Library Juice 8:2 - January 28, 2005
Contents:
1. Links....
2. ALA Council Report to SRRT, January 2005
3. ALA Resolution on Salinas Libraries (adopted January 19, 2005)
4. SRRT Resolution Against Disinformation Campaigns
5. Librarianship: A Profession (W. E. Henry, 1916)
Quote for the week:
"Whatever the costs of our libraries, the price is cheap
compared to that of an ignorant nation."
--Walter Cronkite
Homepage of the week: Laurie Henry
http://sweb.uky.edu/~ljhenr2/_________________________________________________________________________top
1. Links....
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Alternative Voices: Essential Books and Media that Most Libraries Don't
Carry but Should - a bibliography project of AIP, by Byron Anderson.
http://libr.org/aip/bibliographies/bib.1.pdf-----
Problem Patrons or Problem Libraries?
http://sweb.uky.edu/~ljhenr2/problem.html[ found surfing ]
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The Librarians Association of The University of California (LAUC) has
drafted a statement regarding the USA PATRIOT Act.
http://www.ucop.edu/lauc/about/resolution.html[ Don Wood to IFACTION ]
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Gordon M. Conable has passed; Gordon M. Conable Memorial Fund
http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/othergroups/ftrf/relatedlinks/conablememoralfund.htm[ Don Wood to IFACTION ]
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GODORT Resolution passed at ALA Council at Midwinter
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/GODORT/resolutions/20050117301.html[ Cathy Hartman to the ALA Council List ]
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Resolution on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology and
Privacy Principles
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/ifresolutions/rfidresolution.htm[ Don Wood to IFACTION ]
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New Pew Internet & American Life Project report on search engine users
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/146/report_display.asp[ Library Journal Academic Newswire ]
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Revisions to ALA Intellectual Freedom Policies
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/relatedlinksa/revisedifpolicies.htm[ Don Wood to IFACTION ]
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Dan Tsang's Viet Dinh bibliography (PATRIOT Act author)
http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/fellows/Dinh.pdf-----
Peter Suber's "Lists Related to the Open Access Movement"
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/lists.htm[ Paul Nielson to cpi-ua ]
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Perceptions of open access publishing: interviews with journal authors
Sara Schroter, Leanne Tite, Richard Smith
BMJ (Jan. 26, 2005)
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38359.695220.82v1?ecoll[ sent by Benoit Thirion to liblicense-l ]
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Digital library to protect indigenous knowledge
T.V. Padma
Jan. 10, 2005
SciDevNet
http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=1840&languag[ sent to me by Giselle Foss ]
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Professional Ethics in LIS
from the University of Rhode Island
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/geaton/Ethics/lisethics.htm[ found surfing ]
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Libraries, the Princeton Campus's Unknown Repository of
Sexiness
www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/01/17/opinion/11826.shtml[ from Christine Whittington to COLLIB-L ]
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2. ALA Council Report to SRRT, January 2005
By Al Kagan, SRRT Councilor, akagan[at]uiuc.edu
The January meetings of the ALA Council were calmer than usual. It was
amazing that both the second and third meetings ended early. I guess
SRRT gave them a bit of a rest. Two SRRT items were raised at the
Information Session. I asked about the state of socially responsible
investment in the context of the Endowment Trustees report. I would
say that we have our toe in the door if not our foot. ALA has now
invested 1% of its endowment in a socially responsible fund and has
made nearly 15% on it. This was an experiment, and they say that they
will do more in the coming year. A Partnership Guidelines document was
distributed, and there will soon be a call for comments leading to
adopting a revised policy at the annual meeting in Chicago.I put Sandy Berman's resolution on workplace speech on the agenda, but
the discussion was quite discouraging. It appears that many of the
administrators on the Council are afraid that passing such a resolution
will come back to affect them personally. In any case, the resolution
was referred for legal advice and will be revisited in Chicago. Sandy
also asked me to submit a resolution supporting the Bringing America
Home Act, which addresses homelessness and many other poverty issues.
