If the numbers are there, I’d like to see them. Otherwise this speculation about the graying of the profession doesn’t really seem to be fact-based.
“ALA is still promoting the idea that we are approaching a librarian shortage and cannot possibly train enough people to continue on the grand tradition of librarianship. This information was suspect a couple years ago, and considering the state if libraries right now–academic, public and special– it’s a damn lie.” [via @librarianmer]
Tom Bruce from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute talks about technologists being managed by non-technologists, and about the future of academic libraries in this thoughtful and amusing plenary talk.
In my experience, most of us don’t think about professions most of the time. We just get up and drag ass to work, whether we’re law teachers or opera singers or technologists or librarians or plumbers. We like to go to work if that is a place where our expertise is respected. And if we are not respected and we see ourselves as having little control over the very things for which we are held responsible, all of us get very, very unhappy. At the simplest level talk about professional models is nothing more and nothing less — on both sides — than displaced anxiety about where we stand in the workplace. Librarians have, for a long time, been able to draw some comfort and stability from trappings built up around the technology of print. That is going away. Technologists never had such a stable place to stand. And universities and law schools are particularly anxious workplaces now. So maybe we should spend less time debating professional models and concentrate on why it is that we need to talk about them so badly.
Please see the attached document regarding a possible boycott of Nature Publishing Group journals by UC faculty. We urge you to read this important update, which has been jointly prepared by the University Libraries and the University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication. Please contact me directly with your comments and concerns.
Sincerely,
Gary E. Strong
UCLA University Librarian
Just a small heads up in case you missed it. The woman who was responsible for the deaths of the two Connecticut librarians, Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz, on their way home from ALA in Colorado has received a sentence of 36 years in jail, the maximum allowable sentence.
Not only is it now an iSchool, and they’re offering an MLIS [among other degrees. I have an MLib] but they’re making information accessible and popular. Enjoy this Lady Gaga sendup. Watch for the Nancy Pearl cameo. Awesome job folks. I really should go back for my PhD. Some discussion and adoration on BoingBoing. [via]
Florida decided to restore state aid to Florida’s public library system. This is good news. There’s also a quirky feel good story about one Florida librarian a systems librarian at Wilderness Coast Public Libraries, who dedicated his vacation to hanging around the Capitol which he did last year as well.
This year Paul spent days at the Florida Capitol, holding signs in suppport of State Aid funding for public libraries. At midnight on April 26 as funding was restored, Senator J.D. Alexander acknowledged that advocates could learn a lot from Paul’s example.
Sarah Glassmeyer has some great advice for people in the profession who are looking for mentoring or considering being a mentor. I find that aside from more official ALA sorts of set-ups, there are a lot of opportunities to help people who are newer to the profession sort of get their sea legs and sometimes it’s incredibly useful to give/get a “reality check” about what is considered normal in the workplace. I know I’ve benefitted greatly from other more expereinced librarians and technology folks giving me their read on a situation and I like to think I can do the same for others.
If you don’t already read the Cool Tools blog you probably should, even if you’re not much of a blog reader. Camille Cloutier is the reference librarian for Kevin Kelly [yes he has his own personal librarian. Her awesome job was profiled in A Day in the Life when it was held by someone else] and she has made an amazingly effective recipe aggreagator. The tool is cool, her explanation about how and why she made it is even cooler.
Library Journal Mover and Shaker nominations are open until this Friday. I have to say that being in the first group of Movers and Shakers back in 2002 gave me a sort of boost of recognition in an otherwise large and sometimes overhwlming seeming profession. I try to nominate someone every year if I can and I’m set for this year. Have you nominated anyone? Go do it!
For the past ten years, Luis Soriano, a teacher in the small town of La Gloria, Colombia, has been following the same ritual. Every week-end, he gathers his donkey in front of his house, straps on the “Biblioburro” pouches to its back, and loads them with a selection of books from the eclectic collection he has acquired over the years. Off on his mobile library, he travels into the hills and through the fields to the villages beyond where children await his visits impatiently. He firmly believes that bringing books to people who don’t have access to them can improve the country and open up possibilities for the future generation of Colombia.
Hi. My name is Jessamyn West and I'll be your librarian today. I work in rural Vermont as a library technologist and am a community manager at MetaFilter.com. My personal blog is at jessamyn.com. This blog's twitter feed @librarian.net. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or comments.
