are bringing them the best qualitywork possible.”35

Sun Microsystems’ SunLibrary

Founded in 1982, Sun Microsystems is a leading pro-vider of industrial hardware, software, and servicesthat power the Internet. With $17.6 billion in annualrevenues, Sun has a presence in more than 170 coun-tries. The executive management believes the com-pany’s knowledge base is a unique asset to the orga-nization, and has a policy of supporting ongoingprofessional development for everyone. The theoryis that continuous learning supports continuousleading-edge development of products and services,explained Cindy Hill, manager, SunLibrary.36 “It ismy philosophy that our group needs to constantly re-fine their existing skills and knowledge and acquirenew skills and knowledge,” she said. “In practice, thismeans that every staff member has an annual Learn-ing Action Plan (LAP) that encompasses at least twoareas that they would like to develop. A[n] LAP canhave many components to it, including conferenceparticipation, in-house learning events, mentoring,learning-while-doing, Web- and in-class training,reading, etc.” Specific learning and training opportu-nities are selected based upon the individual’s ownlearning style. Staff have the opportunity to selectfrom internal or external training opportunities.

In the last five years, the staff at SunLibrary havedeveloped or extended their knowledge and skills ina number of areas. Some examples of ways in whichSunLibrary staff are assisting other business areasinclude

• Knowledge Management and Sharing. The staffare currently working with several Sun teams asconsultants and advisors to their newly formingknowledge management programs.

• Web Usability. Staff are advising various Sun Webteams on how to determine usability parameters.

• Content Management. The staff are a core mem-

– CONTINUING EDUCATION IN THE SCHOLARLY CONTINUUM – VOL. 27, NO. 3/4, 2001 71

bers of the corporate Content Management Teamfor the Employee Portal Project.

• Training and Education. Staff are teaching othershow to identify, select, and use primary and sec-ondary resources in their research phases.

Another skill that has been enhanced or acquiredby Hill’s group is that of negotiation; they use it tonegotiate contracts, the scope of internal projects,and services. The group also has been trained in pre-sentation skills for effectively presenting to bothsmall and large audiences with prepared and ad hocinformation, as well as in taxonomy.

Sun does not budget a predetermined dollaramount or training allowance hours per employee.Management evaluates and selects learning eventsas needed or desired by the individual. The overalldirection of the LAP is determined on an annual ba-sis. Every year Hill budgets for at least one profes-sional conference attendance for every masters-degreed staff member (including travel and expensescosts), plus assorted local external learning events(such as local library association chapter meetings)as well as internal learning events (SunU classes andcourses). The technical staff are eligible to attend na-tional conferences, but “Unfortunately there rarelyis anything that is relevant to their responsibili-ties,”37 observed Hill. However, technical staff mem-bers do participate in many SunU and other internallearning events that are more germane to their areasof responsibilities.

BUSINESSES

EBSCO Information Services

EBSCO Information Services offers integrated in-formation management through subscription ser-vices, reference databases, and online journals.Based in Birmingham, AL, the company has been inthe subscription business for more than fifty years. Ithas thirty-two offices in twenty-one countries. LeighMarie Lunn, public relations manager, EBSCO In-formation Services, discussed continuing educationopportunities at the subscription agency. “We offerinternal and external classes for managers. Inter-nally, we have our quarterly ‘Rookie Manager Train-ing’ class and occasional Human Resources–typeclasses such as interviewing skills.”38 Externally, thecompany uses the University of Alabama School ofContinuing Studies for its Management Certificate

Program and Master Management Program. Inaddition, EBSCO Information Services and otherEBSCO divisions outsource their management-training requirements, using local universities andprivate companies.

For nonmanagement staff, EBSCO offers a vari-ety of classes to help improve job skills. Most of theseclasses are taught by EBSCO’s in-house trainingstaff. They offer basic computer classes such as Mi-crosoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, and MicrosoftExcel. In addition, they provide classes on customerservice, basic business writing, and time management.