A SRRT member on the Committee on Legislation suggested that since COL
was already considering the bill, we ought to lobby for it there and
perhaps bring it to the floor in Chicago. So we will see what
develops. We also adopted a memorial tribute to long-time SRRT
activist Noel Peattie who died unexpectedly just before the meeting.
Noel was an inspiration to me when I first got involved in ALA, and to
many others in those times. His death was a shocking loss. Thanks to
Elaine Harger for composing the creative and literary tribute.The forthcoming closing of all of Salinas, California's libraries was
the hottest issue on the Council floor. The original resolution was
debated for a long time, tabled for revision, and finally passed. It
seems obvious that ALA should support local libraries but some
councilors were worried that ALA would commit too many resources to the
effort or that it would impede closing of branches elsewhere. The
resolution is vague but gives a free hand to the ALA President and
Executive Board to act as they see fit. There was also a long debate
on a resolution to add libraries to the funding formulas for the No
Child Left Behind Act. Although many or most councilors understand the
terrible defects in the Act, it was felt that revisions are coming and
that ALA must get its voice heard in this area.A resolution endorsing comprehensive health care for all American
passed unanimously. Other legislative resolutions were approved
supporting the continued distribution of printed government documents,
access to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency publications, and
support for fair protocols for copyright of digital materials and
software ("Stop Before You Click" campaign). The International
Relations Committee's resolution to aid libraries hurt by the tsunami
in South Asia committed ALA to coordinate work with other international
organizations. Finally, the Intellectual Freedom Committee's
resolution on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology adopted
RFID privacy principles.I would be pleased to try to answer questions about any of these
matters.Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliogrpaher and Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan[at]uiuc.edu
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3. ALA Resolution on Salinas Libraries (adopted January 19, 2005)
WHEREAS: The public library system of Salinas California is scheduled for
closure due to a lack of funding, andWHEREAS: The closure of the Salinas system would be offensive to the
memory and spirit of Cesar E. Chavez and John Steinbeck, for whom two of
the Salinas libraries are named, andWHEREAS: The closure of the Salinas libraries would work a severe hardship
upon the community in general and strike a blow whose effect would fall
disproportionately upon poor families and children, andWHEREAS: The closure of the Salinas library system would create a tragic
precedent, eliminating access to a resource which the people of the
community themselves created and expressed a desire to sustain, which
consequence therefore offends not only the ideals of library service but
the principles of democracy,THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the American Library Association strongly
opposes the closure of the Salinas system, which opposition arises from
recognition of the ALA policy statement, Libraries, an American Value,
which provides, "Libraries in America are cornerstones of the communities
they serve. Free access to the books, ideas, resources, and information
in America's libraries is imperative for education, employment, enjoyment
and self-government."AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That this resolution be communicated by the
President of the American Library Association to the Governor of
California, the Mayor and City Council of Salinas, California, the
Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Speaker of
the California State Assembly, the President pro tem of the California
Senate and the Friends of the Salinas Public Library.AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the President of the American Library
Association draft a statement concerning this resolution for distribution
to the press, the public, the community of Salinas and the nation.Submitted by Michael McGrorty
Seconded by Michael Gorman
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Point of contact: Larra Clark, press officer, at 312-280-5043
(lclark[at]ala.org)
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4. SRRT Resolution Against Disinformation Campaigns
Adopted by SRRT, January 15, 2005
Whereas the mission of our professional association, the American Library
Association, is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and
