[Web4lib] Re: Web4lib Digest, Vol 53, Issue 4

[Stewart Baker]

Excellent post, Casey!

Stewart Baker
Web Services
CSUDH Library


From: Casey Bisson <cbisson at plymouth.edu>
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 22:09:52 -0400
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Is there any way to include this in a newsletter or
similar publication?

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