Message-Id: <mailto:199411291545.JAA05312@library.wustl.edu> Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 08:44:10 EST From: mailto:IGribovsky@IDRC.CA> Subject: Re: Position description To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
Oh, so now it's "I find the view that people with library degrees have some special claim on positions both dispiriting and indefensible"...
...Well. So it's come to that. So, how about the view that "people with medical degrees" have some "special claim" on medical positions. Or how about this one: that "people with law degrees" have some "special claim" on law positions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to practice either medicine or law without a licence (& implicitly, without a degree) is not only outrageous but also illegal. Why is it that librarianship is always perceived as a second class profession, seemingly one that nearly anyone can take over???
So long as we professional librarians (NOT "people with library degrees"... PUH-LEEZ) continue to take this sort of attitude lying down, others will continue to rationalize and justify taking our jobs away from us...Yes: OUR jobs away from US.
We are professionals, we are trained in the science of librarianship, and NO-ONE has the right to tell us that we are replaceable, expendable, or that we are merely "people with library degrees" and that anyone can do our jobs.
The fact is, without the proper training (yes, that means an MLS) a person is just not equipped to handle the modern-day library position; the days of the little old lady taking care of the public library on a volunteer basis are gone. Welsome to the 90's...did you know that it was even suggested that librarians start calling themselves information managers?
Are there any LIBRARIANS out there who agree with me? I've already heard from those who don't...(boy, I think I've started something here...prepare for a flame-fest).
Irina Gribovsky AV Librarian IDRC Ottawa, Canada