improvement of library and information services and the profession of
librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to
information for all (Policy Manual 1.2); andWhereas the ethos of professional librarianship is characterized by
commitments to intellectual freedom, open access to information and
accuracy of information in pursing the goal of assisting in the
development of an informed citizenry capable of functioning in a political
democracy; andWhereas ALA recognizes the contribution librarianship can made in giving
support for efforts to help inform and educate the people of the United
States on critical problems facing society (Policy Manual, 1.1); andWhereas inaccurate information, falsehoods, distortions of truth and covert
disinformation campaigns are anathema to the ethos of librarianship and to
the functioning of a healthy democracy; andWhereas substantial documentary evidence exists revealing the history of
the U.S. to be riddled with the use of falsehoods in pursuit of political
and economic power - practices which clearly constitute a "critical
problem facing society" and make the development of an informed citizenry
extremely difficult; andWhereas in recent years the international library community has been
subjected to one of these disinformation campaigns, one disguised as a
"defense" of "independent librarians" in Cuba, but in actuality part of a
larger effort to sway public opinion toward acceptance and support of a
U.S. invasion of Cuba - a country which poses no threat to the U.S.;
therefore be itResolved that the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) denounces the
use of librarianship as a cover for disinformation campaigns; and be it
furtherResolved that SRRT encourages its members to help raise public
consciousness of the many ways in which disinformation campaigns are used
to manipulate public opinion in all spheres of life; and be it finallyResolved that this resolution be sent to all federal agencies known to have
engaged in disinformation campaigns.Moved by Elaine Harger
Seconded by Tom TwissAdopted by SRRT January 15th, 2005
Supporting Documentation:
Selected Bibliography on Disinformation Campaigns
1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Washington DC: U.S. Congress.
1971 Pentagon Papers, by Neil Sheehan et al. New York: New York Times
1972 Inside the Company: CIA Diary, by Philip Agee. London: Allen Lane
1973 Dirty Work: the CIA in western Europe, by Philip Agee, & Louis Wolf.
New York: Dorset Press1974 The Real Terror Network: terrorism in fact and propaganda, by Edward
S. Herman. Boston: South End Press1975 Storm Over Chile, by Samuel Chavkin. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company
1976 Agents of Repression: the FBI's secret wars against the Black Panther
Party and the American Indian Movement, by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander
Wall. Boston: South End Press1977 The "Terrorism" Industry: the experts and institutions that shape our
view of terror, by Edward S. Herman and Gerry O'Sullivan. New York:
Pantheon.1978 COINTELPRO Papers: documents from the FBI's secret war against dissent
in the United States, by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall. Boston:
South End Press1979 Warriors of Disinformation, by Alvin Snyder
1980 Cultural Cold War: the CIA and the world of arts and letters, by
Frances Stonor Saunders. New York: The New Press1981 Covert Action: the roots of terrorism, edited by Ellen Ray and William
H. Schapp. Melbourne: Ocean Press1982 Abuse Your Illusions: the disinformation guide to media mirages and
establishment lies, edited by Russ Kick.1983 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins. San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler.2004 Inside the Pentagon Papers, by John Prados and Margaret Pratt
Porter.
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5. Librarianship: A Profession (W. E. Henry, 1916)
The following is an essay by a librarian and a librarian educator, written
in 1916, making the case for professionalism in librarianship and the need
for formal education of librarians. What he was saying was hardly taken
for granted at the time. It can be argued that today, though the
professional status of librarianship is taken for granted, we are
undergoing a process of deprofessionalization as a result of a confluence
of related forces: the replacement of areas of professional activity by
technological processes, the loss of public faith in professional
authority in general, fiscal pressures leading administrators to replace
professional positions with paraprofessional ones, and a decline in the
educational role of the librarian. In light of these new developments I
think W. E. Henry's essay from the distant past is good reading.
