Readings 10/16

The Ugly Side of Librarianship by Klaus Musmann

It is interesting to see how libraries catered to immigrants and not blacks for many years. It is easy enough to imagine though. Libraries, our seeming champions of freedom and progressive pioneers simply followed what the rest of the country was doing at the time. Even our cherished libraries were not above segregation, oppression, and general inequality. It was surprising to learn though that legislation explicitly prohibited teaching blacks to learn how to read. I knew this was the practice during slavery. But it surprised me that it continued so long. I guess I had never thought about that aspect of oppression before. The ability to read and write brings great power.

OOH 06-07 and Information Technology and the De-Skilling of Librarians by Roma Harris

The OOH paints a somewhat happy picture for librarians to be: the creation of new job openings due to a large amount of retirees, and a great number of more jobs opening in the private sector. Then Harris comes along as a very “Negative Ned.” It may be because the article was published in 1992 that the outlook looks so bleak (and perhaps the reason there are so many editing errors), but many of Harris’ claims probably hold some truth. Women in librarianship are be being “de-skilled” and replaced by paraprofessionals who do the regular orthodox work of librarians. And men are the ones who are in power and will get the best new jobs when the profession slowly morphs into a more information centered job. This is another instance of discrimination. As a male I started to get nervous about some of the things Harris was saying but then she mentioned that males probably will not be as affected by these changes. I was relieved, but this does not solve the problem for my female counterparts. I think though that Harris, trying to predict the future, may have underestimated the power of service in the profession. Instruction and counseling appears to still be a very large part of librarianship and growing.

Librarians and Party Girls by Marie and Gary Radford

I read some reviews on Amazon about this movie and then requested it be ordered at the library I work at. It sounds like quite a humorous and entertaining motion picture. I propose we have a showing of it as an event for SLIS. It would probably an excellent learning experience. But I believe that Mary, the main character, goes from a person who’s life is in disarray to a person who becomes organized. This reminds me of Scrolling Forward and man’s need for organization. She goes from someone who is in jail to a person who is a professional. This parallels our quest to bring chaos into order. It is clear from my experience interacting with female librarians that they are not the stereotypical frumpy, hair in a bun girls. As in everything there is a center area and balance between the two. Irregardless, the stereotype still exists in popular culture.