Do Librarians need More Education?
At the California School Library Association’s (CSLA), 2012 Spring Workshop, I learned about a new certification for “teacher librarians” called Special Class Authorization (CSA).
Today I learned that the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association has created not one, but TWO, new certification programs: the Certified Public Library Administration (CPLA) for public librarians and the Library Support Staff certification for “library support staff.”
Yikes! Is the answer to the current foundering of libraries to bury librarians under more education?
Not many people actually know what modern librarians do.
I don’t think librarians are clear about what they’re supposed to be doing.
Adding certifications won’t solve this problem. It’s got to be fixed from the inside out.
If you’re bothering to read this, you are likely involved in the library field somehow. If you are currently involved in the library field, you are probably a nerd.
Don’t be offended, I mean this in a good way. You love learning. You love knowledge in all of its glorious, ever-evolving formats. And you, I hope, love and appreciate technology because it has the potential to provide seamless, equitable, easy access to information.
Seamless
Equitable
Easy
Access to information
I like that.
Will more education bring librarians any closer to achieving this ideal? Will more education make librarians respected or employable? Ha! No way! Rather like…
The nitty gritty truth is that we librarian-nerds have created this situation for ourselves. Higher education is not the answer.
How? More on this in a different post.
