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Posted by Annoyed Librarian on November 4, 2009
A kind reader sent me a blog post by a cheerful librarian who didn't like it that the AL is so "negative" and that the blog and many of its commenters would make fun of a ridiculous library movement because the persons behind it were "passionate" and "enthusiastic." Supposedly, we need more passion and enthusiasm in librarianship. I was under the impression that we had lots of "passion" and "enthusiasm" but almost no culture of criticism. Passion and enthusiasm don't matter. What matters is the result. Librarians are prone to think that being bubbly and chirpy is somehow important. For a lot of us, being bubbly and chirpy makes you look like an idiot. Dance around enthusiastically grinning like a fool all you like, but your enthusiasm moves me not a whit. You can put on a happy face or direct your feet to the sunny side o...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on November 2, 2009
It was pretty obvious by the response to my last post that there are at least two sorts of librarians - those who value trite, vulgar, attention-seeking gimmicks that supposedly benefit the profession, and those who don't. I really shouldn't be so hard on those librarians who value the trite and vulgar. They really can't help themselves. They live in a world awash with vulgarity and self-obsession, and they don't have the proper moral compass to steer clear of them. Execrable rock videos, balloon boys, they're both part of the bizarre society we have developed in which the only value that matters is to get noticed, not to have anything worthwhile to say. One has to hand it to some librarians: they definitely know how to get noticed. They dress up trite gimmicks with glossy trappings and wave them in front of audiences of librarians, most of whom are good-h...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 29, 2009
In high school one of my boyfriends had a garage band. To be honest, he was kind of geeky, but thought the garage band made him seem cool. The band was abysmal, and to my classically trained ear sounded like a group of not especially coordinated baboons pounding kettle drums with baby rattles while screaming at each other. They were quite literally a garage band, since they rehearsed in his parent's garage and never got a gig. I and some of our long-suffering friends would occasionally stand around watching this bizarre spectacle and laughing (at them, not with them). They never got a gig, of course, because they were awful, but it was clear that the band members didn't realize how awful they sounded, and were clearly having fun even though no one else was.Flashbacks from high school ran through my mind when I watched this self-indulgent work of "art": the ...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 28, 2009
I was reading through some of the comments last week on library education - too many library school students, too few library jobs, and other fun topics - when I was struck by one suggesting that I, and many of my commenters, don't think much of online MLS programs. So I wanted to set the record straight on that one. I don't like online MLS programs. It's not that the programs are too easy. Library school is easy. It's the way of things and always has been. Online degrees just make the easy easier to get to. It's also not that the programs don't allow the same kind of relationship to a library as in-person programs. A lot of people earning online degrees are already working in libraries similar to the ones they want to work in. If someone wants to be a public or school librarian, they're just as well off working in a public or school library...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 26, 2009
My goodness, last week's post on the American Libraries propaganda article drew some sharp responses. Not that I play favorites among my readers, but some of my favorite responses were from a gushing, appalled library school student who hates this blog because it's so "negative" and "smug." Oh, and he thinks the AL is a "classist harpy." (Or perhaps he meant I'm a classical harpist, which is true.) I speculate that the student is a "he," by the way, from that particular phrase. After "harpy," perhaps he could call me a shrew or a bitch as well. These male library school students with apparently no library experience whatsoever go on aggressively about how everything's hunky-dory in librarianship are just being assertive. The AL disagrees just as aggressively, she's a "harpy." Nice. The arguments la...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 21, 2009
And still it comes. Apparently the job propaganda from the ALA will never cease. It seems to be on a mission to make sure there are too many librarians on the market and drive down salaries and working conditions for us all. Abetted by the library schools, of course, which can be cash cows for universities.Some of you might have seen this article in American Libraries. It's a puff piece about how distance education is the best education ever (!) written by (surprise, surprise) an administrator of online learning at a university with an online LIS program. The tone sounds like an infomercial. The number of people getting online degrees is "remarkable." We get a brief profile of a Drexel online LIS graduate who is "amazing." Everything is chee...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 19, 2009
