I Used To Work Here

It was a massive pit of crazy when I worked there, so this doesn't really surprise me. But I still have a couple of friends who are excellent librarians who work there and are screwed by this.

Library 101

I first twigged to this via The Annoyed Librarian. In the interests of being fair, I watched the video. I only got as far as the punk rock solo, but that's 5 minutes in. Really, I thought I was going to have a seizure.

In further interests of being fair, I went and read some of the accompanying essays. And I didn't wind up uplifted and empowered. I wound up pissed, because the whole package is fucking juvenile and vague, and it positions itself as being what libraries and librarians need to do to survive. But it's content free. It's not solutions or recommendations about how to actually improve or change things in the library, any pathways to the big problems.

Hell, I'm not even looking for evidence based practices here. I'd go for a solid recommendation based on a promising pilot program or an in-depth case study.

It's insulting because of the underlying assumption that libraries aren't locally focused, filled with curious people with good "soft skills" who are also crack information professionals willing to meet the user on his level and help him to climb above it. It's a bunch of platitudes that if you've been around the library world long enough, you've heard 10,000 times and bear no resemblance to the challenges the institutions currently face. And it's tiresome to hear leading library lights mouth the same old lines.

I Shouldn't Care About the Library Journal Salary And Placement Survey

But I sort of do.

I just can't reconcile the sunny spin they are trying to put on the numbers with the facts that the number of full time jobs available shrank 20%, if you're a woman you make less than a man (in a profession with a 80%/20% female to male ratio), if you're a minority you have better chances securing a job and a higher salary, if it's your second or third career you may be able to get a job as an academic librarian, and average starting salaries are down. Go read it yourself and tell me if your take is less depressing than mine.

ALA 2009: Twitter Confidential--@ALASecrets Interview

I don't post much about librarian things anymore, but I do keep up a little. I was fascinated by the reaction to the @ALASecrets Twitter mini-scandal, that "Oh no! Librarians are having fun! Unprofessional! They must be stopped!" as opposed to snickers. Check out the link in the title.

Check out these quotations from the interview:

"If people are honestly worried about how @ALAsecrets reflects on the profession, we're in bigger trouble than I thought. We have so much work to do right now to retool and reassert libraries' positions in the communities they serve that to worry about some Twitter experiment seems foolish at best."

"That said, we could stand to be a little more assertive and encourage candid criticism among our ranks."

"With six months until Midwinter, I might have time to form a committee, do some focus grouping, and see how much of the spirit I can take out of the project between now and then."

I just think it's a shame that there is no room for any sort of fun or criticism in librarianship.

To top it off, it's this hoary old chestnut that conference attendance is a) useful and b) a mark of dedication to professional skills and improvement and c) unofficially mandatory to try to attend in a lot of places, even if your job doesn't offer any sort of funding or reimbursement and you wind up burning a couple thousand dollars and vacation time to show you are such a good librarian sheep. It's bullshit really, and it makes me sad and angry.

MLS: Hire Ground?

Oh, man. Terrible pun and methodology aside, let's get down to the meanings and trends hinted at in this article:

We value the MLS! No, really we do! Okay, we're hiring more and more paraprofessionals, and don't really think any of the tasks of librarianship need to be done by people with a MLS. Except for selection. But you only need a few people to do that. But we need professional librarians to do the big things that bring a community together like programming and imparting knowledge to little kids and to lead! Except we hire people without a MLS for all that because they have, you know, actual skills and training at such.

Sigh.

Quick Examples Of My New And Old Jobs

A story about auditors examining the books and procedures in New York's school districts. The Arizona Office of the Auditor General has a Division of School Audits that does much of the same thing. Auditors: the mystery civil servants.

A librarian saves the day when it comes to costuming Officer Krupke in the latest revival of West Side Story.

Another Sign Of The Times

WSJ Cuts Its Library Staff.

Comments on the article are right on the money though: long term, this is not going to save money. It will compromise quality and the brand. Not having a record of the paper for several years is also very bad idea. The WSJ can be mocked for its myopic focus on the upper echelons of finance and the wealthy and missing the whole fact that "hey, the economy's gonna blow up like an atomic bomb!" it is still the US daily finance paper of record. I used to read it for fun back at the law firm.