Lunn is currently participating in an on-site com-munication skills class that is facilitated by an out-side company. “We are learning how to be better lis-teners and to communicate clearly in our jobs. Ibelieve that this class will be very beneficial to me.I find that I spend a lot of time explaining whatEBSCO does and how we operate. I hope that thisclass will give me some skills that I can use when try-ing to educate new employees, as well as outside cus-tomers and association personnel about our prod-ucts and services,” she observed.39 In addition, Lunnhas taken part in two time management classes anda mistake-free grammar and proofreading class thatwas offered by EBSCO. Both courses were held atEBSCO International Headquarters in Birmingham,AL, with an outside company as facilitator.

Lunn stressed the importance of staff educationto EBSCO’s market, a philosophy that is similar toCSA’s: “At EBSCO we put the customer first. It isvery important that our staff is able to communicatewith the customer effectively whether on the selling,customer service, or marketing side of the company.”40

EBSCO does not have a specific budget for continu-ing education and professional development; suchopportunities are handled on an as-needed basis.

RoweCom

RoweCom’s Website describes the company as a“business-to-business e-commerce.” Headquarteredin Westwood, MA, it develops and operates Web ser-vices that enable businesses to manage the acquisi-tion of knowledge resources such as magazines,newspapers, journals, and books. Its flagship servicesare Knowledge Store (kStore) and Knowledge Li-brary (kLibrary). Ongoing education is part of theRoweCom mission, commented Sandy Gurshman,director, Publisher Relations.41 “RoweCom believesthat ‘Knowledge is the Future.’ We realize that, in the


fast-paced environment of a growing business, it’seasy to get so consumed with our work commitmentsthat we fail to make the necessary personal invest-ments required for us to continue learning. RoweComis committed to supporting the continued learning ofall our employees.”

In the past year, RoweCom has offered QualityManagement Skills (QMS) training and Boot Campfor Managers, provided in external training sessions.Internal trainers provide training on RoweCom’sown systems. Employees are encouraged to enroll inacademic and certificate courses, seminars, and pro-fessional development programs. Reimbursement isprovided for successfully completed courses thathave been planned with the employee’s manager.RoweCom’s courses in QMS and the ManagersBoot Camp provide experience with a variety ofcommunication styles and different perspectives onleadership styles. The company also supports work-shops and training sessions that are targeted to spe-cific areas of the subscription agency business, suchas licensing workshops.

Gurshman discussed learning needs of the Rowe-Com staff: “The publishing and associated subscrip-tion business is changing more rapidly than ever. Weneed to ensure that everyone continues to learnabout new technologies, and new ways of deliveringinformation. The advent of electronic journals hasmade it imperative for agents, libraries, and endusers to learn about the Internet, licensing require-ments, and new access and pricing models. We’ve up-graded and changed various systems as technologyimproves, so there is always something new to learn.”42

RoweCom does not differentiate between managerand nonmanager continuing education expenses.Some courses, such as the QMS sessions, are offeredto selected staff members at company expense. Inaddition, employees are encouraged to register foroutside classes and other training; manager approvalis required. The amount of tuition covered varies de-pending on the need and cost of the classes.

Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

With an international staff of 250, privately ownedInnovative Interfaces provides integrated librarysystems. Its latest release—a Java-based clientsoftware—has been adopted by libraries worldwide.The library systems vendor offers assorted profes-sional development programs for both its manage-ment and nonmanagement staff, above and beyond

the more traditional on-the-job training. “Innova-tive recognizes the importance of continuous stafftraining, and we have developed a number of pro-grams to support professional staff development,”said Faye M. Chartoff, executive vice president,Operations.43

For management staff, the company encourageseach manager to identify specific training coursesthat will enhance the manager’s technical or manage-rial skills. Examples include attendance at Help DeskInstitute courses, customer service classes, manage-ment skills training, and technical training on specifichardware platforms and programming languages. Fornonmanagement staff, Innovative’s training pro-grams are offered throughout the year to ensure thateach new employee receives appropriate training asquickly as possible. Specifically, managers and non-managers alike are offered educational and profes-sional opportunities:

• A local vendor offers three levels of UNIX train-ing: beginning, intermediate, and advanced, all ofwhich are open to all qualified staff at Innovative.Each class is provided internally several times ayear through the services of Muster & Associates,which teaches similar courses at the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley Extension. The company’scustomer services managers worked with Muster& Associates to customize a program that wouldmeet Innovative’s specific technical and pro-grammer training needs.

