Letters

I was outraged to read Michael Rogers's "Tackling Recruitment" (LJ 2/1/03, p. 40–43), about the difficulty of attracting new librarians. Most upsetting was the statement "librarians increasingly find themselves at a loss to attract new talent." That is difficult to believe.

As a young new librarian (class of 2002, MLIS program, McGill Univ., age 25), I began my job search a full four months before graduation, concentrating my efforts on academic and some public libraries in the Western United States, Ontario, and Quebec. Even with prior professional experience in cataloging and reference service from summer and part-time positions, it was four months after graduation before I received a six-month contract position. I am not alone among my classmates. Some have taken technician or part-time positions to gain experience and to support themselves.

During my job search, I have been interviewed only twice for positions in the United States and received slightly more interest from Canadian openings. I have received rejection after rejection….

In the year since I began my search I have not given up my goal of attaining a permanent position as a librarian. However, I am now considering abandoning my search and returning to school in another field.

Before they mourn the death of their profession, I ask American librarians to be open to hiring the young, qualified, and underemployed talent from across the border, who may work in the United States without sponsorship under NAFTA. We may need a little training, but we are smart, sassy, and ready to work. Your investment will pay off!
—Vanessa Anneh Czop, MLIS, Montreal, Quebec

Well, the February 15 LJ finally got through the routing to my desk, and I can't believe you published the letter from Michael Gorman ("Unusable Google hits," p. 10). Does he realize how silly this makes him look? Google does not search by "subject." It isn't an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog). The point about the number of hits is sensible because, like many kids, Gorman apparently doesn't know how to search, nor apparently does he understand how Google ranks, nor why his two searches would generate different hits. This man is the Dean of Library Services?! Just one librarian's opinion…one who does know how to use Google effectively when needed.
—Linda Bartnik, Reference Dept., Govt. Documents, Waterfield Lib., Murray State Univ., KY

I am a reference librarian, and I wondered how you could print such a saccharine and outdated portrait of the profession as the one in Julia Alvarez's poem "Why I Am In Love with Librarians " (LJ 1/03, p. 58).

In the real world of librarians, 2003-style, none of us "fade into the…walls," faux wood paneled or not. "Lined faces?" A lot of us are energetic workers in our prime. We do help people find information, but we also lead book discussions, fix computers, organize poetry readings, and coordinate go-cart races. The idea that we are "helpers who disappear" is the kind of attitude that contributes to our profession being underappreciated and underpaid, the reason we can't recruit new librarians (Michael Rogers, "Tackling Recruitment ," LJ 2/1/03, p. 40–43).

With our level of education and customer service savvy, how can you promulgate this stereotypical and condescending prattle? The "sweet smile" I supposedly wear, according to Alvarez, is a disgusted frown now, after that poem. I expect more from Library Journal and an acclaimed novelist and writer in residence.
—Deborah F. Eastman, Reference Libn., Milford Town Lib., MA

The party at the circ desk
Was a veritable zoo,
A lettered Panda-monium
A bookish ballyhoo.

A Muntjac and a Meercat
Reviewed the Life of Pi,
A Tsetse checked out Nietzsche
To a patron on the fly.

A Lionhearted Lemur,
A Toucan and some Tapirs
Koala-ted copies of
A xer-Ox-ed Pickwick Papers.

A Rhino-saur-his chance was next
And sauntered up to check out
A Chimp and Zebra video
And Oscar-winning Gecko.

A Piliated Spoonbill
Out-Eland-ishly overdue
Querulously whistled for
A Kanga to re-Gnu.

A Wallaroo Robustus
And a three-toed, blue-tongued Skink
Over-herd the stampede
Was running out of ink.

A Hippo-bought-a-mess of stuff—
Some postcards and CDs;
A Pachydermatologist-
A tome on skin disease.

An Ostrich made an Emu late—
She spied a Rook above her,
And Noah's Aardvark hence declined,
To judge it by its hover.

—Robin R. Yuran, Circulation Supervisor, Norfolk Lib., CT