Feedback

In “Why I-Schools Need Library” (Blatant Berry, LJ 9/15/07, p. 10), John Berry laments that the 19 information schools comprising the iCaucus have omitted the word library from the iSchool “pitch” and that library studies “don't seem to be a major part of the iCaucus focus.” Of the 19 schools, 14 of them offer American Library Association–accredited master's programs supporting careers in librarianship. At Pitt, more than half of the students in the School of Information Sciences are in the MLIS program. Other students choose to pursue degrees in information science or in telecommunications.

Before the turn of the 21st century, these programs were considered totally separate disciplines. Librarians worked in libraries, information scientists developed computer applications, telecommunications professionals built and ran networks, and all was good. But as digital information became more dominant, librarians found they needed to know more about the technologies on which their services depended, information scientists began to rediscover solutions whose principles underlie standard practice in librarianship, and telecommunications professionals found their services to be in greater demand by information providers than by network developers....

The partitioning of disciplines that seemed so reasonable a decade ago has given way to an emerging synergy that is the signature attribute of the iSchools.

Berry briefly alludes to the experience of Danielle, a graduate of the Syracuse School of Information Studies, but what he doesn't mention is that she discovered the school quite by accident during a campus visit. Awareness of Danielle's experience—and those of students on each of our campuses—illuminated that while our schools were adapting to an increasingly networked world of information, prospective students were unaware of these changes. More important, they were unaware of the opportunities that were awaiting them. We still attracted many students who knew they wanted to be librarians, but many other students who were not quite so sure failed to recognize the myriad opportunities open to them through information studies. Some...discovered their future in librarianship at our schools.

As our charter reads, the iSchools “consist of schools interested in the relationship between information, technology, and people. This is characterized by a commitment to learning and understanding of the role of information in human endeavors. The iSchools take it as given that expertise in all forms of information is required for progress in science, business, education, and culture. This expertise must include understanding of the uses and users of information, as well as information technologies and their applications.” Librarianship is fundamental to this charter but not exclusive to it. There is growing synergy between librarianship and other information disciplines, and the iSchool objective is to build on and extend this synergy to the benefit of society.—Ronald L. Larsen, Dean, SIS, Univ. of Pittsburgh

The “Stat Watch” in Front Desk (LJ 9/1/07, p. 13) lists as “A New Record” the 21,033,861 fiscal year 2007 circulation of the Queens Library, NY. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the East Brunswick Public Library, NJ...I decided to calculate how my local library compared with Queens....

Queens Library, with 64 branches, serves Queens County's estimated population of 2.3 million, meaning that the average resident borrowed just over nine items during the year. East Brunswick's one and only location loaned a comparatively paltry 928,000 items to a much smaller population, about 47,000.

The average East Brunswick resident borrowed about 20 items last year, more than twice as many as the residents of Queens....—Stanley Fisher, Member, Library Board of Trustees, East Brunswick P.L., NJ

I take exception to Douglas Cornwell's angry and...intolerant views toward “Christians” (“Red State 'Christians,'” Feedback, LJ 7/07, p. 10).... Why are Christians considered “narrow-minded”? Is it merely because they hold an opinion that is contrary to his own? I fear for the day when librarians and library support workers are unable to hold a normal conversation with those with whom they disagree....

Library patrons...have the right to question material, and we should not become defensive or angry when they do so. If we don't want the public to have any input in what we...do, we should remove the process that permits them to do so and be intellectually honest enough to stop accepting public funds....

Whatever we may think of him and his claims...a patron, a taxpayer, and a fellow citizen has every right to hold and voice his opinions....—Ezequiel Luna, Lib. Assoc., Nampa, ID

In LJ's Library by Design (Fall 2007, p. 38), the “Expert Opinion” respondent for JCJ Architecture was Barbara Joslin, not Jon Schlesinger.