Last week a commenter questioned my claim that having as many library school students as possible isn’t just in the financial interests of library schools, but of the ALA as well. As a side-note, I never understand the argument, like you made, that it’s to ALA’s financial benefit (or any other sort of benefit) to have lots of library school graduates, ESPECIALLY if they aren’t able to get library-field jobs. I hear the unemployed and disenchanted spend notoriously little on memberships, books, conferences, etc. It’s obvious how having lots of students is good for the library schools. If they don’t get jobs, the only people who are harmed are the students themselves and possibly us taxpayers when they default on their student loans because they can’t find gainful employment. So, basically, it harms everyone in the country except the library schools. Thanks, library schools! However, it does make sense that the ALA would prefer gainfully employed ...
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The Chronicle of Higher Education had an article this week that made me think about library schools:  Judge Rejects Another Lawsuit Over Law School's Job-Placement Claims [the full article requires a subscription]. That’s right: another lawsuit. The plaintiffs argued that their law school’s placement statistics were misleading, and it’s the law school’s fault that they can’t now find a job. The judge was having none of it. "With red flags waving and cautionary bells ringing, an ordinary prudent person would not have relied on the statistics to decide to spend $100,000 or more," the judge wrote. "Sometimes hope and dreams triumph over experience and common sense," he wrote. "Nevertheless, it would be unreasonable for plaintiffs to rely on two bare-bones statistics in deciding to attend a bottom-tier law school with the lowest admission standards in the country." In my imagined recreation, he then licked the tip of his finger and touched it to the ...
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A column in last week’s Philadelphia Inquirer about how libraries’ “experts on call” - presumably, reference librarians - were a dying breed. The last time the columnist visited the the information center at the Free Library (1991!), there were 14 librarians. Now “one full-fledged Know-It-All left...backed up now by nine less-seasoned librarian assistants.” It’s amazing what 21 years will do to a place. That’s a pretty drastic drop, but probably not too much more than other libraries with once booming reference staffs. The reason, as we all know, is because the Internet killed ready reference. Now, most of the questions for the know-it-alls are about technology and tech support, and that’s when we get to the interesting part of the column. Here’s the final paragraph: To keep up, Morse [the full-fledged Know-It-All] has had to become a gadget guru. "I just bought my young niece a Kindle. When iPad2 came out, I got one. I'm on my second ...
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By a “bad book challenge,” I don’t mean a challenge of a bad book, but a bad challenge of a book. For the ALA, all book challenges are bad. I think reasonable people can disagree. Somehow I missed the story last month about a book challenge in Greenville, SC. Neonomicon, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, was challenged by a parent after her 14-year-old daughter checked it out from the adult section of the public library. It’s a weird story. First, the teenager had her mother’s permission to check out the book, and not just the the implicit permission that the mother knew she had a “juvenile adult” card and could check books out from the adult section. She also had her mother’s explicit permission at the time of checkout itself. The mother is quoted as saying, "It looked like a child's book.  I flipped through it, and thought it was ok for her to check out." She thought it looked like a “murder mystery comic.” While familiar with some of Alan ...
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Last week a guest column in LJ by a public library system CEO talked up a strategy to get ebooks from major publishers into public libraries. For the most part it seemed very sound and practical, like informing publishers that libraries actually pay for stuff and that they’re perfectly willing to make checking out ebooks as annoying as checking out print books. But all practicality aside, part of the argument seems slightly disingenuous to me, and since it’s a part that’s not really necessary to a practical engagement with publishers or lawmakers about securing ebooks for public libraries, I’ll point it out so that people can stop talking about it. The phrase “critical content” appears twice in the column, and the implication is that it’s critical that this content be made available for library patrons for their own sake. For example, unlike the affluent library patrons, Low-income residents in poorer neighborhoods do not have this sequence of ...
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There’s a spectre haunting Michigan libraries: the spectre of unarmed patrons. Apparently, libraries in Lansing, MI are so dangerous that there are some Michiganians who fear going into them unless they’re armed. Kind Reader let me down today, but Infodocket provided this juicy story: Michigan Court of Appeals to consider legal challenge to Lansing library weapons ban. The library system bans weapons, and that really irritates some guys (I’m assuming they’re guys, but I could be wrong), guys who are never happy unless they have a six-shooter strapped to their manly cowboy thighs, if there are any cowboys in Michigan. The cowboys’ attorney asks, “Are libraries immune from crime?” The answer to that is pretty obvious. No! Numerous people have stolen rare books and materials from libraries over the years and tried to sell them on Ebay. A good library is just an invitation to thieves, so let's shoot 'em. On the other hand, have there ever been any ...
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