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The paper aims to discern, document, and analyze current staffing trends in college and university libraries.

The author gathered information from the literatures of library and information science and higher education.

The paper details six trends across public and technical services affecting librarians, non‐MLS professionals, and paraprofessionals. The presentation of trends is followed by a discussion of three concerns the author has about these trends.

The paper covers trends in college and university libraries but does not specifically address community college libraries. Community colleges may have similar issues, as well as unique trends; further research is encouraged.

Library managers will be able to compare developments in their libraries to the profession‐wide trends. They will also be able to link to a large body of literature on the topic.

This kind of comprehensive look at academic library staffing does not seem to have been published recently.

How can academic libraries unlock staff capacity for new initiatives as they transition their collections from print to digital? The following are four strategies for recapturing staff time as libraries adopt new formats while still supporting older ones at a smaller volume. First, librarians should employ strategic collection development that takes into consideration opportunities for efficiencies as they make the print to digital transition. Second, libraries should implement creative reorganizations in order to scale down print services and effectively manage new digital formats. Third, libraries should rightscale their infrastructure, that is, choose the appropriate level – local, consortial/regional, national, or global – where collection management activities should take place. Fourth, libraries, library software vendors, and publishers should develop purchasing and resource discovery infrastructures that harness shared data to enable network level electronic resource management.