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Searching for SolutionsAlberta Davis Comer aa Cunningham Memorial Library , Indiana StateUniversity , USAPublished online: 20 Oct 2008.

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Searching for Solutions:Supervising Student Employees

Alberta Davis Comer

ABSTRACT. Lending services units at Indiana State University’s Cunn-ingham Memorial Library depend heavily on student employees to fulfilltheir specific missions. Problems attributed to poor communication andlack of motivation among student employees were causing negative im-pacts on the units’ abilities to function well. To resolve these problems, su-pervisors established priorities, set goals, and conducted a literature searchto identify optimum remedies. Solutions were chosen on the basis of costand ease of implementation. Strategies adopted included recognizing out-standing students, formalizing peer training, improving communicationthrough electronic posting, expanding training methods, and providing stu-dent employee manuals specific to each unit. [Article copies available for afee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail ad-dress: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>© 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Student supervisors, student workers, academic libraries,staff development, circulation services

Alberta Davis Comer is Head of Lending Services, Cunningham Memorial Library,Indiana State University (E-mail: libcomer@isugw.indstate.edu).

The author thanks student supervisors, Penny Counterman, Mike Mehl, RebeccaStinnett, and Nancy Watkins, for their commitment to enhancing the work experienceof student employees, and her husband Dr. John B. Comer, for encouraging her in herwriting endeavors.

Journal of Access Services, Vol. 1(4) 2003http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JAS

2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J204v01n04_09 103

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Even though libraries underwent tremendous changes in the 1990s, onecharacteristic has remained unchanged: academic libraries still dependheavily upon student labor for day-to-day operations. In the 2001/02 fiscalyear, student hours accounted for approximately twenty-five percent of allhours worked in Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State Univer-sity. On the national average, student employees make up twenty-nine per-cent of library staff in academic libraries.1

At Cunningham Memorial Library, about forty students are employedin the four lending services units of circulation, reserve, interlibrary loan(ILL), and stacks maintenance. Student employees in these four unitscomprise around fifty-one percent of the library’s total student budget.The student employees within these lending services units perform a vari-ety of duties, including checking material in and out, shelving, pullingmaterial for ILL and reserve, photocopying and scanning materials, an-swering the telephone, answering directional and basic reference ques-tions, referring patrons to other departments, assisting patrons to locatematerial in the stacks, checking shelves for material claimed returned bypatrons, and a variety of other routine, but essential tasks.

Because of their importance to the units, Cunningham Memorial Li-brary strives to enhance their work experience by providing recognitionand motivation to student workers. Several of these efforts are formal.For example, two annual events for the students are a library-wide rec-ognition program for top students and a scholarship to an outstandingstudent. To demonstrate the libraries’ appreciation, the library hosts twoluncheons for students, one at the end of each semester. Also, names ofoutstanding students are placed on bookplates.

During the fall 2002 semester, however, supervisory staff recognizedrecurring problems involving student workers within lending services.Some of these problems included excessive absenteeism or tardiness,poor quality of work, unconstructive attitudes exhibited toward bothstaff and patrons, and a perceived high job dissatisfaction among thestudent employees. While specific incidents of these problems weremanifested in a relatively small number of student employees, supervi-sory staff recognized that the critical function of providing services topatrons would be seriously impaired if this negative culture among stu-dent employees was allowed to continue and spread. The staff deter-mined to take steps to address this situation.

Staff consensus was sought to establish priorities among the issuesand concerns. Discussion centered on setting inspirational goals. Manyideas were considered, but after much discussion and debate, via bothgroup sessions and one-on-one meetings, four overreaching goals for

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student employees were formulated. The first three goals are related toquality of work and employee motivation, while the last goal addressesemployee satisfaction. Goals were set to have student employees:

1. Perform high quality work;2. Work when scheduled;3. Treat each other (as well as patrons and other staff members) with

respect;4. Have an enriching and satisfactory job experience while working

at the library.

