youth to youth: paraprofessionals in ntu libraries

Youth to youth:Paraprofessionals in NTU Libraries

Presented by V. Somasundram & Nurashikin Jasni

NTU Library

15th

September 2011

About Nanyang Technological University

• Established in 1981 as Nanyang Technological Institute

• One of the four autonomous universities in Singapore

• A research-intensive university• Aims to provide a broad-based

education

Business

Engineering

Humanities, Arts &

Social SciencesScience

Colleges in NTU

Library Divisions

Acquisitions Serials & E-Resources Bibliographic Services

Instructional Services Library Technology &

SystemsProject Development

Scholarly Communications Access Services Library Promotion

NTU Library Staff

CURRENT

Professionals 45

Support Staff (including

paraprofessionals)

58

TOTAL 103

Professional StaffSupport Staff

LibraryParaprofessionalsin Singapore

ParaprofessionalLibrary Technical Assistant

Library Officer

Library Executive Officer

Library Specialist

Cert. for Library

Assistants (1983)

Cert. in Library & Info.

Studies (1994)

Diploma in Info.

Studies (1996)

Workforce Skills

Qualification (WSQ)

WDA Higher

Certificate in Library

& Information

Services

Local Training

Discontinued

Library Paraprofessionals

in NTU Libraries

Poster session at

Library Association of Singapore seminar in 2009

library paraprofessionals7

Roles&Responsibilities

SubjectLibraries

Socialwebapps

LibraryPromotion

Equipment&Software

StudentAssistants

InstitutionalRepositories

Subject Libraries

Managing Student Assistants

Library Promotion

Experience in graphic design work

Imparts expertise and works alongside with student

assistants

Assist to coordinate annual library promotional events

Library Promotion

Info Characters

Desktop wallpapers

Posters

Institutional Repositories

DR-NTU Submissions

Social web applications

Social web applications

Subject Library Blogs

Social web applications

Library Toolbar

Equipment and software

Multiple-screen Work Desks Discussion pods with LCD screens

Digital Newspaper Common PCs

Youth to YouthSimilar demographics

Bridge between users and libraryGeneration “Y”

‘Connectors’ individuals

Facebook demographics

Tim

e

Source: UDP Consulting Skill Level

Paraprofessionals in the future

Positive learning attitude and flexibility

Relieve the professional librarians

Upgrade ourselves with more training and practice

Much of what librarians have done will be done by library technicians in the future, while librarians will move on to a role that demand greater efficiency in the merging knowledge of information and human understanding

- Marshall, J. (1987)

Shikin

Library Technology & Systems

Division

nurashikin@ntu.edu.sg

Soma

Art, Design & Media Library

somasundram@ntu.edu.sg