Warning: catty bitch comment ahead. I do not have any sympathy for people who seek to bring up their own medical conditions and family life as reasons why their tale of unemployment is so much more tragic than anyone else's. Cry me a river; it's hard times for us all. It's very librarian though.

In Case You're The Only One Who Doesn't Read The AL

Annoyed Librarian Blogs for Library Journal.

Who's your favorite pseudonymous, martini-swilling, library blogger? The Annoyed Librarian, of course!

Heavens know Library Journal needs the interactive participation. Its adoption of Library 2.0 aspects like comments and blogging is a big FAIL since no one comments. Of course, when you limit the number of characters and screen comments that does discourage the more rabidly fierce nutters. Considering the AL's ability to attract fierce nutters with hard truths about libraryland and delightfully funny satirical writing, it seems like a mismatch but I think the idea is that more moderate voices will emerge and become engaged and that will carry over to the other articles. So picking her up was an excellent decision on their part. If only they didn't allow anonymous comments and forced people to craft some sort of identity.* And hell, she's said she drove a hard bargain.

*I have some ideas on that--look for them soon.

Oh, Stephen! The Red Lending Menace?

Is Your Inability To Get A Librarian Job A Sign You're A Stupid Jackass?

Apparently, the perennial "Why can't I get a library job?" discussion has erupted on NewLib. I'm not a member anymore, but here's the background on both the list and the discussion, which just goes on and on: it can really hard to get a library job. It's nearly impossible to get one if your only library experience is the required semester-long practicum, or radically different from what path you wind up pursuing after graduation.

The listserv is about 70% normal, pleasant people looking for job advice or offering advice based on their own experiences or are interested in discussing library issues. The other 30% is a nice mix of really stupid people who could never get a job, people who are employed who are jackasses, and people who are unemployed and extremely bitter about it.

Can you get library job? Yes, but it helps to be extremely flexible in your geographic, wage, and other essential requirements. To a certain degree this advice seems to indicate you should either have a sugar spouse or a superhuman ability to perform miracles and live on cheap coffee and no food. Kind of like a supermodel, except you can't even afford drugs!

Look if you can't get a job, any job, something is probably wrong with you. But if you can't get a library job, I'm not so convinced that it's because you're a stupid lazy jackass and and it's all your own fault. It is very competitive, yes. But honestly, more and more if you talk to people the same complaints emerge: the library schools themselves are out of touch with the job market and pass along myths of a shortage, the coursework doesn't prepare students for the job, and admission requirements are so lax and the programs lack rigor and grant a degree almost meaningless and barely academic. That starts to indicate a widespread, systemic problem in the job market and librarian training. And honestly, no matter how much tough love advice is given to job seekers, if their training doesn't prepare them to meet the needs of employers, they are stuck with their best strategy being a DIY approach to fixing the gaps in their background and skills. That's all fine and good, but honestly--if you have to teach yourself everything, why spend $1200 per grad school class?*

Yes, I understand that you always have to invest your own time and money in upgraded skills, no ones owes you a job on a silver platter, blah blah fishcakes, but here's the rub: librarianship and library school programs promote themselves as a 2nd or 3rd career. Until recently, it was unusual to have students in their 20's or just out of undergrad comprise 50% of the class. When I started my degree 5 years ago at 28, I was considered pretty young for the program even if I had been working in libraries since high school. Mandy got grilled by her admissions committee in 1999 when she applied to library school straight from college. If previous experience in libraries isn't necessary for admission to the program, and the profession itself makes a big deal about diversity of experience and background being what it wants in its workforce but a Master's is the prerequisite for anyone to get a professional job, I don't think it's too much to expect the damn degree to thoroughly prepare you for the job.

Back to the lack of jobs-- here's the thing: there's not a lot of hard data to back up either side. But research and anecdotal stories do indicate that there are not many entry level jobs (ie, those that don't have a specific experience requirement), and that those jobs usually don't go to people with little experience or even with transferrable skills and experience from outside the library world.

Folks, I don't have a big message in this or even a dog in the fight anymore. I just read some links and got irritated. All I know is that librarianship is just like anything else--you do the best you can at any given time with what you've got, and count yourself lucky and spare the rest of us false modesty if it does. That's it.

*Yes, this is the what my last 3 credits cost me in 2007. My first 3 in 2003 cost $900, or a little less. At a state school. That's another rant for another day.

