DIY Librarian

I knew I hadn’t posted in a while. Things have been busy at work. Things have been busy at home. I took a much-needed vacation.

But I had no idea it had been a whole month since I last posted! Things will probably be slow for a while, too, as I catch up on my reading.

I did, however, find a few minutes to complete Michael Stephens’ “Who are the ‘Blog People’?” survey. If you’re a library type and you blog, help him out with his research and take the survey.

Last week, I commented on the status of academic librarians. That Friday, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a special section about libraries, and included a pro & con on tenure for librarians (A Place at the Table and Unnecessary Protection, respectively pro & con). It’s an interesting debate, but as I said before, I think the more interesting issue is the status of librarians and library staff within their larger organizations, whether those organizations are universities, schools, corporations, or public libraries.

I’d like to finish reading the other library articles, but someone has borrowed that issue of the Chronicle from my library, and the library articles are not grouped together on the website like they are in the print publication. Tell me again how everything is on the internet and nobody reads print anymore?

Over at the Carnival of the Infosciences #8, several librarians discuss the role of librarians in academe. Are we faculty? Or, faculty status or no, are we just “the help”? If we are just “the help”, is that a problem? Are we just as guilty as professors in the way we treat our own library support staff?

Go on over to the carnival and read all of the posts and comments. Even if you are not an academic librarian. A commenter on the Random Access Mazar post points out that special librarians face similar issues:

I think it’s easy to know where an engineer stands, where a designer stands, where a lawyer stands as whole companies are created for them. But a librarian mostly works within these industries so from the get-go is an outsider. I think this must be the problem.

I work at a major research university where librarians have faculty status. However, I am not employed by the university’s library. I am support staff in a research institute. My peers at the institute have a range of education, from bachelor’s degrees to doctorates, and provide technical support to faculty researchers. Because most librarians in academic or special library settings are doing just that, providing technical support to subject specialists, we are inherently outsiders. Yes, faculty are (ahem) difficult to work with, on occasion. But so are engineers, doctors, lawyers, and yes, even librarians.

I think maybe I have a little more perspective on this, too, because my husband has a staff job in an academic library. I know that he doesn’t like to be thought of as “the help” (or in his words, “trained monkeys”) by students who are still pursuing the degree he already has.

Perhaps I can lend a little DIY perspective to the discussion as well. While I do often collaborate with others at work, I also take a certain amount of pride in being able to do things myself. If I were a professor, might I not take a certain amount of pride, justified or not, in being able to complete my research without a librarian’s assistance? The Filipino Librarian asks, “why is it that some students are proud of the fact that they graduated from school without ever setting foot in the library?” and I think that pride may be part of the reason. [Filipino Librarian post also via Carnival of the Infosciences #8]

Geaux Library has a web site and blog up and running. There is a form you can fill out on their web site to volunteer, either on-site or remotely. I followed the lead of Librarian Avengers and volunteered to do remote reference. If they need me, I’ll let you know how it goes.

ALA President Michael Gorman’s statement

SLA’s IPANDAnet Weblog

The Zenformation Professional: lots of information as well as personal reactions to the tragedy; Jason also started the Geaux Library Recovery group on Yahoo!

Library Dust: Rising Again

Not directly related to libraries, but if, like me, you want to help but aren’t sure how, please make a donation to the Red Cross.

[update] Library Tavern: Good Morning America, How Are You?

[update] AALL LawLibAssist (I received an email from my cousin, who is a lawyer, last night. The short and long term effects on the justice system and those who work within it are mind-boggling.)

[update] Louisiana Library Association Disaster Relief Fund to aid library restoration efforts

[update] Tinfoil + Raccoon: Beyond CNN and New Orleans (information resources) and Library Community Relief Links

[update, Sept. 6] Apparently I unwittingly participated in International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day. There are many more links I could post, but the resources I linked to are being updated as well, and I think you can find both news and ways to help from here. I found out about the International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day from Free Range Librarian.

librarian.net hit on one of my pet peeves yesterday: overly specific technology requirements. Actually, it’s hardly a pet peeve, because I think reliance on knowing any specific technology or software is the downfall of many a curriculum, job ad, and job candidate. If you can learn how to use one office suite, you can learn how to use any office suite. If, however, you have simply memorized a kajillion keyboard shortcuts to get a certificate, well, all I know is that I wouldn’t want to challenge you to a game of Memory.

Blake’s list on LISNews mentions one skill that is probably overlooked: learning a programming language. I wrote “learning” and not “knowing” on purpose. I learned Logo and later Lisp as a youngster and took a couple of courses in Pascal in college (the only two computer science courses offered at my college). I doubt I could write a program in any of them right now, but when I was helping a colleague edit the templates for our library’s fledgling WordPress blog, it was helpful that I could recognize if-then statements in the PHP code.

Probably the most valuable skill I have is the ability to learn software quickly, and I credit not just growing up with technology, but being actively encouraged by my parents to play with it.

The Zenformation Professional gives an information literacy session in a bar. Just think if bars had librarians on staff—bar bets settled in a matter of minutes!

Well, there is a bar with librarians on staff, but they’re not that kind of librarian, if you know what I mean.

From Mary Minow’s interview with David Dodd, librarian and author of The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics:

This is my third book, and each has carried with it a greater or lesser degree of do-it-yourselfness. … You don’t just sign a contract, turn over a manuscript, and sit back and wait for the book to appear.

That actually makes the process sound more appealing to me, except for the copyright permissions, which do not sound like fun.

[via librarian.net]