Call for volunteers for CLA/APLA/NLLA National Conference

Ivan Douthwright sent the following call for volunteers to the APLA list. If you are able to help out, please contact him at Ivan dot Douthwright at abu dot nb dot ca. (Sorry so confusing-looking - trying to protect Ivan from the spam demons):

Hi folks.

As most of you know, the CLA/APLA/NLLA National Conferencewill be held in May of 2007 in St. John's. Shannon Gordon and HeatherPretty from the Queen Elizabeth II have agreed to co-chair the LocalArrangements Committee for the conference but they need some help. Wewill need several volunteers for the Committee for the planning from nowtill May and we will also need about 100 on site volunteers during theconference, May 23-27,2007 at the Delta and Mile One Centre in St.Johns. Please consider how you may be able to help your association (regardless of which one(s) you are a member of ). We are particularlyinterested in getting the committe complete and working at this point soif you would like to volunteeror have suggestions of who we shouldcontact, please advise me ASAP.

A similar appeal is going out from NLLA so please excuse any duplications.

Let me know if you can help. It is already shaping up to be a greatconference so please consider taking an active part.

Thanks
Ivan

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Advocates Needed @ Your Library!

As part of a mini assignment for an Advocacy & Library Issues course that I’m taking we were asked how we would respond to someone who said that libraries are not going to be around much longer and that it makes no sense to want to become a librarian in 2006. Even though I’ve been a proud library user for 23 of my 28 years, inspired 5 classrooms full of students to visit their local libraries frequently, and am currently in library school it wasn’t easy to come up with a response. I think the majority of library users feel that way. We all know that libraries are valuable, essential parts of our communities, but if we were ever asked to verbalize why many of us would immediately fall quiet. Here’s an excerpt of the response that I posted to the class discussion board:

If someone told me that libraries are not going to be around much longer I would tell them that they are mistaken! I’d kindly inform them that as non-patrons of any library, they are in the minority, as 66% of Canadian adults have and use a library card regularly (Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, 2006), while an overwhelming 90% of Americans believe that libraries will still be needed in the future (Long Overdue, 2006). I would proceed to inform them that the library is not limited to its physical building, and ask if they are aware that a variety of adult and children’s services have been designed solely for those accessing the library’s resources from a remote location.

I would offer the opinion that as our society continues to experience rapid technological advancement, libraries are the main institutions actively seeking to bridge the digital divide, consequently making them more important than ever! Even for those fortunate enough to have access to a computer and the Internet in their homes, technology isn’t a panacea for poor literacy skills. In his keynote lecture to the CLA in 2004, Michael Gorman stated, “An illiterate with a computer is no better off than an illiterate with a book!”

I won’t officially become a librarian until the end of the winter semester, but I already see that my chosen profession lacks a current generation of advocates. What can be done to encourage current and future librarians to become advocates for the profession?

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Library schools: Get Real?

We have probably all heard someone express the opinion that library schools are not preparing librarians for reality. I hear this all the time from students and colleagues, and I must admit that when I started my first professional position, I was concerned about how much my MLS program didn’t teach me. I felt that I had to learn everything I needed to know on the job.

This is also reflected in the LIS literature. A search for education for librarianship on the Library Literature database reveals that much has been written about “what we didn’t learn in library school” or the importance of “bridging the gap” between practitioners and educators. The discussions revolve around the idea that library schools are “out of touch”. Many have gone so far as to declare that there is a “crisis” in LIS education. Some authors have offered solutions, such as creating a core curriculum for LIS education (Mulvaney, O'Connor). Some have advocated the idea of forging stronger ties between practicing librarians and the LIS faculty who teach librarians (Dougherty). Others have challenged this idea. In a recent article (entitled “Crying Wolf”), Andrew Dillon contends that the data do not support the assertion that library schools are failing students.

When I hear or read things like this, I must first wonder how different we are from other professions? Do other professional programs (engineering, nursing, etc.) do a better job at preparing students for “the real world”? Is this problem unique to MLS programs and library schools? Whether or not this is the case, it seems clear that the negative perception is real. If we take the debate a step further and focus on how library schools are preparing students for academic librarianship, it becomes even more complex. Academic librarians are often expected, on top of their “regular duties”, to take on research activities. I don’t know about the rest of you, but my MLS program certainly didn’t prepare me for that!

I would like to know what others think. Did your MLS program prepare you for the real world? If you are in a senior position, do you find that recent graduates are adequately prepared to work as librarians, and more specifically as academic librarians? And perhaps most importantly…rather than simply complaining about it, what can we do to improve the situation? Can practicing librarians help library schools to better prepare our future colleagues?

________________________________________


Yes, like a true librarian, I have cited some sources…

Dillon, Andrew, and April Norris. "Crying Wolf: An Examination and Reconsideration of the Perception of Crisis in LIS Education." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 46.4 (2005): 280-98.

Dougherty, Richard M. "Building Bridges: Library Educators and Practitioners." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32.3 (2006): 221-2.
Mulvaney, John Philip, and Dan O'Connor. "The Crux of our Crisis." American Libraries 37.6 (2006): 38-40.

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Seeking Examples of Leadership Among New Professionals

Melanie Sellar wants "to profile a number of new professionals who have completed their MLIS within the last few years and who have demonstrated leadership potential on a large or small scale", for an article that she is writing on the topic.

She is looking for regional representation from across the country, so send on your referrals to melanie_sellar AT hotmail DOT com.

[cross posting from the APLA list]

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Recruitment and Stereotypes

After reading Gillian's last post I started to think about how I came to librarianship. Like some of the other posts, I too have an MA in another subject (History) and had full intentions of becoming a professor in Early Modern Italian history. However, the fates decided that a History PhD wasn't in my future and, through a long series of events, I decided to come to library school and have never regretted the decision. For me, librarianship is kind of a home coming. It just feels "right."

However, my passion for LIS does not stop people from asking me why I decided to go to library school (of all places, they seem to want to add). There have been recent attempts to change this attitude with the Info*Nation web site and the Nancy Pearl action figure.

So, in addition to pondering whether or not you feel that librarianship is a "morally sound choice in a morally unsound world," I'd like to ask all of you what you think about recruiting to the profession. Should we be emphasizing our inner Nancy Pearls and geek qualities as a way to recruit (sort of a "librarians are cool too" approach)? Or, should we be emphasizing our "morally sound" side (Access to information, privacy advocacy, etc)?

In other words, while you're thinking about what drew you to our profession think about how you would recruit others. Do you think the factors that influenced your decisions will influence future potential librarians?

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librarianship: "a morally sound choice"?

I had a conversation with a student the other day who had at one point considered going into librarianship; he said that he thought it was, "a morally sound choice in a morally unsound world". I was rather taken aback by this statement, not just because I questioned the truth of it, but because I'm fairly certain (it's been a while since my school days) that neither morals nor ethics were a factor in my decision to enter the field. As I recall, my reasons for joining the profession were far more pragmatic; I thought that I could get a job, and one that wouldn't bore me. As for the academic side of things, I’ve always loved universities and thought being an academic librarian would allow me to be a part of academia without having to deal with all the uncertainties and politics of the professorial ranks (not sure I was right on that one, by the way!).

So, because that innocent comment caused such reflection on my part, I thought I would pose a question to you, noble readers and posters: what were your motivations for entering the profession? What importance do you feel morals play in librarianship? That last one might not be easy to answer without writing a novel, but please, take a crack at it.

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