• Innovative offers a variety of training methods onMicrosoft Office programs, which are used exten-sively by management and nonmanagement staff.Topics covered include Word, Excel, Access, andPowerPoint at all three levels: begining, interme-diate, and advanced. This training is provided in-ternally throughout the year by a local consultant.

• Employees are encouraged by management toidentify training that will enhance their job per-formance. Examples include training on networksand operating systems; Java programming; projectmanagement skills development; managementsilks training such as interviewing, hiring, andteam building; and language training in Chinese,French, and other languages.

Chartoff recently attended a class on personnellaw for managers, which was offered externally by alocal consulting company. “It was an excellent class,and I learned very useful information that assists me


every day in the performance of my job,” she ob-served. Chartoff concluded, “An educated workforce is absolutely critical to Innovative’s success.Through our continuing education programs, we en-courage our employees to enhance their job skills,which in turn leads to increased job satisfaction andimproved staff retention rates. As a leading libraryautomation company, we’re committed to utilizingthe latest technology in our software products. Weknow that new ideas spring from staff who areknowledgeable and well trained, and that, in turn,fosters the creative spirit so important to our corpo-rate success.”44

DISCUSSION

Taken as a whole, the interview responses reveal anundisputed commitment to continuing educationand professional development in the scholarly com-

munication environment. The methods by whichpublishers, librarians, subscription agents, serials ag-gregators, and library systems vendors offer and en-courage professional development and internal andexternal training opportunities to their employeescover a wide spectrum—from formal developmentprograms to conferences and training seminars toless formal mentoring and interdepartmental meet-ings. Table 1 provides a direct comparison of optionsoffered by the organizations interviewed for thisarticle.

The infrastructure through which these opportu-nities are made available to both management andnonmanagement staff appears to have a basis in theorganization’s culture. For example, both CSA45 andEBSCO46 see their investment in continuing educa-tion as a competitive advantage in the marketplacebecause the companies’ well-trained employees arebetter prepared to communicate with customers.Much of the training CSA and EBSCO support is

Table 1Professional Development Programs and Skills Training among Organizations Interviewed

Organization

Programs/Training APA CSA EM NYU GSU DOW SUN EBS ROW III

Formal development programs X X X X X XConferences X X X X X X XInternal training X X X X X X X X XExternal training X X X X X X X X XHigher education courses X X X X X X X XCrosstraining (departmental) X X XInformal training (mentoring/meetings) X X XProfessional/trade organization participation X X XRecruiting/interviewing skills X X X XCommunication/presentation skills X X X X XWriting skills X XNegotiation/licensing skills X X X XSoftware/hardware/technology skills X X X X X X X X X XKnowledge management skills X X X X XAbstracting/indexing/taxonomy skills X X XTime management skills X X X X XMarket awareness X X X XManagement training/leadership skills X X X X X XCollection acquisitions X XDonor cultivation X XUser outreach/customer service X X X X X X X XStress reduction XTeam building X X X

Note: APA 5 American Psychological Association; CSA 5 Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; EM 5 Emerald; NYU 5New York University Libraries; GSU 5 Georgia State University Library; DOW 5 Dow Chemical Company BusinessIntelligence Center; SUN 5 Sun Microsystems SunLibrary; EBS 5 EBSCO Information Services; ROW 5 RoweCom;III 5 Innovative Interfaces, Inc.


oriented toward market and product awareness. Al-though an organization’s approach to continuing ed-ucation is indicative of its culture, there was rela-tively little variance among the types of professionaldevelopment opportunities offered by the differentkinds of organizations interviewed; all appeared tobe committed to supporting robust continuing edu-cation programs for their employees.

