Gender, flexibility and opportunity: best use of human resources in UK HE libraries

Abstract

Purpose

To give an overview of some recent research into human resource (HR) deployment in library services in UK universities and colleges of higher education.

Design

The aim of the research in question was to evaluate the effectiveness of HR deployment. This implied a positivistic methodological approach, maintaining that the reality under examination, HR deployment, existed objectively and independently of the researcher. However, the research aimed to discover not only what happened but also why. So there was an overlap between the positivistic and phenomenological approach. To this end, the research collected quantitative data via a survey and the present paper provides a summary of the research aim, objectives, methodology and results.

Findings

The research findings indicate that staff deployment patterns in the context investigated are suboptimal and that, in consequence, individual libraries should be open to scrutiny in comparison with others not only in terms of their quantifiable patterns of library usage but also in terms of the patterns of their staff provision and staff deployment.

Research limitations

The findings only relate to UK universities and colleges of higher education.

Practical implications

The present research suggests five actions for practitioners.

Originality/value

The present research highlights the lack of benchmarking facilities in UK universities and colleges of higher education relating to HR deployment in libraries, and recommends that Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) extends the existing data collection in the Annual Statistical return to include this HR area.

Citation

MacLean, A.D.B. (2006), "Gender, flexibility and opportunity: best use of human resources in UK HE libraries", Library Review, Vol. 55 No. 7, pp. 403-413. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610682128