Letters

In response to Bill Crowley ("The Suicide of the Public Librarian ," LJ 4/15/03, p. 48–49), I'm a reference librarian who came to librarianship…after a professional career in another discipline…. I obtained an MLS and began work as a reference librarian in a public library. I love my job. I love librarianship. But the MLS…hmmm….

That other professional career…required a graduate, professional degree (my "real" degree). It required deep research, extensive analysis, and a breadth of knowledge. The distance between the intellectual demands of that degree and those of the MLS is measured in light years, if not parsecs. Any reasonably competent 11th grader would have cruised through the MLS program. My other graduate school challenged the students daily….

I don't fault the MLS program for this lack of intellectual content and rigor…. There simply is no body of knowledge that falls under…"library science"…. If anything came from this time, it was the ethos of librarianship. Nothing in the program required graduate-level thinking or analysis. Here was a curriculum in search of a subject…. That's unfair. I can't say there wasn't anything of substance, just not enough to constitute a curriculum for a master's degree….

I suggest that librarianship is a very high-order, intellectual activity, but it isn't librarianship that needs to be studied. There are more than 100,000 very competent, knowledgeable, and helpful librarians who have the MLS. Their competence, knowledge, and helpfulness don't arise from their MLS education. People who become librarians self-select…. Two of the best reference librarians I have encountered are serving in the public library in a nearby town. They are bright, inquisitive, thorough, successful, and instilled with the librarian ethic. Neither has a master's degree….

If I were hiring a reference librarian, I might insist on a master's degree…. Deciding between two equivalently credentialed candidates, however, I'd hire someone with a master's in chemistry or history or English literature, as opposed to someone with an MLS…. Subject mastery may be a better predictor of intellectual capacity…. than an MLS….
—Rob Geiszler, Reference Libn., Seminole Community Lib., FL

Bill Crowley chose an alarming title for his essay ("The Suicide of the Public Librarian ," LJ 4/15/03, p. 48–49). Wow, I thought that my kind were slowly killing themselves. Instead, I read and find out that library directors and administrators are "deprofessionalizing" the libraries by hiring people without degrees. So, it is library management, not the well-meaning MLS-holders who are doing the killing.

Thanks; we already knew that!
—Joyce Mooney, Ridgewood Ave. Sch., Glen Ridge, NJ

I enjoyed the Movers & Shakers 2003 supplement (LJ 3/15/03) and was especially impressed by Marilyn Wallace (p. 43), the "irresistible force" from Calgary.
—Linda Cornett, Dir., Johnson & Wales Univ. Lib., Norfolk, VA

I was outraged and disappointed by your review of Future Guide Dogs (Video Reviews, LJ 4/1/03, p. 146). Your review suggests that I, the documentary filmmaker, am responsible for what people say and do in the film. It's a "documentary," not a subjective, promotional video for raising and training guide dogs. My goal is to be completely objective and let people do and say what is natural to them.

The reviewer writes, "the film mentions the value of teaching children about 'the birds and the bees'...precisely what many uneducated people say to justify breeding litters of pups who are then turned into animal shelters by the thousands." This is completely uncalled for…. The subject in the film, not "the film" itself, states, "[His children] learned about the birds and the bees" as a result of raising puppies to be guide dogs, not random puppies….

The review states, ". . . neonate pups and mother dog are shown on newspaper sheets rather than the far more desirable, inexpensive foam cushioning that protects pups, helps with footing, and is easier on mothers…." According to my sources, professional dog breeders…you would never use foam cushioning in a puppy pen because the puppies would eat it and defecate on it. The foam would have to be replaced many times throughout the day and night or become a ready-to-eat bacteria swamp endangering the pups and mother.

The review "should have been more carefully and thoughtfully edited," not Future Guide Dogs.
—Bob Diffenderfer, Digital Cinema Prods., Rochester, NY

The profile for Ex Libris ("The Competition Heats Up: Automated System Marketplace 2003 ," LJ 4/1/03, p. 62) implies that the implementation of ALEPH in the State University of New York system is complete. As I write, 19 of about 60 libraries have been implemented. Implementation is far from finished.
—Wilfred (Bill) Drew, Assoc. Libn., Systems & Reference, State Univ. of New York–Morrisville Coll. Lib.; Chair, SUNY ALEPH Users Group