(via Cynthia Ippoliti, California State University San Marcos)
Librarians are often asked to take on non-librarianship work that may not be formally integrated into their job descriptions. These situations can cause role confusion, introduce unexpected complications into existing processes and practices, and contribute to employee burnout and disengagement.
While the reality of academic librarianship is that practitioners, especially administrators, will always have portfolios that include non-library specific work, there is much that can be done to ensure they feel confident and prepared to take on work related to HR, finance, fundraising, building management, space planning, copyright or other laws, contract negotiations, determining insurance policies, and planning events. Such strategies include accessing professional development, clarifying workloads and responsibilities, updating workflows, collaborating with campus or community partners, and balancing new skills and identities.
Co-editors Lori Birrell and Cinthya Ippoliti invite proposals that speak to such experiences and strategies. Those selected will be included in the forthcoming monograph, published by the Association of College & Research Libraries, Beyond librarianship: Strategies for taking on “other duties as assigned” in academic libraries.
The monograph will be organized into 5 sections:
- Human resources and finance
- Space planning
- External relations
- Legal and regulatory activities
- Professional growth and skill development
Contributors may submit case studies that speak to their experience executing a particular functional task or a proposal describing their professional growth as it relates to one of the five sections.
Please click here to read the full Call for Proposals and access the proposal submission form. Proposals are due: Friday, October 31, 2025. Please feel free to reach out to the editors (lori@birrell.us or cippoliti@csusm.edu) with any questions, and we look forward to working with you!