1. introduction

1.1 Scope of the research

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Dunn and Wilson scholarship made this research project possible. The following question prompted me to conduct this research:

A great deal of time and resources are devoted to developing job descriptions in libraries, but are they relevant, current, accurate and useful?

This research project focused on examining job descriptions from an organisational library perspective in order to answer these questions.

The objectives of this research project were to:

determine the current practice of the role of job descriptions in Australian libraries, using Library Technicians as a sample group;
collate examples of Library Technician job descriptions to determine the type of information contained in them;
identify best practice in the design, content and uses of job descriptions; and
present recommendations to the library profession which would aid them in developing effective job descriptions that are current, relevant, accurate and useful.

The project was not concerned with job analysis or job design, the focus is on the actual job description and their content as this was the central issue dealt with in the research project. The research was conducted from September 1997 to February 1999.

The project consisted of three stages. Stage one involved a review of current literature on job descriptions. Stage two surveyed a sample group of Library Technicians throughout Australia. The aim of this survey was to gain information on job descriptions in Australian libraries including their use, when they are reviewed and the information contained in them. Stage three surveyed a number of organisations from a wide field (for example, banks, hotels, corporate organisations and airlines) in order to gain a wider perspective on the use of job descriptions and the type of information contained in them.

Within the literature, there appears to be some confusion as to what information is contained in a job description. Some authors state that a job description and person specification are separate documents. They (Drummond, 1994; Grant, 1989) argue that the job description focuses on the job, that is, the duties and the responsibilities involved in the job. While the person specification focuses on the human resources or the personal attributes of the person doing the job, that is, their experience, skills and qualifications. While other authors (Plachy and Plachy, 1993; Osborne, 1992; DeLon, 1994) state that both the job and person specifications are included in the job description. For the purposes of this research the term job description covers both details about the job and the person. This information may be included in the one document or separate documents.

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