FLEXIBLE WORKING IN UK LIBRARY AND INFORMATION-SERVICES - CURRENT PRACTICE AND CONCERNS

Reports results of a study designed to explore flexible working in dif ferent types of library and information services (LIS) and the percept ions of library managers. Defines some of the different types of flexi ble working: part time work; job sharing; temporary work; term time wo rk; flexitime; and annual hours employment. The six month study was fi nanced by the School of Education and Humanities, Loughborough Univers ity, and arranged in three parts: a literature review; a questionnaire survey of LIS; and case study interviews with library managers. Findi ngs covered: the incidence of flexible workers in libraries; the incid ence of flexible workers by library department; library managers' reas ons for using flexible workers; library managers' opinions of flexible workers; and their future uses. Main areas of managers' concern were problems of co-ordination and communication. Concludes that library ma nagers need to develop an understanding of flexible worker demands and requirements. There is evidence that flexible workers have different reasons for such working from their full time colleagues and, presumab ly, value different things in the workplace. In order to develop good practice in this area, suggests further research into the expanding us e of temporary labour in LIS, the role of fixed term contracts and the nature of casual workers .