Mark Huppert wrote :
> The main reason to have library staff available to answer questions
> has nothing to do with such high-falutin' stuff. The users need to
> know local policies and procedures, status of aquisitions budgets,
> sort out administrative errors, find out the local geography - meeting
> rooms, toilets, etc.
and Thomas Krichel wrote :
> This reminds me of what my former boss told me. In 2008 called me
> to his office to declare that the public librarian needs to know two
> things. 1: last week's lottery numbers, 2: where the toilet is.
Maybe one then can't help ( and shouldn't eschew )
pondering whether in fact an MLIS, insistence on the
standing of a profession, demanding and holding faculty
status, a impressive accumulation of publications,
associations, conferences, discussion fora ( ! ), etc.
really should be considered a requirement -- or even
terribly relevant -- for enabling and supporting this kind
of activity. ( Even *if* indeed a "high-falutin'" inquiry
does still occasionally come along, justifying referral to
one or more "experts", in documentary or other form. )
Thomas Krichel wrote further :
> And he repeated. It is very important to know where the toilet is. I
> have called his vision the scatological view of librarianship.
And you wish hereby to imply that in your view he
didn't know what he was talking about ?
> I find this vision detrimental to the future of the profession.
But how in fact ? And can or will the existence or
absence of this vision make any difference anyway
( and -- if so -- to what extent, in what way ? )
Just wondering about all this. Thanks for listening.
- Laval Hunsucker
Breukelen, Nederland
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Received on Fri Feb 11 2011 - 09:00:28 EST