Having set these general goals, the task became to identify approachesand strategies to managing student workers so that both their and theunits’ expectations can be achieved.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Research of the literature revealed that there are a number of perspec-tives, policies, motivational strategies, and case histories on the subjectof student employees in libraries. Some of the most common techniquesare recognizing achievement, reinforcing the value of student workers,enabling two-way communication and team-building, and careful hir-ing/evaluating of students.

Benefiel and Conturbia discuss a scholarship program for studentworkers. In the late 1980s Texas A&M University library “devised amodest but extremely successful scholarship program to reward someof the brightest and best” students.2 They received a $10,000 endow-ment to support such scholarships. Being awarded a scholarship re-quired that the student be a current library employee and plan to work inthe library the next semester. Need, supervisor recommendations, andgrade-point average were decisive factors in awarding scholarships.

Formal recognition can take other forms. Clark speaks of providing“suitable motivations and rewards for the talent and industriousness ofstudent workers.”3 To do so, Clark believes that providing recognitionand rewards are good methods for acknowledging student workers, andthat this can be accomplished by giving them certificates or some formof public recognition for the work they have achieved. Kenney andPainter suggest recognizing students at staff meetings and mentioningstudent accomplishments in the library newsletter.4

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Another method to motivate students and encourage quality work isto stress how vital they are to the operation of the library. For example,Cunningham Memorial Library is a typical medium size academic li-brary in that, without student workers, the library would struggle tomaintain adequate levels of service. When a student is absent from works/he is greatly missed, but there are reports in the literature that suggestmost students do not realize their own importance to the mission of thelibrary. Oltmanns states that a student employee’s perspective of workis fundamentally different from that of a full-time employee.5 One as-pect of that disconnection is that student employees believe “if they donot work their full-time hours, the only consequence is a smaller pay-check. They often do not realize how much the library depends onthem.”6 Staff in the Cunningham Memorial Library lending servicesasked themselves: could communication with students be improved sothat they might better appreciate their importance to the library?

Throughout the literature, it is emphasized that good communication isone of the most important keys to cultivating a successful working rela-tionship with student employees. Four of the most common ways cited toimprove communication include: orientation, training, documentation,and meetings. The success of any communication enhancement strategiesdepends, to a large degree, on the skills of the supervisor.

One of the best ways to introduce open communication is throughorientation. Baldwin asserts, “Oriented workers do a better job and staywith the library longer than do those who are not given an orientation.”7

Smaller libraries may have one-on-one orientation, while at larger li-braries it is often necessary to have all students attend orientation at thesame time. Various means and media can be used for orientation pur-poses. Supervisor-led orientation is common, as is the use of video-tapes, or some combination of both or other techniques Whichever ischosen, orientation often begins with a tour of the building, where stu-dents are told about available services within the library.8 Kathman andKathman state that orientation should include “a description of the li-brary’s function on campus” and “an outline of policies and proceduresfor reporting to work, absences, and safety information.”9 In another ar-ticle, Kathman and Kathman also add that the essential elements of ori-entation is to “share with the student the library’s goal of deliveringefficient and friendly service to the members of the academic commu-nity.”10 Wesley suggests that the library director speak at the orientationto emphasize “the value of the work they [students] do in the library.”11

Training is another very important component of creating initial ave-nues of communication. Indeed, Baldwin asserts “training is every-

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thing.”12 According to Kathman and Kathman, “If the training procedurehas clarified the importance of the tasks in the overall operation of the li-brary, students should have some perception of how their duties in the li-brary help to achieve the organizational goals of maximum and efficientservice.”13 Lyons suggests that when a supervisor combines a show of in-terest in the student with training that goes “beyond a detailed descriptionof the tasks to be performed,” the student employee may be more success-ful on the job.14

One useful resource for communication is a student employment man-ual that outlines the job expectations and rules. Russell states, “The pur-pose of the student employment manual is to explain in writing theinstructional and internal guidelines, policies, and procedures of studentemployment.”15 Russell adds that the most important aspect of a policyand procedure manual is that it “communicates to the student informationneeded to fulfill his/her duties as a student assistant.”16 Among the com-ponents of the manual should be descriptions of student responsibilities,the library’s mission statement, and expectations of employment.17 Shealso recommends that the manual include basic information on work at-tendance, breaks, dress code, emergency procedures, policies about food,drink and smoking, use of the telephone and staff lounge, as well as infor-mation on work-related injuries. Additionally, Baldwin adds that a man-ual should also contain information on the termination process and ongrievance procedures.18

