Re: Where do we come from..."

["Barbara R. Herbert" <bherb@JUNO.COM>]

Mark Williams wrote:

> I
>know in
>my own area, there is still a perception that school librarians are
>really
>only clerks and need no training -- after all, all we do is stamp due
>dates
>in books, right? I even find this belief among some public and
>academic
>librarians.  I think our struggle to change this perception in the
>public's
>mind leads us to be (perhaps) overly concerned about the academic
>credentials.  Any comments?
>Mark Williams
>Librarian
>Colton High School Library
>mark_williams@eee.org
>
While I agree with Mark's last statement about changing the mind of the
public about the perception of school librarians, I disagree that
academic librarians feel that way.

In NJ, we are divided into regional library cooperatives.   My region,
"C", is very active in hosting workshops of all kinds for not only the
librarians, but library staff.  I am currently serving as the president
of Library Association of Ocean County, which invites _all_ library staff
(regardless of degree) to join.   This frequent contact enables us to
become more familiar with the multiple responsibilities (and
difficulties) that we all face; in turn, this leads to a mutual respect
of each other (and, in some cases, complete awe, as in a public or
academic librarian telling a school librarian, "I could never do your job
- I don't know how you do it!").   Those of us who have the MLS are more
supportive of library assistants and non-MLS teacher/librarians and are
more willing to help them.   In addition, many of the school librarians
have forged excellent working relationships with their branch of the
county library.   In my opinion, this is our profession at its best, and
I'm grateful to be part of it.  I wish more areas could develop this kind
of atmosphere, where we could all benefit!   LM_NET is doing this; just
look at the affiliations of the posters - mainly school librarians, but
there's also a few academic, public, and special librarians as well as
those pursuing their degree.

Just my $ .02 worth.

Barbara

Barbara Herbert                 home:  <bherb@juno.com>
Georgian Court College          work:  <herbert@georgian.edu>
Lakewood, NJ  08701-2697                    NASA ERC:
<NASA_ERC@georgian.edu>