Professional issues, not swimsuit ones

["Alice H. Yucht" <YUCHT@ZODIAC.RUTGERS.EDU>]

Be careful what you wish for:
Note; this message is long, and philosophical/political, so if you don't have
 the time or inclination to read it, don't bother.

Not so long ago, librarians were delighted with the advent of Whole
Language.  We saw this use of  genuine literature -- instead of basals -- in
the classrooms as recognition of the value of using real books with real kids
for real learning (something we'd known about all along).   But the Whole
Language gurus hyped classroom collections, and almost never mentioned
using the school libraries.  (Which makes you wonder about the libraries in the
schools where these gurus worked/visited.)   Now administrators faced with
tight budgets listen to the loudest voices, and sometimes the library funds are
being used to provide books for individual classrooms, rather than for the
whole school.
Only a few years ago, Library Automation meant getting your
circulation, and hopefully your catalog, computerized.   The Technology gurus
told us that these systems would give us more time and greater efficiency
with which to help our patrons.   As the information specialists, and
(hopefully) computer cognoscenti, we were often considered the logical
candidates to be responsible for the school's computer labs. But then CD-ROM
resources multiplied like bunnies, and on-line searching was so much swifter
than plowing through print indexes,  and the Internet offered a world-wide
wealth of information, and a new world of techies gained importance in the
educational infrastructure.    Now administrators see the library as merely
an information distribution system, and pour money into high-visibility
electronics for classroom-direct fact deliveries, so kids won't have to
waste time on actually going to the library and browsing.
We welcomed whole language, and technology, and LANs, WANs, and
all the other electronic alphabets into our lives, and now they have taken on
lives of their own.  While we talk among ourselves about swimsuit censorship,
 the SSSHHH factor in program development, information access,
cooperative planning, and whether we are educational media specialists,
or teacher-librarians, or resourcers, we need to pay more attention to what
the rest of the world sees and thinks about libraries and librarians.
 Too many of the fiscal powers-that-be see us as stampers and sshh-ers,
and our current facilities as anachronisms: outmoded inefficient collections
of materials that could/should be delivered directly to the classrooms,
where the real  instruction and materials usage is happening.

Educational institutions are being required to account for every penny
spent, and must adhere to strange and often arbitrary line-item budget codes
 dictated by the state or municipal bean-counters.   And somehow, because our fu
 nctions are seen as more school-wide resource (like the nurse or the
guidance counselor or the curriculum coordinator) than direct student
interaction and instruction,  libraries and librarians are frequently getting
lumped into administrative or non-instructional budget codes.  (Budget codes
 only deal with hard, quantifiable numbers, not real-time human functions like
ongoing reference and reader's advisory services, or prep-time / study hall
coverage, or literature extensions or life-time learning skills)
What I'm saying, I guess, is that when the governor of New Jersey
believes that school librarians and libraries are administrative "extras",
and when school superintendents think that electronic networks that cut
down on hall traffic are more valuable than human interaction for the
development of information literacy...
then who really cares what happens to a single issue of SI?
Remember your professional priorities, folks.

Alice H. Yucht
yucht@zodiac.rutgers.edu  OR  alicey@llnj.pppl.gov