Librarians Make Libraries

Barbara Kay Stripling, current ALA President, has created a Declaration for the Right to Libraries to get passed around and signed by folks who support libraries.  Unfortunately, having groups of people sign the thing will do little to raise awareness about libraries because the Declaration for the Right to Libraries is inaccurate.  It states that libraries do such lofty things as to support literacy and lifelong learning, strengthen families, protect intellectual freedom, advance research and scholarship, discuss issues of common concern, and preserve heritage.

But, libraries don’t do these things.  LIBRARIANS do!

Here are some suggestions for how ALA may go about strengthening library awareness and support in more powerful ways.

#1: Admit that libraries are not noble icons of a free society in and of themselves.  When folks talk about police departments, they’re not talking about buildings.  They’re talking about men-in-blue, cops, officers, etc.  When people talk about fire departments, they’re not talking about the fire trucks, but the firefighters who drive them.  Without professional librarians to manage them effectively, libraries are just just places or collections of stuff.  Like firefighters and police officers, librarians are public servants.  They may not have to wear bullet-proof vests (yet) or put out wildfires, but they do gather, organize, and provide access to quality information.  They are valuable, as Barbara says, “especially in the realms of literacy, innovations, and community engagement.”  Librarians (not libraries) promote literacy, protect intellectual freedom, and expand awareness about learning tools.  It’s high time librarians were given some credit for the jobs they do.

#2 Update and Standardize What Librarians Are Taught at School.  Thanks to technology, keeping library books in order by Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress Classification Systems seems quaint, obsolete, even ridiculous.  Of course librarianship has always involved more, but the Googling public hasn’t gotten the memo.  What would ensure librarianship is perceived as a valid, vital, quantifiable, profession is a set of measurable educational standards.

Teachers must pass a variety of exams and obtain a credential.  Engineers, architects, scientists must pass professional exams.  Lawyers must pass the bar.  Librarians receive specialize training that allows them to navigate, tame, and master an ever-evolving world of limitless, disorganized, digital information, but only librarians realize what a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science entails, and that can differ from program to program.

It’s time to get more specific about what is taught in library school.  Big data analytics, cyber security, trans-literacy, digital citizenship, metadata management, etc. are just some of the issues that need to be addressed in more depth at library school.  (None of these words are listed on the current standards for accredidation of library schools.)  Make a checklist and generate exams to prove mastery of each specialty.  Doctors volunteer to take exams in order to become “board certified.”  I’ll bet librarians would be willing to do so as well.

#3 Standardize Library Staffing!  These days, libraries are considered to be anything from neighborhood book swap carts to community centers with wifi.  They can be run by volunteers or assistants.  The public is rarely aware that the campus librarian is really a teacher’s aide or the person helping them at the public library’s reference desk is a technician.  Nowhere is this more of a critical issue than in California.  Here we have the lowest ratio of school librarians to students in the nation.  We currently have ZERO state funding for public libraries.

The result is that library buildings are open, but there are no librarians “home” to ensure equitable, effective programming, organization, budgeting, etc.  When the public gets used to sub-par library service, it becomes easy to believe that libraries are expensive and unnecessary.

ALA Guidelines & Standards don’t list anything for staffing requirements.  Perhaps it’s time to recommend a set number of professional librarians per capita (or some other measurement) in order for a library to retain the title of library and to receive funding as one.  Branches run by volunteers or paraprofessional staff can be called something else, like book lending centers.  If you want libraries to change lives (for the better,) then you really libraries to be staffed and managed by PROFESSIONAL Librarians.

#4 Unite Librarians!  At a time when support and funding is at an all-time low (especially in California), there needs to be a single vision among librarians about the future of the profession.  Barbara Stripling’s Presidential Initiative is a great start.  And yet, it’s another thing I must figure out.

I have lost track of how many organizations, discussion groups, committees that I am a member of, e.g., CSLA, ALA, CLA, PLA, IFLA.  The list is long and expensive, both time and money-wise. That ALA needs a slideshow to demonstrate how to fill out the paperwork for becoming a member a clue that library advocacy may have become too complicated.

I hope that this new initiative will help to clarify and simplify the mission of librarianship.  Librarians’ efforts shouldn’t be divided among the different types of libraries we work in, each trying to address our needs separately.  Yes, we advocate for the needs of our communities, but we must do so while keeping the profession moving forward in a one-for-all, all-for-one approach.

An additional, wild idea would be to re-organize the way ALA lists committees, divisions, offices and round tables.  Use a flowchart with hyperlinks, or list committees, divisions, offices, round tables by state, by type of library service.  Anything that simplifies library advocacy would be a step in the right direction.

While we’re at it, could we consider lowering the cost of ALA membership because $65 per year is a lot of money when combined with other membership dues.

Ask and You Shall Receive.  In one of my (many) newsletters, Barbara Stripling invited people to “Please share this message and the Declaration with colleagues and friends, and [to] please feel free to contact me with any ideas you may have about how we can use the Declaration to increase public awareness of the incredible value that libraries represent.”

I guess you can call this a two-fer.  I am sharing her message as well as my thoughts on how to increase public understanding, not only about the value of libraries, but about librarianship as well.  I agree with our current ALA Prez, that the time is now to proclaim the value of libraries.  The time is now, also, for admitting and proving that librarians are the driving force behind dynamic and effective libraries!