Date: Sun, 08 Sep 2002 15:33:45 -0700
From: Vera Giles <v-giles-9_at_alumni.uchicago.edu>
Subject: RE - Where have all the Acquisitions Librarians Gone?
> It would be good to have input from the library school side as well -
do
> library schools care? Most of us learned the on the job - is that
really
> desirable?
As a library student at San Jose State, due to graduate this coming May
2003, I can state that in my opinion, no, library schools don't care.
My
father is a retired Head of Acquisitions & Collection Development at a
university library, so I was interested in taking an acquisitions or at
least a technical services course during my time in school. No dice.
Not
only are there no such offerings, but even other related courses seem
unwilling to be "tainted" by the association with seemingly mundane
technical services.
For example, when I wanted to write a paper on acquisitions issues in my
collection development course, I was discouraged by my professor and
told
that this was not a technical services class. How you can develop a
collection development policy without taking into account the
practicalities of acquiring the materials you wish to collect is a
mystery to me....
("We must collect more government documents from Afghanistan." "But
they're not
sending anything to the U.S. right now." "Don't bore me with details!")
There are also no courses with a serials focus at SJSU, although that
may
change after I graduate (I'm hearing stirrings from a new professor).
All
in all, I'm thankful for the small amount of paraprofessional experience
I've been able to glean from the time I've worked at Stanford, and
wondering if I'll ever be able to gain the experience and knowledge I
might
need to be a head of acquisitions without a lot of trial and error.
I'd love to hear the results of your survey, including how much
employers
are willing to relax their standards to hire an acquisitions librarian.
I
have a vested interest in that question!
Cheers,
Vera Giles
Received on Sun Sep 22 2002 - 13:30:40 EDT