[Web4lib] Is there any way to include this in a newsletter or similar publication?

[Casey Bisson]

Okay, it must be said: you're all wrong[1].

I can understand that news of a librarian being fired/furloughed[2]  
will raise our defenses, but that's no excuse for giving up the  
considered and critical thinking that this occasion demands.

Consider this: the principle's blog[3] reveals a reasonable person  
actively trying to improve academic performance despite crushing  
economic conditions. The communications reveal a level of transparency  
many of us can only wish for.

Unfortunately, many on this mail list seem to have come to the  
conclusion that this library[4] was a stellar, but unappreciated  
example of everything that libraries should be, capriciously closed by  
a principle who secretly wanted to see the football team shoving  
bookshelves around on a hot summer day.

Go ahead, mock[5] the story (and so far we only have one story about  
this) for suggesting that the books have been "re-organized" by  
subject, but the fact remains that this community didn't think their  
library was organized in a way that met its needs. This suggests that  
either (a) it wasn't well organized, or (b) the librarian had failed  
to educate the users and develop the finding aids necessary to help  
the community use the library.

Nobody here is banning or burning books. Nobody is suggesting that  
libraries are irrelevant. Far from it: this story about the  
modernization of a library to make it a more significant part of  
students' academic activity.

News that a member of our profession has been furloughed is sad. But,  
news that a principle is investing time, attention, and money in the  
library is good. News that those two stories are one in the same  
should make us ask critical questions about how we and our libraries  
are positioned to serve our community.

--Casey Bisson
http://maisonbisson.com/


[1]: Everybody but Robert L. Balliot, whose message has so far been  
ignored http://is.gd/23YCY
[2]: http://is.gd/23Y26
[3]: http://franklinhighschool.wordpress.com/
[4]: http://is.gd/23Y6j
[5]: http://is.gd/23YsL