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A 50-year-old Mexican American male with an MLS from UCLA, I want to respond to Tony Greiner’s BackTalk column (“Diversity and the MLS,” LJ 5/1/08, p. 36). Becoming a librarian is as much a professional pursuit as it is a calling. Providing easier access to an already watered-down profession is not necessarily going to attract more people of color. Maintaining professional integrity will.

I agree that the MLS costs plenty. College is expensive. I first enlisted in the navy, so the GI Bill paid for part of my college. I went back to school to attain that MLS. I worked part-time through all my studies for the Santa Ana Public Library, CA, that I used as a kid. The job was a lifesaver, and the training and experience were invaluable.

I worked my way up the ladder...in a highly multiethnic library. The children’s department was staffed with two older Mexican women and three Anglas. The children’s librarian was Asian. Lots of staff were Mexican American....

There is a big difference between wanting something and being recruited. I chose to go to library school. It wouldn’t have made any difference to me if there had been more Mexican Americans working at the library when I was a kid. Seeing more Chicano librarians wouldn’t have influenced other kids from the barrio to go to library school.

My colleagues and I rail against the watering down of the profession. We worked hard for our degrees and that “librarian” title, and we take pride in them.... You have to want to do what we do in order to put up with those extra two years of graduate school. If you don’t truly have it in your bones to be a librarian, no amount of racial pride or persuasion will work....

We face the threat of that watered-down degree all the time. Already folks with undergraduate degrees work our reference desks.... We need highly trained, dedicated people who take pride in what they do.... If you want to be a librarian, suck it up, go to grad school, take out loans, and then face the fact that there are precious few “entry-level” positions, and most don’t pay much....

—Wally Clark, Libn., Kitsap Regional Lib., Port Orchard Branch, WA

Tony Greiner (“Diversity and the MLS,” LJ 5/1/08, p. 36) argues that finances are the most significant factor keeping minorities out of librarianship. I wouldn’t argue for placing the library science degree at the bachelor’s level as a solution. It makes more sense to work toward eliminating the obstacles that prevent minorities from completing an undergraduate degree. If minorities have financial difficulties at the undergraduate level, their troubles won’t melt away because the MLS is placed at the bachelor’s level. I would research why African Americans and Hispanics [comprise] the largest number of library nonusers. If they don’t use library services, why would they be interested in entering the profession?

—Maria Landrum, MLIS Student, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge

The editorial on the privatization of the library in Jackson County, OR (Francine Fialkoff, “The Privatization Threat,” LJ 6/1/08, p. 8) left out some significant details.

Voters in Jackson County defeated two referenda, one in 2006 and one in 2007, that would have imposed tax levies to fund the library. In 2000, however, voters passed a $39 million bond measure to renovate or rebuild all of the library’s branches. I believe Danny Jordan, author of the PM article [to which Fialkoff refers], is correct that the tax referenda were defeated because they were viewed as too great a burden for the taxpayers, not because of lack of esteem for libraries. The other two articles in the series were in the March and April 2008 issues of PM....

The savings realized from Jackson County hiring LSSI will assure that Jackson County libraries will be open for at least the next three years. More than two-thirds of the furloughed Jackson County library employees were rehired by LSSI at comparable salaries. Those who were vested will still be able to receive state pensions upon their retirement.

Without these facts, it is easy to make a reactionary case for SWAT teams to fight privatization. When faced with a dire economic situation, Jackson County took steps to make sure its citizens still had a public library. Some might even say it was an unpopular decision considering the defeat of the two tax levies. Jackson County took a significant risk to assure its citizens would have library service at least for the next three years. Many governments, in similar situations, would have chosen to eliminate the library. Your criticism of Jackson County and its hiring LSSI was unnecessary and unproductive.

—Seth Stephens, Dir., Jefferson Twp. P.L., Oak Ridge, NJ

In the Spring 2008 Library by Design supplement to Library Journal, the affiliation attributed to Kevin F. Huse in our “Expert Opinion” section (p. 42) was incorrect. He is an architect with Woollen, Molzan & Partners, Inc., of Indianapolis. We apologize for any confusion.