Information Losing Value

[Earl Young]

     Money is not everything, but for those to whom it is very important, 
     library science is a bad choice. It may be "anti-intellectualism" or 
     all manner of other horrid things, but I suspect it boils down to 
     there being no shortage of people willing to work for the salaries 
     being offered.  There are more people than positions in libraries, and 
     more positions than people in most of the computer fields.  It isn't 
     rocket science to figure which group commands the higher salary.
     

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: Information Losing Value
Author:  jlwalz at asbury.edu at INTERNET
Date:    2/21/97 5:49 PM


Well, I'll tell you that I really could be making a great deal more 
money if I WASN'T a librarian and instead chose to be a Netware Admin, 
computer consultant, or a webmaster alone.  Instead I do ALL of those as 
part of a library job.  But it has not increased my pay.  I think the 
continuing ed idea and CE credits ought to take hold in library-land. 
Then wages would go up according to  those criteria.
     
  J. Walz
     
***********************************************************************
                  Cybrarian of the First Degree --
           Jennifer Walz, MLS, Head of Public Services
      Morrison-Kenyon Library, Asbury College, Wilmore, KY  40390
   jlwalz at asbury.edu      http://worf.ubalt.edu/~jwalz/walzweb.html
                   Omne Ignotum Pro Magnifico Est - Tacitus
     
>----------
>From:  Joe Schallan[SMTP:jschall at glenpub.lib.az.us] 
>Sent:  Friday, February 21, 1997 4:19PM
>To:  Multiple recipients of list
>Subject:  Re: Information Losing Value 
>
>At 10:05 AM on 2/21/97, Nick Arnett wrote: 
>
>[snip]
>>. . . information.  When time is wasted looking for valuable information 
>>(this is not to imply that all "looking" is wasted time), then the value of 
>>tools that reduce the search time increase.
>
>By this analysis, the value of experienced, competent librarians 
>should have been increasing.  This obviously has not been 
>happening.  Librarians' salaries, low to begin with, are not 
>rising any faster than general rates of inflation.
>
>This has been variously attributed to librarianship being a female 
>ghetto, or to the anti-intellectualism of American culture, which 
>equally disrespects all knowledge workers, or to the lack of a 
>rigorous scientific underpinning for library research and 
>practice.
>
>Librarianship has responded by increasing the emphasis on 
>having credentials, by attempting to obtain such distinctions 
>as "faculty status," and by changing the names of its 
>professional schools to emphasize "information science." >(But 
the emperor still has no clothes.)
>
>None of this appears to have worked.  Any evidence so far 
>that webmastering helps increase pay?
>
>Joe
>============================
>Joe Schallan, MLS
>Reference Librarian/Web Page Editor 
>Glendale (Arizona) Public Library
>jschall at glenpub.lib.az.us
>============================
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