Stop Me Before I Read More

And we've moved onto people posting nonjudgmental instructions on listserv email management (hint, digest mode is your friend), desperately polite attempts to introduce other topics of conversation, and someone who did not put her academic title in her email being snippy about not being addressed as "Dr."

Oh, I am so impressed.

And the Robot Librarian is chiming in in his usual charmless, self-important way.

Someone else took offense with the perfectly polite but strongly worded sentiments of another and wrote that the point of discussion was to learn from one another and suggested rephrasing the sentiment in an utterly milquetoast manner. That's when I started to fight the urge to beat someone with my shoe. First off, strongly worded and clever writing is much more fun to both read and write. It's also a more effective tool to influence your audience. Why wouldn't you use the sharpest knife to get the meat cut?

But what bothers me most about that comment is the sexism, which I'm sure is unintended but nonetheless present. That female poster said to another woman (and indeed the whole of a listserv that's probably about 85% female, as is the profession) that she should tone down her language and to be civil, to compromise--in my interpretation, to be embody traits that are more acceptably female. In a field that's mostly women, we don't need that--we need to be encouraged to fight against our profession's inculcation of indiscriminate niceness and bland conversation, to embrace thorough discourse and analysis in its mess and meaness. Because face it, that niceness and its partner doubt are what prevents us from being taken seriously, from fighting for the tools we need to do our jobs, and from drawing lines of unacceptable behavior.

I frequently wrestle with the notion that librarianship is sexist. It's usually small things like this, little asides designed to get others to tamp down intelligence, sharpness and instinct for the sake of being nice or welcoming. I have also bookmarked some glaring examples from Library Journal that have been published in the last year that I've been meaning to write about because I can't believe no one else has noticed this and thought it worth discussing. Stay tuned.

If anyone wants to check out these listserv posts, email me--they are openly archived, just a little hard to find. And yes, I'm interested in hearing if I'm off my nut or not.

In Which I Feel Rage, But Mostly Just Sick And Bored Of It All

Oh, THE RAGE, as my friend Mandy would say. Why are librarians so...arrrrgghhh! Frustrating. Dumb. Oblivious. Self-righteous. Pompous. Annoying.

It's coming from my alma mater's listserv these days. First it was a fellow who in all seriousness wondered if he could count a webcomic as his "scholarly publishing" requirement once he hit the big time as an academic librarian. I restrained myself from responding that if he wanted to write webcomics, he should do so (and Jeph Jacques manages to do it as a fulltime job!) and why the hell was he getting a MLIS then or that no, a webcomic isn't what most academic institutions consider a scholarly publication contributing to the body of research and knowledge about the profession. Even if your webcomic presents your findings about federated searching and student populations or bibliometric analysis. And frankly, who the hell would read that?

Oh, it gets better.

So in case you haven't heard, Sarah Palin was of the mind to ban books and fire the librarian when she got elected mayor of Wasilla. Pro-Palin, con-Palin, whatever political affiliations my 5 readers have, I don't care--it is a big deal, and she scares the shit out of me on general principles. So now we've been inundated on the list by people posting links and stories, getting in a huff about "that's not appropriate!" and my favorite "Stop cluttering the listserv with your comments and wasting my time." And when I say inundated, I mean 12 posts over 3 days.

For the love of Mike.

So I am going to have to drop that listserv like I dropped the new librarians, because I just can't take it.

So I have to wonder, as my best options for employment are increasingly coming from non-library sources and the more time I spend away from working in libraries and the more my frustration level with them increases and I worry that my skill level is decreasing--why should I bother? Face it, getting rejected for jobs in your field sucks, and after a while it feels like chasing after a guy who doesn't want you. What would you say to that girl? GO FIND ANOTHER GUY WHO WILL APPRECIATE YOU, right?

"But Kerry," you may ask, "didn't you go through this dilemma in your romantic life? And didn't you just wind up with a crush that has lasted 14 years now, a relapsing and remitting malarial fever of lust and regret?" To which I reply, "YES. AND THANK YOU FOR BRINGING IT UP."

Lakewood Public Library

I've mentioned my disappointments with the new Lakewood Public Library before, but hey, I don't live there anymore! SuperC sent me the PD's architecture critic's take on the finished building. "Emotionally cool to a fault" is an excellent phrase to encompass its tone and failures. If libraries are moving more and more towards becoming community gathering spaces, between new policies aimed at treating patrons like criminals and an uninviting environment, one has to wonder if LPL will continue to enjoy the support of the community.

