>I don't think anyone really believes that
>librarians are going to get more help in the future,
>then based on this I can certainly understand that
>someone who has lived through these events would
>have a rather hopeless attitude.
...
>Librarians are supposed to learn these new skill sets
>and keep up with developments, while still being
>swamped with our "traditional work."
How is that different from the situation faced by any information
professional (IT, knowledge management, etc.)?
Libraries schools need to teach (and librarians need to accept) that
technical skills are required to be a librarian, and that librarians
will necessarily have to spend some of their personal time learning new
skills and concepts on an ongoing basis. I did that as a programmer for
a decade, and I was working 80+ hour weeks. I was paid a lot more, but
I was working twice the hours of a typical librarian, with mass amounts
of stress and business travel. Someone working closer to 40 hours a
week should be able to keep up with the basics of new technology, at
least.
Librarianship can not simply be about books anymore. That will continue
to be an important facet of it, but higher level information management
and a decent number of tech skills are just as important nowadays. If
libraries continue to rely on third party companies and groups to supply
all of that expertise, then they are giving up any claim to
professionalism.
Jesse Ephraim
Youth Services Librarian
Southlake Public Library
1400 Main St., Ste. 130
Southlake, TX 76092
Email: jephraim_at_ci.southlake.tx.us
Phone: (817) 748-8248
FAX: (817) 748-8250
www.southlakelibrary.org
uncommonly friendly service
Received on Tue Sep 23 2008 - 12:01:46 EDT