Librarianship: A Profession
W. E. Henry, Librarian, University of Washington, Seattle
1922, University of Washington PressFOREWORD
On this day twenty-five years ago I entered upon whatever career I have had
in librarianship. I entered not through that straight and narrow way
known as a library school, but "climbed up another way," resigning a
college professorship in English Language and Literature to enter this
new, but not wholly different, field of education. Having been
professionally prepared for teaching, I carried with me into the new
activity professional ideals, and the transfer from one educational
institution to another in many ways similar was rather natural and easy.In this quarter of a century I have held firmly to the professional aspect
of librarianship, believing that to be the most fundamental and essential
view. On all occasions I have held that view before my staff and my
classes, and I count this the most significant service I have rendered to
my profession.On this occasion I am I am reprinting for the service of my classes a paper
which I prepared in December 1916. My hope is that they may get a
professional viewpoint, and, if may be, adopt a professional attitude. I
neither hope nor wish that all who take the professional attitude shall
agree with all of my statements but rather that they may have a point of
departure for their own thinking.W. E. Henry, Librarian and Director of the Library School, University of
Washington, Seattle, Wash.April 1, 1922
First printed in the Library Journal, May 1917LIBRARIANSHIP: A PROFESSION
Our profession, if we may assume librarianship to be a profession, has at
once the distinction and the handicap of being very young. Those of us
who can remember 1876 have seen the beginnings and development of a
profession. However many libraries there may have been before the
Philadelphia meeting, or however many excellent and scholarly and devoted
librarians there may have been, and there were many, the profession, to
whatever degree we have one, began with the centennial year. Not until
then did we begin to demand special training to see librarianship as a
social service, to fix any standard, or to plan institutions thru which
professional training may be secured.What are some of the more distinctive marks of a profession and a
professional education that may set the profession off from the trade or
occupation?Every profession has set apart for its field of activity and devotion some
phase or problem of human life that is fundamental to the social welfare.
One group of men has thru the ages claimed for its province the essential
principle prevalent among men that justice and equity must prevail because
society as a living organizing and a working organization cannot exist
unless there shall be some rule among men by which the weak can be
protected from the vicious strong. In this effort they have developed a
body of doctrine founded on human experience and thought known as the law.
The mission of the law and its machinery, the court, is that justice may
prevail. The lawyer then becomes the agent of this mission and every
lawyer of honest purpose and high ideals lives and works that justice and
right and fair dealing shall exist for society. Whether all nominal
lawyers have held and practiced this conception need not be discussed; the
principle obtains, the man may go wrong.Another group has selected for its thesis that people cannot solve their
problems, serve themselves, reach the end set up for them unless they are
physically well and fit and efficient. To this end, this group has set
for itself the problem and the task that our people shall be well, that
health shall prevail not merely for the good of one who has it, but for
the good of all. A well organized, well educated profession has grown up
on the thesis that people shall be well.On the thesis that life is permanent and logical another profession has
grown up. Its instrument is the church and its mission the preparation of
society for the fullest realization of the possibilities of life in
harmony with its permanency. The agent is the clergy.That society shall possess they key to intelligence as an aid to justice,
health, efficiency and completeness is a doctrine that another group has
evolved and the school has become its instrument and the teacher its
agent. Its elementary mission is to teach us how to read.Each of these professions, it will be noted, finds its mission in organized
society and its distinctive feature is that it is a social service. Each
of them finding itself in need of specialized education has organized
schools for that purpose. Each of these schools has driven its roots deep
into the fundamental principles of whatever phase of life it has selected
for itself as the province of its activity.May librarianship be considered a profession under such standards as are
here suggested? Has librarianship found for itself or can it find a realm
of opportunity, a phase, an area of human life that presents a social need
which the professions named and others that might be named do not cover?Many of us have come to believe and the world is rapidly coming to believe
that there is a larger, more extended and more varied educational need
than any or all other professions can reach. We believe that in this new
field the education may be largely self-directed, indefinitely prolonged
and largely the choice of the individual concerned; a large opportunity,
equally free and open to all, yet under intelligent and expert direction
-- a social service but with the highest degree of individuality.We believe this service cannot be rendered without a recognized instrument
-- the library and the agent, the librarian -- corresponding in all these
characteristics to the recognized professions already named.In this new institution the service is social, the problems vary as the
individual tastes and experiences vary and the service must be
sufficiently intelligent to diagnose the symptoms and prescribe a
treatment. The problems of the present need the aid of all the past for
light and guidance. No man and no social organization can solve its