Indicative of the types of specialized knowledgerequired of information professionals, all of the or-ganizations interviewed had highly developed andcustomized internal training programs. The oneoverriding skills requirement mentioned by all inter-viewees was in the area of technology—softwareand hardware skills. Lyndsey Curtis of the APA47 be-lieves that computer training is imperative for keep-ing staff skills current. A well-educated staff with up-dated skills also is crucial for outstanding customerservice. Michael Stoller48 commented on the sophis-ticated research needs of NYU Libraries’ patrons. Itis incumbent on the library staff that they can re-spond intelligently to these patrons. Going one stepfurther, Nancy Cundiff of Dow Chemical Company49

believes up-to-date knowledge of new technologyand data-mining tools allows the library to help itsclients be more self-sufficient.

Aside from computer skills, a preponderance oftraining was reported in the following areas: communi-cation/presentation skills, negotiation skills, knowl-edge management skills, time management skills,management training, and user outreach/customerservice training. Marietta Plank, executive directorof the Chesapeake Information & Research LibraryAlliance (CIRLA), concurred that even masters-degree library professionals need additional trainingin management, organizational skills, and negotiat-ing or contracting skills. She said, “These are not cur-rently taught in most library or information scienceprograms. They are, however, skills needed as libraryprofessionals begin to manage people and opera-tions.”50 Many libraries have reduced the number ofprofessionals, expecting those who stay to managemore operations and people, and leaving the de-tailed work to lower-paid or less experiencedworkers. This reality underscores the need for furthereducation in management and operations amonglibrarians.

Several interviewees mentioned an importantpractical aspect to the focus on continuing educationand professional development. Training becomes aninvaluable employee recruitment and retention tool.

Linda Beebe of the APA51 noted that training, par-ticularly technical training, gives employees the skillsneeded to grow into new responsibilities and fostersa sense of loyalty to the APA. Faye M. Chartoff ofInnovative Interfaces52 believes that enhanced jobskills lead to increased job satisfaction and improvedstaff retention rates. Low turnover of skilled staff isa significant financial savings for organizations, asthey are spared the costly process of recruiting, hir-ing, and training new staff.

Ultimately, service to patrons motivates main-taining an educated and competent professionalstaff. The efficiency with which a library can assist itsusers is one key measure of its success, just as the ef-ficiency with which publishers and library vendorscan help libraries is a key measure of their success.Libraries that offer an array of electronic resourceshave found that staff members need very differentskills and knowledge than they did in a preelectronicenvironment. Just as technological innovations andmarket demands have changed business decisionsfor publishers, they also have changed how librariesoperate. When publishing houses and libraries con-sider the level of educational and professional devel-opment and training they will provide for employees,they need to consider two important implications inparticular. The first deals with the quality, scope, andbreadth of the education and training that the orga-nizations make available. Educational opportunitiesmust be appropriate in relation to user or customerexpectations, needs, and influences in the market-place. Although technological advances certainly in-fluence the type and speed of change in the industry,the marketplace evolves regardless of technology.As a result, publishers and librarians must monitorand constantly reassess how their educational offer-ings match customer needs. They must become fleetfooted and flexible at responding to changes in themarketplace, and modify training accordingly tomeet new and perhaps unexpected market needs.

The second implication for publishers and librar-ians deals with how staff apply what they learn, andhow the organization becomes more effective as aresult. Organizations need to assess how well theirstaff integrate the training into the jobs they performto support the organization’s overall success. Beforepublishers can offer increasingly better products andbefore librarians can select and provide better prod-ucts for their patrons, staff in these organizationsmust have a fundamental understanding of their in-dividual roles as part of a larger enterprise. All the


training in the world will be useless if staff membersare not taught how their particular duties affect thehealth of their organizations and are not given an op-portunity to internalize, analyze, and fully under-stand the businesses their organizations are in.

