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The Library & Information Science Professional's Career Development Center |
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Telecommuting for Librarians |
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Librarians may consider alternative work arrangements for numerous reasons; raising children, caring for aging parents or sick family members, or pursuing an education are just some of them. Flexible work arrangements like part-time work, leaves of absence, flex time, job sharing, and telecommuting come to mind. I had something similar to a stroke that affects my mobility and speech, so I found telecommuting the ideal solution for my problem. In this article, I want to share some of my experiences. What Kind Of Library Jobs Lend Themselves To Telecommuting? Advances in communication technology have made telecommuting a much more viable option for many librarians. In her article “The Untethered Librarian,“ American Libraries columnist Karen G. Schneider offers the following challenge: “Could you telecommute? Try it: Fill your briefcase, and go home three hours early this afternoon!” While not everyone has the liberty to do this, some kinds of tasks or positions are more suitable for telecommuting than others—generally tasks/positions that require little or no contact with the public, like cataloging, indexing, working on websites or the library’s intranet, developing user aids, virtual reference, and writing reports. However, even reference librarians might have time scheduled off the desk, which could be used for telecommuting. I design flyers for events and do bibliographic research as part of my telecommuting job. Some positions, like managerial ones, simply require a human presence; however, managers could use a couple of hours of uninterrupted “quiet” time away from the office to finish a report, for example, to better support this “presence.” How To Set Things Up As Susan Silver so wisely states in her article “Alternative Work Arrangements: Exploring Your Options and Making It Work”: “Details, details, details. Have a clear, articulated plan for how you will get your work done, and, if necessary, offer to be accountable at a higher level than if you were working on-site.” She also recommends you offer to document the time you telecommute. You should also describe the set-up of your home office. In her article “French Rolls, Coffee and a Computer,” Mary T. Kalnin provides a detailed explanation of how setting up telecommuting in her library department is handled. She also provides a link to her library’s work schedule policy which might be helpful. Here is an attempt at a list of tools you need to do the job:
In Conclusion In closing, here’s another quote from Karen G. Schneider: “Whether for a few hours a month, one day a week, or as a way of life, librarians are taking advantage of Internet technologies to untie themselves from traditional library settings and work wherever their modems take them. “ I would encourage those interested in this option to explore the issues involved. There are many benefits for both the employer and the employee, as Susanna Weaver notes in her article “Non-traditional Jobs for Special Librarians.” For the employer: “increased productivity, increased recruitment and retention rates, increased customer satisfaction, and consolidation/reallocation of space.” For the employee: “fewer distractions, less downtime, no commute, flexibility, more personal time, and having the freedom to set up workspace according to personal preference.” Recommended Reading
Andrea Delumeau was a reference librarian at the American Library in Paris when she had a brain hemorrhage in 2001. She is now telecommuting a couple of hours a week as outreach services librarian for her former employer. Article published Nov 2006 Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer editors.
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Page last updated
11/01/2006
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