THE EFFECTS OF EXTENDED LOAN PERIOD, RELEASED TIME, AND INCENTIVE PAY ON INCREASING SHELVING AND SHELF-READING PRODUCTIVITY OF STUDENT ASSISTANTS IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

The purpose of this research was to determine if an extended loan period, released time, and incentive pay increased the student assistants' shelving and shelf-reading rates. The first quasi-experiment utilized loan, time, and pay given across the board as motivators. Because the population for this study was small, a questionnaire, intended to strengthen the study's results by identifying additional libraries which effectively use similar motivational techniques, was mailed to the forty private university libraries throughout Texas. A second questionnaire polled the student participants about their feelings about shelving and shelf-reading and about the motivators used in the study. The second quasi-experiment motivated the student assistants by pay tied to productivity. Gender, grade point average, and academic classification were control variables for this study.;The analysis of data revealed that for the first study no motivator induced greater shelving productivity at Texas Christian University or Bishop College. At Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary the extended loan and pay given across the board caused greater productivity. For shelf-reading only Texas Christian University had completed enough data for interpretation, and only pay proved effective. The questionnaire sent to other libraries indicated that these libraries do not come from the same population as the test site libraries. The student questionnaire indicated that though the motivators the student assistants liked did not always cause greater productivity greater job satisfaction did prevail. The analysis of data for the second study showed that pay tied to productivity did influence shelving behavior but not shelf-reading behavior. These results indicated that this motivator proved the most effective.;The population of the first study included forty-nine student assistants employed in the circulation departments at Texas Christian University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bishop College, Dallas Baptist College, and Abilene Christian University, the control group. The second study involved the student assistants in Texas Christian University's circulation department.