Council On Library/Media Technicians

HISTORY

The Council on Library/Media Technicians was founded in 1967 by people who administered two-year associate degree programs for the training of library technical assistants. These librarians and educators recognized that the library support staff of the future would be called upon to provide increasingly more technical service to the libraries in which they worked and would need to continually update their skills. Originally the acronym COLT originally stood for Council on Library Technology. Within ten years COLT was well established as a national organization with members drawn from the full spectrum of those who work in and care about libraries including librarians, library support staff, library administrators and educators.

Though an independent organization, COLT, then, as now, believed in working with other groups with similar objectives. To this end, COLT became an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA) in 1976 cooperating with ALA in mutually beneficial projects including the drafting of a statement to guide the establishment of Library Technology education programs. That same year COLT sponsored a pre-ALA conference in Chicago with the theme "Work Roles of Non-Professionals and Professionals." The success of the conference prompted the Executive Board to resolve to hold either a conference, workshop, or seminars each year in conjunction with the ALA Annual Conference which enabled COLT to draw on ALA members' expertise as speakers and consultants.

To reach its expanding membership with interesting and comprehensive training programs, COLT established Region Directors according to geographic locations. The Region Directors maintain contact with their local members, and develop programs with other library associations within their regions. The established geographic regions are: Central, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest. After forming the regions, COLT held meetings throughout each to gather information on the problems and concerns of library technical school students and COLT members. A primary concern was the lack of job placement assistance. This led COLT to develop its own newsletter. The format included articles and ideas from the membership and job listings from potential employers. Other publications developed by COLT included a directory of library technology programs and book of job descriptions library support staff positions.

Certification became an important issue in 1981 when COLT formed a special committee to study the advisability of certification for Library/Media Technical Assistants. The committee consisted of representatives from the American Library Association, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, the American Association of Law Libraries, and other interested groups. After much study COLT decided to table the issue until the possibility of implementing national certification would have a greater chance to be successful.

In 1982, COLT assisted in revising the standards for the S-1411 (Library Technician) series of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Staff. COLT reviewed the tentative changes, and forwarded a response with recommendations. Through the years, COLT has also helped with updating and revising the Library Technician's information section, in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1982 was also the year that COLT adopted guidelines for the establishment of COLT local area chapters.

With the introduction of Library Mosaics in 1988, COLT ceased publication of its newsletter. Instead, COLT members became entitled to a subscription to Library Mosaics, the first (and only print) nationwide journal for library support staff. A COLT information column is a regular feature of Library Mosaics.

The 1990's were a busy decade. COLT became an incorporated organization in 1991. Its visibility increased on state and local levels due to the president's speaking engagements and participation with library support staff associations. In January 1991, during the Mid-Winter ALA Conference, COLT's Executive Board participated in the first meeting of ALA's library support staff interest Membership Initiative Group (MIG). People representing all areas of service in public, special and academic libraries shared in a lively discussion of the role of the library support staff worker. That same year COLT also participated in, and members often acted as facilitators for, the nationwide focus groups of the ALA Office for Library Personnel Resources, Standing Committee on Library Education (SCOLE), World Book-Goal Award Project on Library Support Staff. Additionally, COLT submitted a chapter for the ALA SCOLE casebook developed to characterize the status of library support staff issues.

The 1990s COLT saw growth in a number of areas. Programs at conference grew in number and scope of topics. Membership grew through the formation of new chapters. New services were offered to members. And new cooperative projects were initiated. At the 1992 ALA Mid-Winter Conference in San Antonio, Texas, COLT's Executive Board met with the Directors of Library Technical Programs to discuss topics, problems, and plans for future Library Technical Assistants programs. COLT's Education Chairperson conducted the first meeting of this task force at the 1992 COLT Summer Conference in San Francisco. During the 1990's COLT representatives also participated in the ALA Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) task force on meeting the continuing education needs of library paraprofessionals and the ALA Committee on Education’s task force to revise the criteria for library technical education programs.

During the 1993 ALA-Midwinter Conference in Denver, Colorado, COLT and the ALA MIG worked together to create a purpose statement and a new petition for support staff round table status which was submitted to the ALA Committee on Organization. From this effort, the Support Staff Interests Round Table (SSIRT) was formed. As an independent organization COLT continues to work with SSIRT and other groups within ALA to the mutual benefit of all our members.

COLT continued its support of continuing education with the introduction of COLT Speaker Information Exchange in 1994. This is a database of individuals available to speak on a variety of library related topics. Topics include library techniques and procedures, products, new applications of old ideas, library issues, and motivational techniques. As COLT chapters grew the opportunities for local area workshops also grew especially in Northern California and the northeast.

In 1994 COLT again began action on Certification. The Certification Committee prepared a survey asking specific questions to obtain information that was then discussed and debated. Certification remains a concern for all library support staff, and COLT continues to work to establish a national certification process of value to both the individual and the employer.

COLT joined with Library Mosaics in 1995 to establish the first national, annual awards to recognize both an outstanding library support staff person and a supporter of support staff. The awardees are featured in Library Mosiacs and invited to the COLT annual conference where they are each presented with a plaque and a monetary award.

As technology advanced, so did the way in which COLT could serve its members. An Internet Home Page was established in 1987 at URL: http://colt.ucr.edu/. It includes information about COLT and its activities, and links to other useful sites. One important service offered on the Home Page is the Northern California Chapter of COLT’s job line which began as a local resource. It now contains links to employment resources throughout the United States. More recently COLT established an Internet discussion group for its members.

As we enter the new century COLT will continue to address issues of importance to its members and the library community.