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By Staff -- Library Journal, 11/1/2006
Mayor Nagin: “Thanks!”
On behalf of Mayor C. Ray Nagin and the citizens of New Orleans, I would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone in the library world for their support of our libraries and our city. As a former librarian, I was proud to see the wonderful dedication and work of First Lady Laura Bush, along with the librarians, publishers, and volunteers who came to our city and significantly contributed to the recovery of our devastated library buildings and collections. Even when 80 percent of our city was still flooded, the American Library Association (ALA) set an example for the nation by confidently selecting New Orleans as the site of its national conference. You sent a clear message that New Orleans not only would survive but would be prepared to offer its traditional hospitality to visitors and would be open for business. Indeed, we had a wonderful celebration with ALA!
Special thanks to Library Journal for recognizing Tania Tetlow, outgoing chair of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) Board of Directors, for her outstanding work and leadership during the greatest natural disaster in our nation's history (Francine Fialkoff, “Dear Mayor Nagin,” Editorial, LJ 10/1/06, p. 8). We know that Ms. Tetlow, through her support of the library foundation and the Friends of NOPL, will continue her great work on behalf of the library. We are grateful to all our library board members for their dedication and service and look forward to the contributions of our new and talented appointee, Irvin Mayfield. We also commend Bill Johnson, former library director, and Geraldine Harris, interim director, for their strong leadership during these challenging times.
Mayor Nagin and I are committed to a strong public library system that will serve all of the residents and neighborhoods of New Orleans. We...want all our branch libraries reopened as soon as possible. We see this tragedy as an opportunity to offer returning New Orleanians a system of public libraries that will meet their needs and the needs of their children for years to come.
You can be assured that Mayor Nagin and I will continue to support our city's public and school libraries as we both have for many years.... We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your generosity....—Brenda G. Hatfield, Ph.D., Chief Administrative Officer, City of New Orleans, and Past Chair, New Orleans P.L. Board of Directors
ALA's alternate to an MLS
Change takes place in several ways. Sometimes it's instantaneous, other times it happens in gradual steps, but there is one quality about change that is constant—it's never easy. That's the case when it comes to library education (John Berry, “Can ALA Bring Change?” Blatant Berry, LJ 9/15/06, p. 10). We've been talking about the quality and content of library education since...well, you fill in the blank!
American Library Association (ALA) past president Michael Gorman took the first step toward changing library education by his first-time gathering of practitioners and educators at the 2006 Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio to discuss the need for change. Although changing library education is not specifically one of my presidential agenda items, OCLC's George Needham got me thinking about it again at the recent Thinking Ahead Conference in Salt Lake City when he proposed a complete overhaul of the way we approach educating the people who work in libraries.
So here's step two!
I've asked Dan O'Connor (chair, ALA Education Committee) to focus his group's attention on creating an action plan for reforming library education at the ALISE/ALA Education forum planned for Midwinter 2007 in Seattle. Rather than getting educators and practitioners together for a “shoot the breeze” session, we will focus the session on a discussion of Needham's proposal or any other proposal that comes forward, with the end result being an action plan for changing library education.
Here are my suggested topics: 1) Does accreditation still matter? 2) Should we create a new way to educate library workers? 3) Should certification and continuing education credits be mandatory for library workers? 4) Should we offer an alternate route to librarianship similar to that being offered for those who want to teach in public schools? 5) What would a core curriculum for librarianship look like? Should it be a standard for accreditation?
Step three comes with ALA president-elect Loriene Roy's task force on supporting LIS education through practice to deal with issues related to library education.
While all of this is going on, there are a few other related initiatives underway at ALA: special funding in 2007 will enable the Committee on Accreditation to begin the process of revising the standards. Development of a paraprofessional certification will offer a realistic opportunity to bring bachelor's-level library education into a cohesive framework that provides for alternative certification, as through a combination of work and training.
We have to stick with this, be persistent about promoting the changes we want to see, one step at a time.—Leslie Burger, Pres., American Lib. Assn., Chicago