problems wisely without the aid of the concentrated intelligence and
experience of the past and unto this end were books sent. The life of the
individual is too short to reflect the perspective of any fair portion of
the past so we must have the vicarious experience of others and the book
is the agent of the past bringing to us this vicarious experience. All
the past has lived for us and we must live for all the future's good.Is there, then, a realm, an area, a mission in life that humanity can not
realize without an unrestrained and self-directed access to the past which
the individual alone cannot secure for himself? Can this mission be
performed by any other institution? The library is the instrument and the
librarian is the social agent which bring the past to the present in
preparation for the future, and thru these the individual is self-educated
for social ends.The trade, the vocation, the occupation knows the practical service side of
a limited field of activity. It has made no fundamental study of the
principles that arise out of the very nature of life itself. I can think
of a man being an excellent carpenter without being an expert in knowledge
of woods or having the slightest conception of the philosophy of shelter
or the dimmest shadow of a notion upon the housing problem as a social
necessity.The street car motorman is a public servant and a very valuable one. He
must know how to handle his car, but he may be totally indifferent to and
even ignorant of any social principle or social need of a transportation
system. The farmer may be able to produce good crops under the usual and
ordinary circumstances, but let a crisis arise and he is helpless for he
does not know chemistry or geology or entomology, so he sits helplessly by
and sees his work fail.He does not see the social significance of, nor even the fact that he who
produces two stalks of corn where one grew before is a benefactor of the
human race. The carpenter of rare ability and depth of insight may become
an architect, but this is only as the individual rises above the mass.
Farming might become a profession. It has not, perhaps, will not.The professional men and women must everywhere and always be the guardians,
guides, advisers, and directors of the people. Perhaps no other mark so
distinguishes the professions.Have we now some fairly definite demarcations setting off the nature of the
profession from the trade or occupation? Assuming that we have, I want
now to turn to questions within the professions. I have said that each
profession has created and is sustaining training institutions for the
preparation of its members and it may be worth noting that these
professions are so clearly recognized as social needs that these
institutions are created and sustained at the social or public expense.And further, the social significance of the professions is so strongly felt
that society has said thru its formulated laws that no one may practice
the profession who has not taken the training offered by these training
institutions and this demand is rapidly regulating the practice of many
professions. If a social service at social expense, then society must
control it guided by the professionally prepared.The standard in all of these professional requirements is being placed
higher and higher until now only the well selected may enter. The medical
profession has advanced from no requirement above the ability to read and
assume a title to the requirement that the applicant shall have at least
two years of college academic work built upon a high school curriculum
before he enters the professional school. Then his professional
preparation shall consume from four to seven years including his hospital
experience.The law school demands two years of college academic work at least, and
then either three or four years of professional preparation. The best
professional schools in these lines go further and demand college
graduation before entering the specializing school. So it goes and so it
will continue to go.There was a time within the memory of men now living when a boy with the
most meager scholastic preparation -- little above the ability to read --
could enter the office of a physician and by industriously sweeping out
the office and caring for the physician's horse for a period of years and
reading a few books on anatomy and materia medica in his leisure moments
become a doctor. This was the apprentice system. Young men entered the
law by the same easy road. But old things have passed away.Now we demand that any one assuming to direct the interest of others in the
great crises of life must be one of experience and training, for training
is only specialized experience.Now what about the preparation for our profession if we are willing to
admit that we are in a profession?Is there a body of knowledge and information covering the field and is that
body of information well formulated and organized? If we answer in the
affirmative to these questions, as I presume we should without argument,
then there is a place for a profession and a place for a professional
school which shall transmit and enlarge upon this body of knowledge and
put into practice the doctrine which the school stands for.Whom can society (not librarians) economically admit to this great social
service? I say great social service not because the library is a
greater service in the sense of greater value than any of the others, but
because it is more comprehensive, more inclusive than any of the other
professions. Society then can economically admit that person to serve in
the library who has this more comprehensive and inclusive view, not only
of the library profession, but of all other professions and the whole
realm of thought and its embodiment roughly called literature.If my characterization is not also an exaggeration then our professional
standards must be high indeed. The profession of librarianship, coming to
consciousness as a social need so recently as it did -- forty-six years
ago -- and starting without estate or tradition, has secured for itself an
enviable growth and a standing in the respect of many, but not of most.