Beyond just providing an overview of the job and its expectations,the manual also introduces student employees to the institutional cul-ture. Burrows relates that one of the first steps that the library at the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley, takes is “to assure them (students) ofinclusion,”19 and that one of the ways such inclusion may be managed isthrough the student handbook. Berkeley’s handbook includes a para-graph encouraging student employees to consider librarianship as a pos-sible career and also includes letters from the University Librarian andfrom the Vice Chancellor of the University offering a welcome to the li-brary’s workforce. Similarly, Russell suggests including a missionstatement in the handbook.20

Finally, meetings may also be used as effective tools of communica-tion. For example, since many student employees do not realize that theirabsences can cause problems for fellow workers, Walker and Fliotsospropose that meetings are one way to address the issue of absentee prob-lems because “peer pressure works as a means of controlling absences.”21

Meetings can also give students a sense of belonging and that their opin-ions matter.

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It requires a skilled supervisor to ensure adequate communication. Ac-cording to Baldwin, student supervisors continuously organize, lead, andmotivate student employee activities.22 Baldwin states that student super-visors have the multiple responsibilities of “hiring, training, scheduling,assigning duties, disciplining, evaluating, counseling, and, above all, as-suring that student workers contribute to the accomplishments of theunit’s or department’s objectives and the objectives of the library.”23

Kenney and Painter point out that it is essential that the supervisor “knowhow the job is done, how the equipment is operated, and what each em-ployee does.”24 They add, “A student supervisor sets the tone and estab-lishes the atmosphere under which students work.”25 Kathman andKathman believe it is important that student supervisors “have that part oftheir job weighted heavily and that student worker supervision be an im-portant part of those individuals’ performance appraisals.”26 Thus, the su-pervisor must serve as an example of the values of the unit.

One important duty of being a supervisor is integrating students intothe team approach; i.e., making them feel like integral parts of the li-brary workforce. Frank proposes that the supervisor should considerstudent employees as colleagues.27 He further suggests, “Student work-ers should be able to perceive themselves as important members of thelibrary staff.”28 Voyles and Winston recommend that libraries shouldincrease “the involvement of student employees in the identification ofthe needs of our users, planning and evaluating services, and in the deci-sion making process.”29 Team building is facilitated in an environmentwhere students feel included, know their value and importance, andopenly communicate with supervisors. That is why these are so impor-tant during orientation.

Two other issues are of equal importance to team building: hiring andevaluating students. Baldwin contends, “Probably the most importantpart of your job as a supervisor is hiring the right person for work.”30

Hiring a student with library experience, good recommendations, a flexi-ble schedule, and “people” skills, and who plans to stay at the library forfour years and then attend library school might be ideal, but this kind ofperson is certainly not the average candidate. How can the supervisor de-termine who is the best candidate, especially under less-than-ideal hiringsituations, such as when there are time constraints and an urgency to hiresomeone immediately? First, make sure the job description correctly de-scribes what the student will be performing. Frank suggests among themost important criteria are attitude, experience, availability, and commu-nication skills.31

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Just as hiring the right student is critical, so is evaluating students’work. This is important because students want feedback on how theyare doing, and to ensure that they understand expectations. Baldwin as-serts, “All employees want and deserve to know not only how they aredoing, but also what’s being done well, what can be done better, andhow their performance can be improved.”32 The literature suggests thatsemester or annual evaluations are good, although informal day-to-dayassessment is also necessary and beneficial. Several books give goodexamples of what should be covered on evaluations. For example, seeKathman and Kathman’s Managing Student Employees in College Li-braries.33 Evaluations can also provide rationales for re-hiring a student(or not) or providing job references in the future.

