On the eve of ALA, a standard but still welcome defense of the profession from ALA president Carol Brey-Casiano and BPL head Bernard A. Margolis:
Next week a storied team with more than 64,000 members and millions of loyal fans will gather in Boston to try to lift a “curse” that has been haunting them for decades.
For the American Library Association, the situation is even more haunting than the 86-year “curse of the Bambino.” Despite the fact that more people are using libraries than ever before, their funding continues to decrease. More than $80 million has been cut from public library budgets in the past year alone, which has weakened or closed libraries in more than 40 states …
Patrons may not realize how important the library is until they arrive to find the doors shuttered, the computers dark, or the periodicals missing. At that point it will be too late. We must act now to ensure the future of the library …
Complete article from the Boston Globe.
Um,,,,yeah
Preaching::Chior as
a)ALA::Librarians
b)ALA::Michael Moore
c)ALA::underpaid post-graduates
d)ALA::apathetic public
Libraries have lost a great deal of their public value and I feel it is because of the shifting of traditional librarian positions off to those less capable of handling them. As librarians we should be outraged by this, however being the Milquetoasts that librarians are assumed to be we just go with the flow.
At least they didn’t mention the librarian shortage… or Sasquatch.
ALA and the Issues
Issues such as library funding and the future of librarianship are extremely important. I don’t think the issue is librarian’s being timid as much as the library and library profession becoming increasing politicized. We see that libraries are being used more than ever. The question requires a kind of market analysis. Is the increased use due to INTERNET use, inclusion of questionable material or a cheap babysitting service or homeless shelter? With accurate market analysis a good case can be made for funding. The problem is that the library has become a political arena and has alienated segments of the population. The profession needs to address problems not make more in trying to porve political points. The American Library Association should deal with professional issues and make them the essence of meetings. Are resolutions regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the war in Iraq really vital to the future of our profession? The ALA needs some soul searching.
Promote Librarians, not Libraries!
Part of the problem has been the ALA and many library directors have always promoted libraries, not librarians. They have always advertised libraries as a collection of books, or a place to go, rather than librarians as being the people who answer questions.
The end result is that people value libraries, but have no idea what librarians do. AMA promotes doctors. ALA promotes lawyers. APA promotes pharmacists. ALA promotes buildings.
What is needed is a series of advertisements advertising librarians as the people to go to to find things on the Internet, in books, and in magazines. As long as people associate libraries as places with books, we will end up on the short end of the stick. when libraries are associated as places where people can ask librarians to help find things out, librarians will be valued. Until then, we reap what we sow, or we weep at what’s sown.
R. Lee Hadden for ALA president!
Eli and Lee have excellent points.
Librarians and libraries need help!!
We can support our own liberal or conservative causes on our own time.
I have recently not renewed my ALA membership, and have instead joined SLA. Why? They seem to deal with library/librarian/information issues instead of all the political causes. And, the local chapter seems to offer networking meetings and career development at a much lower cost. And, they seem to be concerned about LIBRARIANS (or info managers, or content providers, or whatever we’re being called these days.)
I think ALA has lost it’s focus, and is really no longer relevant–at least for me. As Lee points out, it promotes libraries, books, and reading rather than librarians.
I want a professional association that supports librarians, not books or reading or political causes or the building known as a library.
Re:Promote Librarians, not Libraries!
Been discussed elsewhere, but it’s the American Library Association and is not set up to promote librarians. They’ve tried with the ALA-Allied Professional Association, which has gone over like a lead balloon. Here is info on National Library Workers Day, which promotes the work that library workers do, rather than libraries themselves. There was a pretty decent video introduced last year that shows a variety of library workers and what they do. It is tied in with the better salaries initiative, which some may find inappropriate, but I see it as a start.
It’s been argued here before that ALA-APA is not the solution because of its focus on certification. Perhaps if APA can focus less on that and more on just promoting the work of librarians, they’d see more interest and success.
Re:Promote Librarians, not Libraries!
I saw that video at NELA. It stunk. Here’s my review at the time:
Brey actually started things off and talked a little bit about ALA-APA (ugh) and was nice enough to throw in a pro-librarian quote from that intellectual giant Michael Moore. I think his name came up a couple times at this session, I gotta take better notes. Anyways, we got treated to the new ALA video called “For Love Or Money.� Let’s start with the quality. I help produce a monthly program for our library that broadcasts on the local cable channel. Was it better than that? Yes, but only by a smidge. I don’t know if they paid someone to have this done but I hope it wasn’t much, it was like something on PBS from the 70s.
Now let’s talk content. Who was this for? I’m still not sure. The issue was librarians’ salaries, if that’s the case why am I seeing clips of system administrators and custodians? Why am I getting comparisons with accountants who are private sector? They might make more but do they get the bennies? Do they have job security? Jenna Freedman is on it, with her blue hair (there’s an argument for better salaries), tells us she doesn’t want to be a mercenary about the pay but… Don’t say you don’t want to be mercenary about it and then be mercenary about it, everyone is mercenary about it (more on that in a minute). The whole video was a whine fest. Google was mentioned at least 3 times, saying, “yeah we love Google but there’s so much more to it then Google!� They never say what that is they just find people from every age or race group available saying how helpful librarians are. Yeah that sells. This would have been a good time to discuss concept like the Reference Interview and how it works, local information, private collections, variety of formats, the concept of knowledge and information. We got zip.
Re:Promote Librarians, not Libraries!
But, couldn’t the organization be “re-set up” to promote librarians?
Why does it have to stay the way it’s always been?
If the media and others are intent on perpetuating the “internet=no books=no libraries” myth, we’re going to be in trouble if ALA stays on the reading & libraries & political path.
Re:Promote Librarians, not Libraries!
It’s a tax status issue. The way ALA is set up, it cannot advocate for its members. ALA-APA was set up to do that with a different tax status. Here’s a quick overview.