Mr. Stephen McDonald understood the point I was making completely.
Thanks Stephen.
Librarianship is a profession, not a socio-political force or a way of
thinking.
Private librarians are not the exception, they are the originals. The
concept of Public Librarianship is something of a modern invention.
I am very happy and grateful for Librarians that work for Public Libraries.
They have a tremendous charge and duty to do well by their employers and
patrons. But, not all Librarians are public librarians.
Corporate Librarians, private institute librarians, CIA Librarians, and even
SPECTRE Librarians should not be exempted from the discourse of this list,
as they are all interested in providing better cataloging and information
retrieval for their patrons.
The purpose of this list, as I understand it, is to discuss NextGeneration
Catalogs.
Why have we started including topical discussion about the roles "of higher
and broader responsibilities" and "to justify our existence as public
Servants" ?
TJP
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of McDonald, Stephen
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 9:13 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] A Day Made of Glass
So you believe that a corporate law librarian should try to fill whatever
requests he gets, regardless of the stated purpose of the library and
company policies regarding misuse of company services? In your previous
message to which I originally responded, you stated, "If something is
available at a click on the web for free (e.g. a scan, a database, a
"something") does it mean that librarians have no responsibility to bring
their patrons' attention to it?" In some cases, in some libraries, yes,
that is absolutely correct--the librarians have no responsibility to bring
their patrons' attention to it. Not all libraries are the same.
I understand what you are trying to get at, but you are overstating the case
by expanding it to all librarians and all libraries. You are weakening your
argument. If you limit it to public and academic libraries, I will agree.
I believe that Todd, in the message you originally responded to, was
pointing out the exceptions. It is important to remember that not all
libraries are the same.
Steve McDonald
Steve.mcdonald_at_tufts.edu
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of James Weinheimer
> Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 4:37 AM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] A Day Made of Glass
>
> On 15/08/2011 22:26, McDonald, Stephen wrote:
> <snip>
> James, you have completely misconstrued Todd's statement. What he is
> talking about is not like someone asking a grocery clerk where the
> canned peanuts are. Todd is saying that if someone asks a grocery clerk
> "Where are the nails", he will say, "I'm sorry, we don't sell that
> here.
> Ask down the street at the hardware store." Or if person asks a clerk
> in
> a private warehouse "Where are the canned peanuts", he will say, "I'm
> sorry, if you don't work for this company you are not authorized to get
> canned peanuts from us." Not every library is in the business of giving
> out any and all information to anyone and everyone. Yes, if it is
> appropriate for a particular library to be supporting access to free
> information of a particular type for its particular patrons, then they
> should do so. But it would be ridiculous to say that, for instance, a
> corporate law librarian is ignoring his patron's needs if he does not
> provide access to online Dilbert comics.
> </snip>
>
> This is *exactly* what I meant. We are entering a new world, as shown
> in
> the Corning ad. What are patrons supposed to do if they want the
> Dilbert
> comics and cannot find them? Should librarians be able to pick and
> choose their questions based on how important *the librarian* thinks
> they are? If they hear the librarian say, "I cannot/will not/not
> authorized to help you" many people will just continue on their own and
> conclude that librarians are useless for their needs.
>
Received on Tue Aug 16 2011 - 11:47:30 EDT