LISNews: Librarian News

I grabbed this item from the STS-L listserv this morning. The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded $10 million to 27 grant projects (listed here by state) aimed at recruiting and educating librarians to offset an expected shortage.

In May 2000, Library Journal magazine reported 40% of America's library directors plan to retire in 9 years or less. And, according to the July 2000 Monthly Labor Review, in 1998 57% of professional librarians were age 45 or older. The March 2002 issue of American Libraries magazine showed that based on 1990 Census data almost 58% of professional librarians will reach the age of 65 between 2005 and 2019.

[On a personal note, my library school, The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN, will be one of the recipients.]

2 articles over at Chronicle.com take a peak at being a librarian.
Becoming a Librarian, by Todd Gilman, the librarian for literature in English at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library. After years of fruitless hunting for a faculty job, an English Ph.D. finds his niche.

Turning Ph.D.'s into Librarians, by Mary Dillon Johnson, who has a Ph.D. in English from the University of California at Berkeley, is director of graduate-career services at Yale University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. A new fellowship program opens an alternate route to careers in academic libraries.
NOTE: Both articles require a subscription.

Bob Cox shares with us a Story Out Of California on The growing problem of library-worker injuries is a mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes. And an expensive one, having cost taxpayers $360,000 in medical settlements.

Last year, a record 17 employees at the 10-branch city-county system reported on-the-job injuries such as arm pain and loss of feeling in their hands.

Though the repetitive nature of various aspects of the work is believed to be a primary cause of the injuries, library officials can’t explain the recent increase.

"It’s really complex," said Richard Eberley, who is in charge of circulation. "It’s not one thing."

A couple stories today on Barbara, now ex-director of Westminster's Forbush Memorial Library in MA.
This One Enterprise she was fired after library staffers complained about her management style at a Tuesday meeting between the Board of Selectmen and the Library Board of Trustees.
Another says Among the complaints brought forth during the meeting were that on several occasions, Friedman made staff members feel and look inept in front of patrons by taking over jobs they were doing in a disrespectful manner.