Indeed, Marietta Plank of CIRLA recommendedthat library professionals work in a number of divi-sions in their institutions to enhance their broad un-derstanding. “In a traditional library, [library profes-sionals] should work a couple of years in publicservices (reference), then a couple of years in tech-nical services (cataloging or acquisitions), then acouple of years in special collections or systems.Then [library professionals] should decide wherethey want their long-term career. What they willhave is that broad understanding of what goes on inall parts of the library. What is happening in some in-stitutions is that the managers, leaders, and theCEO/CIO have only worked in one or two opera-tions of a library and do not understand the wholeoperation. They eventually get an accurate under-standing of the full operation, but it takes longer andis harder to comprehend. . . . This is where additionaleducation and/or training programs can be of assis-tance, especially early in one’s career.”53

The continuing education programs profiled inthis article were offered throughout the organiza-tions interviewed—at both management and non-management levels. A commitment to professionaldevelopment at all levels of an organization is criti-cal. If she repeated this interview process for a futurearticle, the author would explore in greater depthhow well these organizations fulfill their missions ofserving professional development needs at all levels.To assess the efficacy of training for professionalsand paraprofessionals, the author would consistentlyinterview both management and nonmanagementindividuals about their firsthand experiences in con-tinuing education. Such a study would compare thereal-life, hands-on continuing education experi-ences of nonmanagement staff to management’soverarching vision of continuing education at theseorganizations.

CONCLUSION

If it is imperative for users to develop the researchskills needed to maneuver effectively in an informa-tion-driven economy, then having highly educatedand skilled librarians and publishers is an absolute

necessity. What will differ and what will be optionalis the extent to which librarians and publishers ac-tively explore and enable educational and trainingopportunities that arm staff members with genuinelymeaningful, relevant, and timely knowledge andskills. Those organizations that choose not to educateemployees will not be well prepared for the growingchallenges of the information environment.

It is virtually impossible for members of the aca-demic and professional community to operate in se-cluded vacuums by the type of organization theyrepresent—be it publisher, librarian, vendor, sub-scription agent, aggregator, author, researcher, pro-fessional, or student. The relationships and inter-dependencies of knowledge and learning do not stopat the boundary of one publishing organization or asingle library building. Although we draw artificiallines among organizations to focus meaningful dis-cussions that may have particular relevance to a setof such organizational groupings, there cannot be acomplete discussion of the professional develop-ment needs of publishers and librarians withoutcrossing the divide between these entities.

In the December 2000 issue of American Libraries,Nancy Kranich, president of the ALA, wrote aboutthe importance of building educated communities.“It is time for us to focus on helping to buildinformation-smart communities—communities thathave not only the access but also the content andskills to thrive in the Information Age. Information-smart communities need skilled librarians. We canbegin by building partnerships with businesses, edu-cators, community leaders and organizations, andlibrary advocates. To do this, we must convince ourcommunities that it is critical to become information-smart, and that libraries and librarians are key to thisprocess” (p. 5).54

Kranich concluded by stating that, in positioninglibrary institutions and the profession for the twenty-first century, the goal must be to promote informa-tion-knowledgeable communities and citizens. Tobecome advocates of citizens that are savvy aboutinformation—individuals who know when theyneed help and where to obtain that assistance—librarians, publishers, and aggregators, as well asvendors for that matter need to have staff memberswho subscribe to such a social vision and that arethemselves educated and information savvy.

The organizations along the scholarly continuuminterviewed for this article clearly demonstrate acommitment to an educated workforce. But how


well are continuing education activities preparingstaff for the future of scholarship? Deanna Marcum,president of the Council on Library and InformationResources (CLIR), offered a thought-provokingand engaging perspective on educating and traininglibrary staff, assessing library positions and policiesfor continuing education, and what educated work-forces mean to the success of library operations.Marcum stated, “The real question we must ask iswhat will libraries of the future look like? Once wehave outlined the functions and responsibilities ofthese organizations—or services—we can then askwhat kinds of people are needed to manage them.And then we can ask how are such people educatedand provided continuing education.” From her per-spective, currently what users expect from librariansis very different from what they expected prior to theintroduction of technology; the skill sets that librar-ians need have fundamentally changed. “What weknow now is that the demands being placed on li-braries today require significantly different skillsthan those needed in the past. Instead of being ex-perts in knowledge acquisition, staff today needs tobe experts in knowledge navigation.”55