IDENTIFIED APPROACHES

Based on the literature review and staff discussions, and guided bygeneral observation, the following approaches were identified for imple-mentation at Cunningham Memorial Library’s access units to optimizestudent worker contributions and satisfaction. These approaches werechosen because they are inexpensive, relatively easy to implement, andappear to address areas where deficiencies are the greatest, especially inthe areas of motivation and communication.

• Communication: At the Cunningham Memorial Library, the areaof greatest deficiency has been lack of communication with stu-dent employees. Due to fragmented work schedules and high turn-over, it is difficult to ensure that all student employees receive thesame information. To achieve better communication, an electronicposting component has been added to the units’ systems. Now, stu-dents and staff are required to read the postings on a regular basis.Anyone, student or staff, can post questions or information to thesystem. For example, a new practice was recently instituted on dis-charging books. Instead of putting notes in student mailboxes orverbally informing each student of this change, the message wasposted electronically, thus allowing students to immediately learnof the new practice and make the necessary procedural adjust-ments. Enabling staff to quickly, efficiently, and evenly distributeinformation to everyone within the department, this program hasproven so useful that other library departments now have addedtheir own posting components.

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Training methods will be revised to ensure better communication be-tween student employees and staff. Currently, the staff supervisor uses achecklist to chart a student employee’s work development. In the future,using a specifically designed checklist, the student will also keep track ofhis or her own development. This allows the student to be more aware ofwhat s/he has learned and what deficiencies s/he may still need to betaught, and encourages the student to take responsibility for his or herown training. It also keeps supervisors and students on the same page.

To help students realize how important they are to the library, the librarydean will be asked to speak at future orientations and to write a letter ofwelcome that will be included in the orientation packets given to each stu-dent as they begin work at the library. To further assist students to grasptheir importance, orientations will offer a fuller explanation about how theunits and the student employees fit into the overall mission of the library.

Documentation is also being improved. While a library-wide policiesmanual is available for student employees, a manual that is explicitly forstudent employees in the different units of lending services is also essen-tial. These manuals will outline the function of the unit, how a particularunit fits with the other lending services units and with the library as awhole, and specific student job responsibilities. Additionally, plans areunderway to create an orientation videotape that explains general aspectsof working in the lending services units and introduces the student to li-brary work in general.

• Motivation: Motivating student employees and keeping them moti-vated is an inherent problem with this transient, temporary workforce. Since the library already has a student scholarship program,lending services units determined to make it a priority to nominatequalified students for each round of scholarships. Such awards willbe augmented with departmental recognition for hours of serviceand for exceptional work, including recognition for innovative ideasand for superior services to the library and its patrons. Also, a newcolumn outlining student employee contributions will be added tothe library’s in-house monthly newsletter as a means of adoptingKenney and Painter’s suggestion for student recognition.34 In addi-tion, plans are being developed to use student peers to help train newworkers. While this type of training is already done informally, for-malizing the process by conferring different titles to the studenttrainers may help with motivating students, with improving com-munication among student employees, and with establishing greatercollegiality between the student work force and the staff.

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CONCLUSION

Supervisory staff within the Cunningham Memorial Library’s lend-ing services units developed a three-step approach to manage and solveemerging problems with student employees. First, staff identified thebiggest problems as tardiness, poor quality of work, negative attitudes,and high job dissatisfaction. The roots of these problems resided at leastpartially in poor communication and lack of motivation. Second, afterdefining the problems and understanding the causes, staff were able toestablish focused goals to enhance work quality, reduce absenteeism,encourage respectful behavior, and improve job satisfaction for studentemployees. Third, solutions were identified and evaluated based on theexperience of supervisory staff, then were narrowed to those that wereinexpensive and easy to implement. Solutions include recognizing out-standing students, formalizing peer training, improving communicationthrough electronic posting, improving training methods, and develop-ing written manuals specific to each unit.

Managing a student workforce is always a work in progress. At thistime, some of the solutions have already been implemented, while plansare being developed to implement others in coming semesters. One ex-ample of a solution that has been tried and proven to be effective in im-proving communication is electronic posting. Supervisory staff willmonitor the progress of these solutions through periodic group discus-sions with student employees and through ongoing student evaluations.Also, supervisory staff will meet each semester to discuss the previoussemester’s successes, as well as what can be done to improve progress.

