April 2001

Lee Hadden has written an interesting look at class rules and the social order in libraries. Since he put Systems Librarians near the top, I can\’t help but agree with him 😉

\”It doesn\’t surprise me that there are problems of going from one
aspect of librarianship to another. It violates class rules in libraries,
and upsets the social order.
Actually, there is an unnamed but very strongly identified pecking
order in the class of librarians. Why are people getting so upset over this
problem? Passions are heated because the stakes are so small. Actually,
social settings are set up rather like a water fountain, with a number of
different library jobs floating at the top, but fewer identified ones at
the bottom. \”

Much More…

Lee Hadden has written an interesting look at class rules and the social order in libraries. Since he put Systems Librarians near the top, I can\’t help but agree with him 😉

\”It doesn\’t surprise me that there are problems of going from one
aspect of librarianship to another. It violates class rules in libraries,
and upsets the social order.
Actually, there is an unnamed but very strongly identified pecking
order in the class of librarians. Why are people getting so upset over this
problem? Passions are heated because the stakes are so small. Actually,
social settings are set up rather like a water fountain, with a number of
different library jobs floating at the top, but fewer identified ones at
the bottom. \”

Much More…\”While few people can agree about who all should be at the top,
everyone agrees about who should be in the bilge on the bottom. Like the
definition of a lady, which few people can define but everyone knows who
isn\’t one, librarians are set into a social hierarchy of class and station.


So here is my definition of the library pecking order based on my own
limited library experiences. Individuals may disagree somewhat, but those
who disagree the most probably are either set at the top of the list, or
haven\’t had to look for a new job recently.


Within this hierarchy, there is some slack. Library technicians who go
on to get an accredited degree are held blameless from their earlier
heresy. Like appeals to like, and if you have been misplaced your station
you might have a chance of clawing back into the group of your like minded
fellows, if you don\’t stay away for long and become contaminated.



At the very bottom of the library totem pole are media specialists
without a master\’s degree

Only slightly above them are librarians with a master\’s degree but one
not blessed by the ALA.

Then are the elementary school librarians with a master\’s degree

Legal secretaries working in law offices who claim to be law
librarians but don\’t really have a clue

High school librarians

Circulation librarians

Contractor/contract librarians

Children\’s librarians in public libraries

Ref/Cataloging librarian in public libraries

Community college/vocational school librarians

Professional indexers/abstractors/database massagers

Hospital librarians

Library directors of public libraries, except for those in really big
cities.

Library consultants

Systems technicians without library degrees (well, if they ain\’t
higher on the class scale, they\’re sure paid better than many library
directors are, and are often treated with more respect)

Corporate and business librarians

Ref/Cataloging librarians in larger colleges or universities

Library school professors

Specialist librarians (SuDocs, humanities, physical sciences, art,
music, etc)

Specialized Specialist Librarians (archivists, medical, rare books)

Systems librarians

University library directors, directors of really big city public
libraries, deans of library schools, consortia heads, directors of well
known federal libraries



Now, anyone can go up or down a rung or two on this ladder. After all,
we don\’t _really_ believe this ladder even exists. However, try to climb
more than two ranks at one go, and you might be surprised at your response
from the powers that be. It is slightly similar to those who guard the
sides of rich merchantman sailing ships against boarding parties of
fearsome pirates.


A children\’s librarian with an ALA accredited master\’s in an
elementary school might have no problem applying for a job as a children\’s
librarian in a nearby public library. However, if the same person tried to
apply for a job as a reference librarian in the same public library, there
might be some objections from the ref folks. It would be odd to climb out
of your nice round hole and do something different, and that pulls up
alarms and red flags among the other staff.


Just to mix this up some more, there are directors who believe in
promoting from within the library, and those who want every new job opening
to be filled by someone from outside the library, so they are willing to
haul up someone from several rungs down from the outside, rather than
promote from within their own staff. The \”Incompetence by Affiliation
Syndrome.\”


Artificial methods of establishing class are readily accepted by many
librarians. Publications, speaking engagements, awards from non-library
organizations all help establish credentials. This leads to the trap of
\”overqualified applicants,\” which is also a good excuse to deny a job to
someone who might raise their class within the library field.


Foreign accents are a tremendous help. A posh English accent can get a
homeless person a job as patron advisor in a public library or in a
humanities section of a college library. A German or Russian accent (not
too heavy) helps in chemical, pharmaceutical and physical science
libraries, unless there is already one of those there. (Once in and the
door is shut)


The wife of a junior officer in the American military could torpedo
and sink his career by dressing better than the colonel\’s wife does, or by
displaying more couth and confidence, or by not knowing and remaining in
her assigned social place. (Of course this isn\’t true anymore. Everything
is fair and equal with no class differences. Can\’t happen in today\’s
military- right?) The same is true in libraries- outshine your future
boss, and you won\’t get in. Where else is there so much uncertaincy about
how to dress correctly for the job interview at different libraries?


Groups of librarians (BTW, is a group of librarians \”a shelf of
librarians\” or \”a catalog of librarians?\”) in a single department tend to
want to make sure any new applicants act and look just like themselves, so
they won\’t hire \”outsiders\” or people who are radically different. No
upward mobility among people already treading water! So if you are to be
examined by a team of library staff, watch out if you are NOKD (Not Our
Kind, Darling).



Anyway, these are my personal observations. Present company is always
excepted, this does not refer to you personally, and if you disagree with
me completely on class in libraries, I won\’t mind.

Your Grace. 😉\”

\”The President intends to nominate Robert S. Martin to be Director of the
Institute of Museum and Library Services. He is currently a Professor and
Interim Director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas
Women\’s University in Denton, Texas. He served as Director and Librarian
of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission from 1995 to 1999 and
served as a Professor and as Associate Dean of Special Collections at
Louisiana State University from 1991 to 1995. He is a graduate of Rice
University, received a Master\’s degree from North Texas State University
and a Doctorate in Library Science from the University of North Carolina. \”

Full Press Release

Uncle Frank has written a Review of Nicholson Baker\’s Book, Double Fold.
He says we, as librarians, have to choose and get rid of some stuff.
\” Saving everything, regardless of its merit, is not a choice, but an obsession\”.
He also says he\’s going to get rid of those Nancy Drew books.
Now that\’s a shame.

This is almost funny…

CyberNanny\’s web site has been defaced by a hacker called Hackweiser. It appears that Hackweiser has a sense of humor. If you type in the CyberNanny address, or click on the link, you\’ll get a prominent notice stating that \”it has been compromised and its admins \”may be \’trying\’ to figure out what the f*** has happened to their site\”. You can also read more here at The Register.

Someone writes \”

SUMMARY: The Florida legislature\’s resident homophobe is now arguing that unfiltered Internet access in public libraries creates \”sexual deviants.\” \”


Full Story

He also says there was at least one child running a pornography business from a library computer in Broward County.

Rob Lenholt writes \”This came through one of my listservs. It\’s
pretty cool.

Library science jeopardy! \”

Just like the popular television version, the primary rule remains to provide your answer in the form of a question. There are six categories to select from, each containing five answers in ascending order of difficulty.

Janet Clark writes:
\”
In Alberta most public libraries charge a membership fee. Librarians know
the arguments for and against that. Not a deterrent, some say. The
January/February 2001 issue of _Alberta News_ story \’Banff\’s very public
library\’ by Shelley Mardiros tells how Banff removed the fee and had three
times as many new members as in the previous January:

Full Story