Separation of Professional and Nonprofessional Duties in Circulation Work in American Public Libraries

A Study of the Term of 1920s-1950s

Abstract

In the former paper (OHBA 1994), the author elucidated that bases of the separation of professional and nonprofessional duties in American public libraries was established during the 1920s to the 1950s. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the developmental process of the separation of professional and nonprofessional duties in circulation work in American public libraries during the same period. For this study，32 literatures on the separation of duties in circulation work were gathered, and changes of related facts on circulation work were analyzed.
As the results, following facts were elucidated.
1) In the position classification plan of the American Library Association (1939), professional personnels took charge of nonprofessional duties in circulation work as a regular routine until they had taken a certain amount of experience.
2) In the process of separation of professional and nonprofessional duties in circulation work, (1) improvement of charging systems and (2) improvement of circulation desks were made.
3) After the 1930s, under the professional personnel's supervision, nonprofessional personnels came to take charge of circulation work gradually.
4) In the 1950s, separation of duties in circulation work was realized in large public libraries, but it was difficult in small public libraries because of fewer personnels and lesser budget. Therefore, in small public libraries, there were subprofessional personnels who shared both of professional and nonprofessional duties.