A Proposition

Well, I’ve got you this far and that’s half the battle, they say…

I’m writing this blog because I’m angry–That’s why a lot of blogs are written, I suppose but I’m hoping that my writing will find company in the minds of others like me (and there are many of us!). In 2006, there were over 220,000 library assistants and technicians (library page figures were not given) in the States alone according to the US Department of Labor; compared to librarians, we are more diverse, we are often under paid for the services we provide and, with nearly half of all American librarians reaching the age of retirement in the next decade, we are the immediate future of the profession.

The move from being the paraprofessional to the professional, library workers to “real” librarians is, of course, defined by the Master of Library Science Degree (MLS)–the union card of the library profession and a document losing tangible meaning and purpose with each passing year. With the advent of on-line programs that now allow nearly anyone able to pay tuition the title of “Librarian”, incompetence has become significant issue in library staff across the country. Whereas a group of library staff may have once had the ability to choose between two or three candidates based on their personal skills, experience and abilities, human resource regulations and backward thinking in library management  now automatically consider a candidate with an MLS to be superior despite the widely varying qualities of education in these programs.

I’m fed up with it. I love library work and the studies that relate to it–I refuse choose between it and a practical source of income because of this barrier–there is something that can be done. Like other forms of creative, intelligent work today, including graphic design and photography, job selection can be based on the past work (displayed in the form of portfolios) of the individual representing the worker in the most direct and accurate way possible–This we can do.

Future interviews, after convincing employers to see us, will give us the time to make our case. We can present tables showing collection assessment, photos of past projects, papers on LIS subjects and produce letters of recommendation. I’m keeping this blog to record my attempt at this and to share resources I come across, review textbooks I borrow through ILL, report on my dealings with other staff when it comes to these pursuits and, I hope, to serve as a platform upon which others like me can share their insights.

The timing is right for a radical change in our profession to a degree that has not come before in recent history and, through our cooperation, it can be achieved.