[Original posting on this topic appeared in COLLDV-L no. 1556 and was
reproduced, following response #1, in COLLDV-L no. 1561B. This posting is
forwarded in two parts.]
From: CCHAMBER_at_neu.edu
Sheila Intner's Response to Charles Willett's Posting
ALCTS WORKS FOR US! OPEN ANSWERS FROM AN ALCTS MEMBER TO CHARLES
WILLETT'S "OPEN QUESTIONS FOR ALCTS"
by Sheila S. Intner, ALA Councilor-at-large & ALCTS Vice-president,
President-elect
*** The ideas and opinions expressed here are mine and have not been approved
or endorsed by any official body. -- SSI.
PART ONE (PART TWO will arrive in a separate message.)
INTRODUCTION
On Aug. 12, I received via email "Questions for ALCTS Members: An Open
Letter" by Charles Willett, coordinator of the Alternatives in Print Task
Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of ALA. Angry at the
failure of ALCTS President Carol Chamberlain's June 6th statement on
outsourcing to denounce the Hawaii State Librarian, Baker & Taylor, and
outsourcing, he castigated the statement bitterly.
Mr. Willett went on to denounce ALCTS for sins of omission --
insinuating that it did nothing, which is utterly false, as President
Chamberlain's statement demonstrated -- and sins of commission -- ALCTS
educated & informed people about outsourcing, but didn't wage an all-out war
against it.
THE SHORT ANSWER
In my opinion, Mr. Willett, what you wanted ALCTS to do isn't its
rightful business. ALCTS isn't for or against outsourcing. ALCTS is for
efficient, cost-effective, high-quality collecting, organizing, and
preserving library materials, in order to provide quality service to those
who use the library. If outsourcing gets these jobs done well, as it has in
numerous ways for as long as there has been an ALA, I'm for it. There are no
absolutes -- just individual cases of outsourcing that must be evaluated one
at a time, depending on what is outsourced and how, why, and what the
alternatives were.
When one read and analyzed the Hawaii contract (which most of us
Councilors had not been able to do when the issue first came before Council),
it was clear it was poorly drawn, but Mr. Willett and AIP didn't ask Council
and ALCTS to say that. The resolution AIP wanted Council and ALCTS to
approve included language that said outsourcing per se is bad and only
collections selected by local librarians are good (preferably, also
designating materials selection a "core value" of the profession.) In my
opinion, no thoughtful librarian can endorse this.
Mr. Willett and AIP still don't seem to want ALCTS to help craft better
wordings. He and they seem to prefer testimonials for those whom they
designate the "good guys" & against those they designate the "bad guys," or
they will bash ALCTS like they bashed the bad guys in Hawaii. I doubt this
approach will work with ALCTS or with Council.
[PART TWO will follow in another message]
Received on Thu Aug 28 1997 - 10:31:45 EDT