Although I do think Litt lets LPL off the hook for at least one important point--it's not design rocket science to realize that if you make a majority of the collection reachable by a backdoor that leads directly out to a parking lot and not past a cop or circulation desk, your collection is going to get ripped off. Form follows function, people!

Inadvertently Benefiting Society, One Comment At A Time

Web Security Words Help Digitize Old Books: Dusie gave me a head's up about this story. If you missed it on NPR, go give it a look.

I found it interesting because back around 1992-1993 I was part of Princeton's digitization of its catalog, which digitized the actual cards. This was one of the first digitization projects (and you can see the results here), and they were doing it on a tight schedule and budget. They pulled all the summer workers from Firestone Libraries that summer for 2 hours of quality control a day, and we hated the tedium, and there were a fair amount of quality control issues due to the age of the cards, handwritten notations, the fading of ink.

The "Stupidest Librarian 2008" Award Goes To...

So let me get this straight: you write a book showing contempt for your patrons, self-publish it ($18 for a 153 page story?), use a pen name that is traceable back to your identity, include a picture of the library you are mocking on the cover, ask the local newspaper for a review, and then you are shocked when this gets back to your bosses in your small town and you are fired? Really? No, seriously?

Sally Stern-Hamilton has a lot of problems aside from losing her job--possibly being unsuited for public work, a severe lack of judgement, not understanding that along with a right to free speech comes responsibility for your words--but I admire a bit that she managed to torpedo her life so thoroughly while denying that even subconsciously that was what she wanted to do.

BTW, that link above goes to Annoyed Librarian's comments where someone violated copyright and posted the whole story, as the newspaper website wants you register to see stories older than 7 days.

Technical Difficulties And Stuff

I'm having technical difficulties with my connection at the Marlboro Mesa, hence limited posts.

I also have a job interview on Friday morning. Any good vibes are appreciated.

No, I did not get the other job. I figured I didn't get it when the next week passed and I hadn't heard anything, and when my email to the HR contact was ignored. However, when the HR person says specifically that you will hear from her either way, it's pretty freaking tacky to get the final big "NO" when you log into the recruiting website.

My language would be much bluer if you did not read this blog, Aunt Mary Jane.

Dream Analysis, $5

I had a dream this morning that I went up to Prescott for a job interview. When I got there and went up to the information desk I got this list of discussion questions, or just found them amongst my papers. And oh crap, there was some esoteric stuff in there, stuff you really had to prepare for. Something about shelving in Hebrew, like what, the conversos have rediscovered their roots and want Harlequins to practice their Hebrew? The Hasidim have moved up the mountain?

So the interview takes place in this long, dark paneled room with desks in it. And people just start shuffling in. Some of them are clearly patrons--some kids are goofing about on the rug and wrestling. Some of them are the clearly the other staff who will interview me--wearing suits and nice clothes, joking with each other. But no one says anything to me. And I'm being patient and quiet because you're not supposed to be bitchy at an interview. And I'm just standing there, and the din gets louder and I have to leave because it's just too noisy.

As I start to leave this woman pulls my arm and asks me "Do you have your Access assignment?" And I just look at her because, an Access assignment? WTF? And then I just let loose, not shouting, but definitely in my librarian voice (and it was really funny trying not to shout in my sleep):

"Listen, this is supposed to be an interview! You lot (pointing to patrons) have to leave unless you want to sit in on my interview to be your librarian but be quiet. No, I did not get an Access assignment, so I did not do that. I also did not get this list of questions until just now, so I will be speaking off the cuff about that. If you want, we can do this later. Or not at all."

And then the director type person smiles at me, asks me a convoluted question, and like the sucker I am I answer in a perky and positive and accommodating manner.

I swear I think I put all my professional angst and frustration and about half of my general personal issues into that dream. All I needed was a good dose of sexual humiliation in that dream, and the sad picture of my fraught emotional landscape is complete.

Little Bits Of What's Up

I'd like to know what's up with the library I applied to back in spring that had 2 openings for Librarian I. Of course they had no interest in my special self. And now they are advertising 2 positions again, same level, same description, same salary. Libraries that size do not have 4 openings in 6 months.