Marcum observed that library staff have to be-come more user focused. “Librarians need to be farmore service-oriented, and they need to becomepartners with the knowledge seekers so they canbegin to identify sources of needed information,whether or not it is found in a library. The questionabout an educated workforce is probably no longerrelevant. Of course library operations depend uponwell-educated librarians, but they also depend onlots of different educated people, too. We needteams of librarians, technologists, and subject ex-perts to do an adequate job these days.”56

Marcum believes that how librarians envisionthemselves in the future will require a paradigmshift. The decisions that they make and the organi-zational cultures that they establish to serve pa-trons will require greater creativity. Failure tochange will limit a library’s vitality and longevity.“Asking questions about library policy on profes-sional development and education of library staffmay no longer be meaningful,” said Marcum. “If li-braries don’t become far more progressive aboutthese matters, the profession will not survive. Thekinds of professional meetings that most librariansattend will probably be useless in terms of provid-ing them with meaningful knowledge acquisition.Networking and sharing are good things, but they

are not preparing librarians for a significantly dif-ferent future.”57 Marcum suggested that currentprofessional development efforts among librariesare shortsighted and not adequate to address long-term needs.

The type of market responsiveness that Marcumrecommended involves teams of information profes-sionals and technologists working together. Judgingfrom the educational synergies identified amongthe interviewed organizations (need for technologytraining, communication skills, negotiation skills,market awareness, etc.), it would make sense forthese organizations to jointly develop responsive,user-oriented continuing education training programs.By partnering to educate their staff, publishers, librar-ians, and related businesses could keep pace withchanges in the marketplace and remain in stepwith one another. RoweCom’s Sandy Gurshman ob-served, “There is always something new to learn.”58

Why shouldn’t those committed to the pursuit ofscholarship learn it together? In this continuing ed-ucation community, publishers would train librari-ans on product developments, librarians would trainpublishers on user needs, and so on down the line. Abetter understanding among these interdependentunits—librarians, publishers, vendors, aggregators,subscription agents—of each other’s roles, economicconstraints, and market objectives would ease thestrain on licensing negotiations and allow librariansto build stronger collections. Shared knowledgemight yield new solutions and mastery of technol-ogy. And, in the long run, this approach would bestserve the information user—the scholar at the endof the line.

NOTES

1. Wendy K. Wicks, Careers in Electronic Information(Philadelphia, PA: National Federation of Abstractingand Information Services, 1997), 16.

2. Ibid., 19.

3. Ibid., 18.

4. Lisa M. Dellwo, “Week-in-Residence: ProfessionalDevelopment for Experienced Publishers,” Journal ofScholarly Publishing 28, no. 4 (July 1997).

5. Ibid., 241–45.

6. William A. Katz, ed., “Continuing Education ofReference Librarians,” Reference Librarian 30 (1990):1–273.


7. Donna E. Cromer and Andrea R. Testi, “IntegratedContinuing Education for Reference Librarians,” RSR: Ref-erence Services Review 22, no. 4 (Winter 1994).

8. Ibid., 51–58.

9. Ken Haycock, “What Works: Continuing Profes-sional Education,” Emergency Librarian 25, no. 3 (Jan-uary/February 1998): 29.

10. Duncan Smith and Robert Burgin, “The Motiva-tions of Professional and Paraprofessional Librariansfor Participating in Continuing Education Programs,”Library and Information Science Research 13, no. 4(October–December 1991): 405–29.

11. Charles Townley and James Hollinger, LibraryContinuing Education in South Central Pennsylvania: TheSPACE Council Needs Assessment (Middletown, PA,1981): 1–26.

