Editorial: Librarians Too “Annoyed”

The tongue-in-cheek title alludes to the equally tongue-in-cheek blog that moved last month to LibraryJournal.com, Annoyed Librarian, or, as I call her, AL. The A could stand for anonymous, too, since AL is masked by her moniker, fighting for truth, justice, and the American library. By inviting AL to move her blog to Library Journal, we joined the blogosphere in a much bigger way than we've done with our homegrown efforts (like In the Bookroom, LJ Insider, E-Views, and Digital Libraries). Bringing in an existing blog is new territory for us, but it does what so many LJ friends, critics, and colleagues have told us we need to: move LJ away from its print roots, its serious tone (why can't LJ be funny?), out into the wild, woolly 2.0 world, where it can be more a part of the conversation. Encourage diversity of opinion, infuse the print with the electronic, and vice versa.

The backlash—and response to it—came quickly, on Twitter, FriendFeed, David Lee King's blog, and on AL's as well. The negative posts and personal emails fell into two categories: How can a reputable publication host an anonymous blogger who uses her anonymity to lob barbs at professionals with whom she disagrees? How can LJ give its imprimatur to a blogger whose snarky, satirical posts often hold up to ridicule some of the sacred cows of librarianship (see her blog on Banned Books Week, a favorite target, or the frequent aspersions cast against the “twopointopians”)?

There we were in the conversation in all of its complexity and melee. As Chrystie Hill, an LJ Mover & Shaker, commented on davidleeking.com, “A lot of what the new web/media are about is...dislocating the expert, authenticated, and 'condoned' voice. You might even say that Library Journal is taking a step in the 'right' direction by publishing an anonymous author; it takes the stance that LJ is not the authority, they are merely the facilitator.” And AL has the ability to facilitate conversation—and controversy—with her posts. That's an LJ tradition, too.

As Hill points out, we, like newspapers and other “old media,” are grappling with some of the same issues: what it means to be a journalist in a web world, the fate of print as more and more users move to the web, and the creation of new rules for online publications. Moving AL to LJ raises anew questions of editorial control and endorsement. We don't edit AL, or any of our outside bloggers. As long as they stay within the boundaries regarding libel, defamation, and profanity, they're on their own. We reserve the right to take down a specific post or end the relationship. That doesn't mean we can't discuss their posts with them after the fact, or even disagree about the blog. By choosing to feature AL, we're acknowledging the value of the voice, if not the specific content, of each column.

To those of you bloggers who disagree with AL, we'd like more outside bloggers on LJ. And to those of you who disdain anonymity, we'd be delighted to feature the real you.

Both critics and supporters have pointed out that AL has helped us reap more hits on our web site. Numbers count in our for-profit world, as they do in your nonprofit one. To those who think that whatever we're paying AL, it's too much, and to those of you who've said to her, “Glad to hear you're getting paid,” AL reminds you that, like much of what she writes, the “30th-floor corner office” with the obligatory minibar is not to be taken literally. Even for-profits like LJ can't go that far.

As for protecting AL's anonymity, we intend to do just that. In a comment on King's blog, Walt Crawford wrote that, based on a study he's conducting, 18 percent of library-related bloggers don't “disclos[e] their full names.” He doesn't speculate why, but the most likely reason is to protect their jobs. In a field that fights for free expression but sometimes finds that it's hard to practice within the confines of a library job, it is surprising that there are those who can't cut AL some slack for her choice. Helene Blowers's recent article in School Library Journal, “Ten Tips About 23 Things” (SLJ 10/08) puts as No. 2: “Allow participants to blog anonymously.”

As our newest blogger told me, “The AL is a fictional character, and the writer of the AL is no more the Annoyed Librarian than Charlotte Brontë was Jane Eyre.” I hope that AL's anonymous voice has a long run here.