Also, after reviewing my food logs, I was forced to notice that I drink about 50% of my calories. So I'm going to try this for a week--I'm only allowed to drink water, coffee, and milk. The Sonic chocolate milkshake made a strong argument that it's actually ice cream, but was disallowed. Sigh. Any ideas for a reward if I make it?

In general I'm down, although I have an adventure from last week to write up.

Back In Business

It's amazing what a good job interview will do to raise your spirits.

Tuesday I journeyed out to a distant Maricopa County suburb. Wende will name it in 3 seconds--Northwest Valley exurb in its first stage of development, filled with young families and anchored by retail, tripled its population in 10 years. Ohioans--think Medina without the Amish. Potential job is as an Adult Services Librarian, doing reference, readers advisory, programming, collection stuff. What everyone thinks of when you say you're a librarian, as opposed to my other information work positions. Aces and I went out on Saturday to check it out, and I was impressed. I could see myself working there, and the library system has a history of innovation, and you know me--I like chaos and variety and change.

The whole day started out well, with Dusie giving me her recruiter pep talk after working out, telling me that I was so much more confident than I was before my last library interview in April, I looked good, I'd do well.

And I did. It started out when I walked in and they put me over by the new bestsellers to wait and an older fellow struck up conversation with me, a conversation that pulled in his wife and lasted a good 5-10 minutes until just before they called me in and included the question "Do you work here? You should work here!" and my response of "I hope to--I'm here for an interview!"

It was a standard behavioral question interview panel session with the HR person, the branch manager and the adult services supervisor. After a few of my answers I got some "good answer" and there was just good energy and response--I could feel it. And I was my enthusiastic, cheerful self, the self that I know isn't to everyone's taste but it's who I am and when I try to hide it or suppress it I wind up miserable and failing.

I asked what it was about my resume/background that piqued their interest, since it is a little...odd, and they said they had a lot of applicants with academic library experience, but the fact that I had public library experience made me stand out. So then I talked a little bit about the switch, how I had a job where I sat in a cubicle miserable (for various reasons I did not get into) and that forced me to think about my skills and personality where they would fit best. I have brains in abundance, I think fast and on my feet, I like to talk to people and they like to talk to me, I'm flexible, cheerful and enthusiastic, good in an emergency and people's weirdness doesn't freak me out. So it finally hit me--public librarianship. They liked that.

So I am very hopeful, and I should know today or tomorrow. And even if I don't get the job it was a fun conversation, triggered memories of other good anecdotes that illustrate my wonderfulness, and it was good practice. And I applied for other positions that I hope to hear back about soon.

What I wore:

My tan interview suit which did fit a lot better than before, my light blue sweater underneath, tiger's eye earrings, brown shoes (closed toe, without stockings--I just couldn't find anything brown and business sandal-like around here that I could afford). The self-tanner proved to be a mistake when Jesse X and I met up with Dusie at the airport to switch her bags and she gave me a weird look and asked "Did you put on self tanner?" It was like the looks I got the time I gave myself a chemical burn trying to use Nair to clean up my eyebrows. I also sprung for the Dusie approved light colored manicure, a pedicure and eyebrow wax for $36--I had to pay that for a pedicure only back in Ohio. God, I love it here.

Doors Are Shut, Windows Are Open

I didn't get the job I interviewed for 2 weeks ago. I think my lack of programming experience was a big factor. But, onto new opportunities, right?

My last day in town is next Friday. No seriously, I'm leaving. You want proof? I bought a 1 way plane ticket leaving from Newark a week from Tuesday. I gave away my tv. I told Carol & John's Comic Shop to cancel my subscriptions after the 7th (I only have 2, but still). Ebay auctions, people! Numerous trips to Half Price Books. Plumbers are finishing their job, I'm trying to get a hold of the guy who reglazes tubs, and my new best friends at Handyman Connection will be out next week. Specs goes to Petsmart by Friday too. I'm living on canned soup, baby carrots, and pb&j sandwiches.

I was in the grocery store right after I came back from AZ when it hit me that I'm not happy (big news, huh?) and I don't have to live like this. I swear, it was exactly like how I came to the decision to split with the ex.

My propensity for rushed and rash movement and decisions after long periods of emotional paralysis should probably be examined as part of my suspected mental instability, but I don't care.

I will send out an email--I'm hosting a last night in town at Bela Dubby 7-9pm. Husband-types and children welcome, and I'm buying the coffee and drinks and giving out hugs.