Halloween is almost upon us. It's one of my favorite holidays. Every year I put my hair in a bun, don some thick glasses with library chains, and wear my dowdy librarian outfit as I venture out to parties. It's becoming as much of a Halloween tradition as carving pumpkins or pretending I'm not home when the trick-or-treaters arrive.We all have Halloween traditions. Down in North Carolina there's a Baptist church whose pastor wants to start a new Halloween tradition: book burning! A kind reader sent the story to me. It's all over the news right now, but I'll point you to this article because I love the last sentence. This pastor, and the fourteen members of his Amazing Grace Baptist Church, believe...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 14, 2009
The job market keeps getting better and better, unless you want to find a job that's actually good. Wait, maybe that means things haven't really changed. Regardless, I wanted to take a look at a couple of job postings sent on to me by kind readers, to get an idea of the wonderful opportunities out there. In Connecticut we find an ad for a librarian with one of the best job titles I've ever seen: Extremely Part-time Substitute Library Worker. You can't blame them for a lack of truth in advertising. They really lay it on the line. They want a librarian with an MLS and some experience willing to work whenever they might need help with no guarantee of any hours or employment. I have to say, this is at least more h...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 12, 2009
I can't quite tear myself away from the Oak Brook story, the one from last week where the mean old conservative guy made a 11-year-old girl cry by making fun of her because she was defending the librarians who'd just been fired. An alert reader commented on a sentence I somehow overlooked. From the article: "The librarians, who stereotypically remain hushed for this story, obviously feel a bit threatened." This could have been half a stereotype post just in itself! The commenter had this to say: "If we, as a profession, are going to rely on 10 year olds to speak up for us, we will absolutely get steamrolled by people who see little or no value in a public library." Is this what went on at the meeting? As reported, the librarians did...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 8, 2009
I wanted to post something yesterday as usual, but I'm still a little groggy from the AL anniversary party. The champagne was flowing a bit too freely, and I've since been in no mood to write. Plus, I seem to have misplaced my shoes during the party, but that's a long story.All week I've been thinking more about the mean anti-library guy wanting to shut down public libraries and privatize the world. Libraries seem to be shutting down all over the country, and not just in our country if an article I read about British libraries facing closures is true. Part of this is due to the recession. Times are hard. Tax revenues are down. We're told it's good news when only half a million people file new unemployment claims in a month. These are also the times, as you've likely been reading, when people start using public libraries more. With stagnant or reduc...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 6, 2009
Today is the first anniversary of the Annoyed Librarian at Library Journal. Yay! Who'd have thought I'd make it this far. What a long, strange, and (since this is my 125th blog post here), busy trip it's been. The thing I've noticed most over the past year is that while the page views remain high, the comments have settled down considerably, and this can only be a good thing. Some of those first posts were dominated by people who seemed to think if they wrote "I hate this blog" enough times the AL would just go away. At some point those bozos realized their plan wasn't working and went off to read Tame the Web instead. The old blog built up its audience slowly, so that by the time there were a lot of readers the commenters had self selected. This one had to start from scratch with lots of new readers who didn't know what to make of it. O...Read More
Posted by Annoyed Librarian on October 5, 2009
For all sorts of reasons, I'm glad I don't have to live in Oak Brook, IL, especially if I were still a little girl who likes libraries. A kind reader sent this story to me. It tells the sad tale of one man's crusade to destroy public libraries and make little girls cry, preferably at the same time. When an 11-year-old girl spoke out in a public meeting against firing the three librarians, she received a stiff rejoinder from criminal attorney Constatine Xinos which reduced her to tears:"Those who come up here with tears in their eyes talking about the library, put your money where your mouth is.... Don't cry crocodile tears about people who are making $100,000 a year wiping tables and putting the books back on the shelves...." He said Oak Brook had to "stop indulging peopl...Read More
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