The marvel of it is that it has done so well. No profession perhaps has
reached so high a level of intelligence and so strong a sentiment for
professional preparation so early in its career as has librarianship, but
we must recall that we are the youngest of the group and that we progress
more now in forty years than older professions did in many centuries. Our
profession must continue to elevate its standards, for, like the Golden
Rule, it has infinite possibilities in its reinterpretations. The
profession will grow in its own self-respect and in the respect of others
just as it keeps its standards almost out of reach.All professional standards must of necessity be dual standards; one of
general intelligence, comprehensive experience, general scholarship; the
other of specific scholarship or professional education. If we have been
remiss in our demands in either of the two standards I should say it is in
the former rather than in the latter. Perhaps we have more adequately
valued our professional education than we have appreciated the foundations
upon which it should be built.Specific training may be of value to the tradesman, to the artisan, to the
mechanic without much concern about foundations beyond fair intelligence,
but I hold it almost worthless and totally out of harmony with any
reasonable conception of a profession to give specific training in
librarianship to one who has had a very small round of experience and
general education. I wish I might cite examples, but I dare not. I do
think that in medicine, law, teaching, or librarianship, there are persons
to whom it is a trade, an occupation, but in no sense a profession. There
may be phases of library work where only a trade is required, but if so we
should draw a fairly definite distinction and act in the light of that
distinction.Whom shall we professionally educate? I should answer most emphatically
that I would not sanction giving professional education to any one who,
including the professional work, shall have had less than four years above
the hight school graduation or its equivalent in travel or reading, or
home environment or in library service. This is not too high for any
library service, and if it should be changed, I should consent only to an
increase, and say all special preparation must be built upon college
graduation, or its equivalent. As to equivalents I may frankly say that I
have seen many who had never taken a college assignment who were better
scholars and more capable of excellent library service than many who were
loaded with degree symbols. I had rather have grown up in a great library
or at home with a great scholar of good taste and social instincts than to
carry the A.B. from any university without them, yet the A.B. degree is
the best formal and recognized standard that can be named for it connotes
four years of intelligent presence and cooperation and comprehensive
scholarship. There is much in every college curriculum that one does not
study, but he finds out that there is such a field and he cannot if he
would wholly escape it.So, for the future let no one contemplate the profession of librarianship
who has not lived long in the presence of culture or scholarship or both.
Let it be understood both in and out of the profession that "not everyone
who saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom."There is a large field of personality here to be considered. It is so
indefinable that we cannot discuss it, yet everyone knows what it means
and what it implies, and that is a most essential attribute. I shall not
attempt its discussion.Now what can we say as the the necessity for education in the specific
experience of the profession?As has been said, not many years ago a man might become a lawyer of certain
type with no special preparation from a professional school, indeed
without even knowing that such institutions existed. Physicians came to
their practice in the same way. Anyone who could not do anything else was
popularly supposed to be able to teach in the public schools. By the
popular conception we are now in that stage of librarianship. In the
other professions above mentioned the state has interfered, and is making
at least elementary requirements before one can enter upon practice in
these lines. Except in a few instances no state or other governmental
unit has even proposed to prevent unqualified librarians from drawing
public money. Up to date, then, with few exceptions the only force behind
librarianship has been the relatively few well prepared librarians and a
few others who comprehend the situation.This is not unique in the history of the profession; on the contrary it is
quite the common experience. The problem, then, of better librarianship
is with those librarians who comprehend the service as a large directing
social service, whose possibilities are infinite, not those who think it a
trade, a job an occupation, a mere makeshift, a waiting station.A profession comprehends a body of fundamental principles the practice of
which shall render to the world an engrossing social service. A trade or
an occupation sees an opportunity for a job, a wage, a day's work, and a
day's pay with little comprehension of a primary service or of a world to
be serviced. A profession knows no limit of working hours, the trade or
occupation watches the clock. In library work we have both types as in
other professions. I am trying to deal with the profession, not the
trade, and into the profession the legitimate entrance is thru the Library
School. By whatever name, it must be a professional school, not a trade
school, not an apprentice relationship, but a school funded on a
professional conception dealing with fundamental principles.This professional school should be built upon general educational
qualifications not less than the equivalent of the A.B. degree. The
profession has made itself what it is and we in this generation must guard
its interests and elevate its standards.Librarians must have all that I have described on both phases of the work.
