LMC Horror Stories!!!

[Jan Rice McArthur <mhartley@MACON.MINDSPRING.COM>]

Hello Everyone!!

Seems like this topic has come FULL CIRCLE!!!!  The reality is......that
there ARE LOTS of LMC horror stories!!!!  And all of them do NOT necessarily
concern automation, funding, cataloging, or scheduling.......for
instance......my posting of several weeks ago about the suicidal student
that sought solace in the Media Center here at Hartley!!!  NOT to mention
the roaches and mildew and crashed servers and ringworm and lice and leaky
roof and under-funding......should I go on???

I don't think there is any WAY that a library school could prepare us
completely for our jobs.....HOWEVER......I do agree that the ivory-tower
idealism of the profs in most settings needs a JOLT of REALITY!!!!  So
HEY.......whoEVER wants to write a paper on what we REALLY face on a day to
day basis......GO FOR IT!!!!   Somebody's got to tell the TRUTH!!! Yes the
school I attended DID have an internship program.....but I'm afraid at least
above- the-table idealism still prevailed!!!  The ONLY prof I ever had who
came close to addressing the issue honestly.....was not a full time prof but
a consultant and adjunct prof and she stated it this way......"WE do the
BEST we can.......especially considering that we are currently working and
HAVE been for some time.....under RATHER ADVERSE conditons to say the
least."   She gets MY gold medal for telling it like it IS!!!!

I would NOT be surprised if that research paper on "LMC horror stories"
becomes a "banned document" in library schools which want to pereserve the
"ivory-tower" POV.
BUT I would not be surprised either.......if it became a bestseller.....and
possibly even a companion volume to "Information Power"!!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!!  ~(((((:->)
Jan Rice McArthur, LMS
Matilda Hartley Elementary
Macon, GA
mhartley@mindspring.com