Staff have committed themselves to becoming better supervisors androle models, to consulting regularly and effectively with students, and tolooking for ways to improve student work habits and morale. In effect, staffhave embraced Baldwin’s assertion that student employees are worth theeffort.35 Cunningham Memorial Library’s lending services staff look for-ward to working with student employees to make the Library’s work envi-ronment a rich and rewarding experience for all involved.

REFERENCES

1. Margaret W. Cahalan and Natalie M. Justh. Academic Libraries: 1998. NationalCenter for Education Statistics, July 2001. <http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001341> [17 January 2003].

2. Candace R. Benefiel and Sandra D. Conturbia. “Recognizing and RewardingExcellence: A Scholarship Program for Student Workers.” American Libraries 24/9(1993): 812-4, 816.

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3. Charlene K. Clark. “Motivating and Rewarding Student Workers.” Journal ofLibrary Administration 21/3-4 (1995): 87-93.

4. Donald J. Kenney and Frances O. Painter. “Recruiting, Hiring, and Assess-ing Student Workers in Academic Libraries.” Journal of Library Administration21/3-4 (1995): 29-45.

5. Gail V. Oltmanns. “The Student Perspective.” Journal of Library Administra-tion 21/3-4 (1995): 63-76.

6. Ibid, 69.7. David A. Baldwin. Supervising Student Employees in Academic Libraries–

(Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc., 1991): 91.8. Cheryl Riley and Barbara Wales. “Introducing the Academic Library to Stu-

dent Employees: A Group Approach.” Technical Services Quarterly 14/4 (1997): 47-59.9. Michael D. Kathman and Jane M. Kathman. “Management Problems of Stu-

dent Workers in Academic Libraries.” College & Research Libraries 39/2 (1978):118-122, 121.

10. Michael D. Kathman and Jane M. Kathman. “Integrating Student Employeesinto the Management Structure of Academic Libraries.” Catholic Library World 56(March 1985): 328-330, 330.

11. Theresa L. Wesley. “Beyond Job Training: An Orientation Program for Li-brary Student Assistants.” Catholic Library World 61/5 (1990): 215-217.

12. Baldwin: 91.13. Kathman and Kathman (1978): 121.14. Evelyn Lyons. “Student Workers in the College Library.” In Gerard B.

McGabe, ed. Operations Handbook for the Small Academic Library. (New York):Greenwood Press, Inc., 1989: 91-98, 95.

15. Thyra K. Russell “Student Employment Manuals.” Journal of Library Admin-istration 21/3-4 (1995): 95-108, 95.

16. Ibid, 95.17. Ibid, 96.18. Baldwin: 93.19. Janice H. Burrows. “Training Student Workers in Academic Libraries: How

and Why?” Journal of Library Administration 21/3-4 (1995): 77-86.20. Russell.21. Lois Walker and Ann Fliotsos. “Student Assistants and Their Expectations.”

Southeastern Librarian 42/3 (1992): 69-71.22. Baldwin: 10.23. Ibid.24. Kenney and Painter.25. Ibid.26. Kathman and Kathman (1985).27. Donald G. Frank. “Management of Student Assistants in a Public Services

Setting of an Academic Library.” RQ 24/1 (1984): 51-57.28. Ibid.29. Jeanne F. Voyles and Mark D. Winston. “The Changing Role of the Student

Employee in a Team Based Organization.” Journal of Library Administration 21/3-4(1995): 109-23.

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30. Baldwin: 66.31. Frank.32. Baldwin: 139.33. Michael D. Kathman and Jane M. Kathman. Managing Student Employees in

College Libraries (Chicago: College Library Information Packet; College LibrariesSection; Association of College and Research Libraries, 1986).

34. Kenney and Painter.35. Baldwin: 11.

Received: 01/20/2003Revised: 05/13/2003

Accepted: 07/30/2003

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