If we must have cheaper helpers they must know and the public must know
that they are not librarians. Charging out a book is no more a part of
librarianship than the bookkeeping by the physician's office girl is of
the profession of medicine.Knowing what book to charge out and why, knowing the life and taste and
needs of the patron and the community, and what book will serve is as
much the profession as the most intelligent prescription of the finest
surgery.It has been pointed out that the mass of people, even the very intelligent,
does not yet know but what just anybody can do library work. That is the
greatest obstruction in the way of our progress, and the sad feature of it
is that librarians are much at fault. The belief has grown largely
because we have not insisted as strongly as we might that no one shall do
library work who is not prepared.If our people think that the high school girl can come in and watch me "be
a librarian" for a few days, and thereby become a librarian, they cannot
respect, nor will they compensate the library profession. Apprentice
lawyers and doctors and teachers have been out of date for a half century.
England ruined her board schools (corresponding to our public schools) by
her apprentice teacher system. No one had confidence in nor respect for
teachers with such imitative preparation. The apprentice system will not
work anywhere in a profession. It will serve in a trade or occupation and
it is my candid and long considered judgment that no librarian can do a
more detrimental act for a community or a greater indignity and injustice
to the library profession than is done by admitting apprentices.If the apprentice system is to be condemned and not tolerated as a cheap
and detrimental makeshift which at least retards the profession, what can
we do? That is a practical question, and one that must ultimately be
answered. If the system is pernicious and short sighted the answer to my
question is worth not only minutes and hours in time spent in effort to
find a solution, but it is worth years. If I cannot answer, as I probably
cannot, then you others yet to come must answer.The school answers this question by offering competitive examinations and
issuing temporary license permits to teach. Whenever a supply of better
prepared people are found these licenses are not renewed. Some such
system may serve the library. It is understood that unless this
preparation is improved and greatly strengthened up to a high standard and
in a reasonable time the license permit shall be permanently withdrawn.Or we may create a type of clerkship in which some apprentice work may be
given, but wiht the definite understanding that it is only a clerkship and
that without final and high grade preparation the grade of clerkship can
never be passed and that no person can remain in it permanently.In this discussion I shall threat with brevity that institution that is
doing excellent service half way between the apprentice course nd the
formal library school, i.e., the Public Library training class. It is
rendering a great service and at present it is perhaps the best device for
supplying a working staff for many of our large library systems. I am
inclined to believe from a superficial and inadequate knowledge that
general scholarship is frequently much below what any profession should
demand and its nearness to the apprentice principle must handicap it in
any professional consideration.If we argue there are not enough library schools or that they are not the
right type, let me say that every profession has been answered with
adequate schools whenever the demand came for training. The normal school
came when the schools were no longer willing to accept imitation for
legitimate education in principles.The university began to train teachers in historical and scientific
principles based upon large general scholarship when the high schools
could no longer succeed with the normal school product. Technical schools
will always supply the demand if it is persistent.
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