National Library News November 1999 Vol. 31, no. 11

The Universal Classification Standard: Another Example of Library Cooperation

Libraries have a long tradition of cooperation. This is evident in the kinds of activities they undertake on a daily basis: interlibrary loan, cooperative cataloguing, participation in consortia, etc. Recently, federal government libraries have been called upon to work cooperatively in another way: to help with the implementation of the federal government’s Universal Classification Standard (UCS).

The UCS is the new work evaluation system being used by the federal public service. It was developed to provide a human resources framework, representative of the broad range of work in the federal government, so that jobs as diverse as fire fighter, food research chemist, mail operations clerk and reference librarian can be described and evaluated by the same standard. Its development is directed by a team of human resources specialists at the Treasury Board Secretariat.

The UCS is based on the principle that classification standards should be simple, universal and gender neutral. It is simple because the same standard applies to everyone; universal because it is capable of evaluating the full range of work within the Public Service of Canada; and gender neutral because it identifies and values the characteristics of work of both men and women according to a common standard. As well, it provides a mechanism to describe aspects of work that have, until now, been invisible, undervalued or difficult to describe and evaluate, e.g., the combined skill and effort required to conduct a reference interview in a busy, open office environment.

While each government department is responsible for writing and evaluating work descriptions for each staff member, the UCS team recognized that there are many jobs that are similar. They established an initiative to draft model work descriptions, the common elements of which could be used as a base for individual work descriptions. Through the Council of Federal Libraries (CFL), the library community was invited to participate in this exercise. Recognizing this invitation as an opportunity to ensure that library work descriptions based on these models would be well and consistently written and that they would adequately reflect the level of responsibility, skill and effort necessary to do the job, the library community quickly put together a team of nine individuals to participate. Team members were Dorothy Drew (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Elizabeth Geehan (Health Protection Branch, Health Canada), Alison Hale (National Archives of Canada), Joan Hampl (Revenue Canada), Joanne Hauck-DeMorest (Foreign Affairs and International Trade), Barbara Kaye (Human Resources Development Canada), Tony Moren (Statistics Canada), Dena Rabow (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) and Sharon Ward (National Library of Canada). This exercise resulted in 11 models that cover most aspects of library work.

On an informal basis, library staff across the government shared completed work descriptions and discussed aspects of the descriptions that were troublesome. From these discussions, common concerns were identified and, in some cases, working groups were established to address specific issues. For example, several people requested guidance on writing work descriptions for the position of head librarian. A working group met to discuss what should be included in the descriptions and a draft model was developed.

Another small working group was invited to participate in an exercise conducted by a UCS development team to determine how many levels of jobs are required to accomplish the complete range of work in libraries, from managing staff to shelving books, from cataloguing the collection and serving clients to opening the mail. The group identified all the levels required to conduct the business of the library, ensuring that all the specialized functions were represented, and made their recommendations to the UCS Team.

The library community has also had to remain informed and identify changes in the implementation of the standard that may affect how library jobs are described and evaluated. In a recent revision of the standard, the UCS Team modified how Element Seven — Job Content Knowledge Application — is evaluated. Members of the community are currently reviewing the changes to ensure that this important aspect of library work remains properly described and valued.

The federal libraries’ response to the challenge of a new job classification standard is a fine example of their long tradition of cooperation. Participation in the model work description writing exercise was organized quickly and efficiently, and those who did not provide staff to be on the team provided financial support towards hiring a technical writer. Using the mechanisms in place, a listserv, Web site, as well as e-mail and the telephone, the community has worked effectively towards ensuring that library positions are accurately described and valued in the Universal Classification Standard. As Jean Weerasinghe, manager, Information and Research Centre, Privy Council Office, and chair of CFL’s Priorities and Planning Committee, said, "Cooperation and sharing information is as natural as breathing to us. We all do a better job when we help each other."