12. Marcia J. Fallon, Continuing Education for South-eastern Community College (Nova, FL, 1979): 1–126.

13. William Fisher, “Continuing Education amongSpecial Librarians,” Education for Information 4, no. 3(September 1986): 219–25.

14. Esther Green Bierbaum, “Museum, Arts, and Hu-manities Librarians,” Journal of Education for Libraryand Information Science 29, no. 2 (Fall 1988): 127–34.

15. Azra Qureshi, Continuing Education of Health Sci-ences Librarians: A National Survey (Columbus, OH,1990), 1–39.

16. Linda Beebe, American Psychological Associa-tion, e-mail interview with author, 6 November 2000.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Lyndsey Curtis, American Psychological Associa-tion, e-mail interview with author, 8 November 2000.

20. Ibid.

21. Matt Dunie, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, e-mailinterview with author, 12 December 2000.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Kathryn Toledano, Emerald, e-mail interviewwith author, 8 November 2000.

25. Ibid.

26. Cathie Spivey, Emerald, e-mail interview with au-thor, 8, 14 November 2000.

27. Toledano, e-mail.

28. Michael Stoller, New York University Libraries,e-mail interview with author, 3 August 2001.

29. Ibid.

30. Roger Presley, Georgia State University WilliamRussell Pullen Library, e-mail interview with author, 8November 2000.

31. Ibid.

32. Nancy Cundiff, Dow Chemical Company Busi-ness Intelligence Center, e-mail interview with author,25 July 2001.

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. Cindy Hill, Sun Microsystem SunLibrary, e-mailinterview with author, 26 July 2001.

37. Ibid.

38. Leigh Marie Lunn, EBSCO Information Services,e-mail interview with author, 23 July 2001.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

41. Sandy Gurshman, RoweCom, e-mail interviewwith author, 24 July 2001.

42. Ibid.

43. Faye M. Chartoff, Innovative Interfaces Inc., e-mailinterview with author, 2 August 2001.

44. Ibid.

45. Dunie, e-mail.

46. Lunn, e-mail.

47. Curtis, e-mail.

48. Stoller, e-mail.

49. Cundiff, e-mail.

50. Marietta Plank, Chesapeake Information & Re-search Library Alliance, e-mail interview with author,31 July 2001.

51. Beebe, e-mail.

52. Chartof, e-mail.

53. Plank, e-mail.

54. Nancy Kranich, “Building information-smart commu-nities,” American Libraries 31, no. 11 (November 2000).

55. Deanna Marcum, Council on Library and Infor-mation Resources, e-mail interview with author, 27 No-vember 2000.

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid.

58. Gurshman, e-mail.


APPENDIX I INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR PUBLISHERS,

LIBRARIANS, AND INFORMATION BUSINESSES

1. How does your library/organization/companysupport the professional development and con-tinuing education needs of both its managementand nonmanagement staff? What specific typesof training and skills-building initiatives doesyour library/organization/company support? Istraining provided internally or externally? Pleaseexplain.

2. Have you partaken in such educational opportu-nities? If so, please describe your experiences,and how the additional learning directly bene-fited you on the job.

3. What bearing does an educated workforce haveon the success of your library/business? Pleaseprovide supporting examples.

4. What is your library’s/organization’s/company’sannual budget for continuing education per em-ployee yearly?

APPENDIX II INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE COUNCIL ON

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES (CLIR) AND THE CHESAPEAKE INFORMATION AND RESEARCH LIBRARY ALLIANCE (CIRLA)

1. Given the changes taking place in the market,what additional education/training is necessaryto keep the skills of library staff up-to-date (bothprofessional and nonprofessional staff)?

2. What bearing does an educated workforce haveon the success of library operations? Please pro-vide supporting examples.

3. In your opinion, what constitutes a sound libraryposition or policy toward the professional devel-opment and education of library staff? What typeof investment should libraries be making in thisarea per employee per year?

continuing education in the scholarly continuum: back to school with publishers, librarians, and...

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