LISNews: Librarian News

Studio B Buzz suggested this One from CNN on \"Bibliotherapy\". It hasn\'t caught on in The States yet, but I bet people in California have something like this, don\'t they?

\"So where can you -- the average depressed, stressed-out, anxiety-ridden American -- find a good bibliotherapist in this country? Sorry, but you probably won\'t find one at all. Officials at the American Library Association (ALA) say that librarians in the United States aren\'t accustomed to handing out prescriptions for literary medicine. \"More from CNN

\"It\'s not something we\'re doing on this side of the pond,\" says Mary Jo Lynch, the director of ALA\'s Library and Research Center. \"It\'s certainly not something that we\'re using in any of our committees or sections at ALA. Librarians here have never called themselves \'bibliotherapists.\' We don\'t use that title. It isn\'t something that we feel we\'re qualified to do.\"

Lynch raises the inevitable question: Is your average librarian really qualified to dispense treatment for depression and anxiety -- even if the medication being prescribed is strictly literary? Lynch says the Brits are going out on a shaky limb. \"This is a very litigious society,\" she points out. \"If you hang out a shingle and claim that you can cure people, you\'re making yourself vulnerable (to lawsuits).\"