WILL UNWOUND #156: “The Book Librarians and the Machine Librarians – Dynamic Duo or Professional Rivals?” by Will Manley
June 28, 2010The Library profession, I suppose, has always been somewhat divided. There have always been the public service people and the technical service people.
In our low tech past, the two groups did not seem to be all that far apart, but now at times it seems that they represent different professions altogether.
Today’s split I would characterize as the book people and the machine people. I think that there are definitely the crossover people who have a foot in both camps, but my experience is that most librarians are either really into books or they are really into machines.
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a large confab of librarians going on in our nation’s capital. I took some time yesterday to look through the list of programs and the list of exhibitors, and everything seems pretty much split down the middle between machine oriented programs and exhibit booths and author events and book exhibits.
Another manifestation of this professional divide can be seen in the hundreds of library blogs that have sprung up over the past five years. Most blogs either deal with machines or they deal with books, but they rarely combine the two. A book review blog, for example, rarely evaluates a new piece of technology like the iPad, and a library technology blog rarely reviews the latest Toni Morrison novel.
Clearly, the book people got into library work because they love books, and the machine people got into librarianship because they like information technology.
Are the two groups in competition? Absolutely. As a former library administrator I will tell you that at budget time the machine people always wanted more money for machines and the book people always wanted more money for books. But are the two groups also united by a singleness of purpose – to serve the patron? Again…absolutely. Both groups are passionate about services.
What fascinates me is that it’s never been a better time to be a book librarian or a machine librarian. When I read the book reviews in Booklist magazine and when I browse through the new book shelves at my local library I am amazed at the quality and diversity of books being published. As one Unwinder put it (I think it was Jeanne), we are in a golden age of books. But I am equally impressed when I scan through library technology blogs and read about the creative ways in which librarians are using technology to access information and to reach out and connect with people and political bodies.
What does this mean? It means that because librarians have diversified themselves into two camps, books and machines, library patrons have never had more choices, and that’s a good thing! The proof of this statement is self evident whenever I walk into my public library. It is always packed with special emphasis on the computer room and the children’s department.
How terribly tragic that at this golden moment in the history of our profession, the financial foundations of our libraries are crumbling and as a result branches are being closed, hours are being cut, and librarians are being laid off.
What did Dickens say? “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”
Unwinders…here are some things to comment on:
- Is my division of the library profession into book people and machine people too simplistic?
- How would you categorize yourself in the library profession?
- Are the book librarians and the machine librarians friendly competitors or edgy compatriots?
- Who will the current economic slump hurt more?
- Do you agree this is the best of times to be a librarian?
- Do you agree it is the worst of times to be a librarian?
- Anything else you’d like to comment on?
- Let’s all give a shout out to Elissa for her excellent ALA conference reports.
REMEMBER…THIS BLOG IS A GROUP EFFORT. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. NOTICE THAT I USED AN AUTHOR TO CHARACTERIZE THESE TIMES FOR LIBRARIANS.
Your description is interesting — maybe add a third group that is hard to describe but plenty of them are the machine oriented people. There are too many librarians who are machine-oriented who really do NOT like books and use any excuse, any software, any little way to get rid of books or to play with the machines to make them unfriendly to those trying to read and study with them. They may be usually more the high administrators than the rank and file librarians but some are in the rank and file too. They are a cancer in libraries — a cancer that has not been discussed enough IMO. This is why the library software isn’t that reader and researcher friendly but requires constant twiddling the mouse so that it doesn’t close down the computer you have signed in to read a digital book or paper (or this blog) on. I find myself harkening back fondly to the days of my childhood when a librarian didn’t seem to have to have a specific library degree but all loved books. The few were unpleasant were trying to provide the QUIET that is elusive these days. There is something I would have to call evil about those who sit calmly by expecting a library full of patrons to listen to a screaming infant for hours on end as though no patron is here to read or study or enjoy the atmosphere of thought that should be a library.
Anon Again…so many things in your comment to think about. The Quiet issue definitely goes on my list for future posts. I tend to agree with you. We need sanctuaries of quiet somewhere in this society before we all go nutz. Not sure where you are going with the book hater thread. Can you give me some more info or at least description of how and why these folks might be sabotaging the library’s mission. Thanks, AA.
In terms of how or why the ones sabotaging a library’s mission or doing so are doing so, I suspect that it is partly because becoming a librarian appeals not just to those who love books and sharing knowledge but to those who want to be around fewer people. A library is perceived as a place for those marginals to hide out in. IT people INCLUDE a lot of those serious societal misfits (though of course some truly great people are IT too) and I think the machine-lovers who are a problem are IT people usually of that ilk. (I just discovered that the one problem librarian in one library I frequent who is IMO at least mildly sociopathic is an IT person and THAT explains perhaps his LOUDNESS, his being the very worst librarian they have, his interference with researchers, the little things he does that are meant to annoy patrons when he has to be out in public, patrons who mostly won’t complain. I encounter him when he is out there on the reference desk. He is the loudest, the least helpful, makes false sarcastic accusations of others doing what he actually does. It was an aha moment for me when I realized he was an IT person.)
The author of “I am not a gadget: a manifesto”, which I highly recommend also says that he sees the quiet sanctuary as a possible future for libraries.
Sometimes the employees are louder than the patrons.
That is so true.
Uh, oh. Looks like I got here first.
Q 1 and 2)I think your division of book people and machine people is true to a large extent but not altogether. Collection development librarians are pretty much in the middle. We need to be able to connect with people so as to have a sporting chance to order what the public wants to read, but we also need to be very aware of the mechanics of what we are doing which tends to be more technical. For example, we are in the process of putting together a new team for the centralized collection development. We have spent almost every learning session in the last two months on the technical aspects of how to order books, meaning mostly software and other technical info. I haven’t seen a single session on how to find and evaluate books to order! It is assumed we already know that part I suppose.
3) I don’t think the two groups often understand each other but I wouldn’t use the term competitors except when arguing why more is needed for their group at budget time.
4) I think the book people will be hurt more in this slump. Machines seem to have the edge as far as I can tell. Elissa might be able to give more info on that from her vantage point at ALA. And thanks for the great report! It is almost better than being there and nursing the sore feet from the exhibits Elissa!
5) I think it is the worst of times to be a librarian. You can’t be proactive and walk to another job if you are not happy. Instead you keep your head down and hope that no one will notice you and think “someone else we can lay off! All right!”
I’ll check back later and admire the brilliance of Unwinder comments!
Joan…you’ve given me a couple of things to think about. What I haven’t been considering in this layoff landscape that we are going through is the level of fear it has injected into the survivors. I see where you are going with this and we absolutely must explore it further in a future post. Thanks. Also, I agree the book folks are getting hit the hardest because politicians want to replace human beings with machines, i.e. the reference librarian is being replaced by a search engine.
And don’t forget the clerks replaced by self check outs! Like the ones that have crashed at least twice that I’m aware of in the first two weeks of use.
Not enough coffee yet . . . let’s try that one again:
Where I live, in Phoenix, the newspaper recently ran an article about a city-council-sponsored study that showed that the average city employee costs $100,000 per year, once benefits — health insurance, payments into pension plans, etc. — are taken into account. Since you don’t have to pay machines a salary or give them benefits, their initial cost and annual maintenance costs start looking attractive when compared to the costs of human beings. City councils are looking everywhere to save money. Combine that with the shock generally registered when told a librarian may cost $100,000 per year, and you get almost irresistible pressure to let taxpayers perform DIY reference with Google and to deploy as many machines in the library as possible. This is now our reality.
Joe, a few weeks ago, I got a very emotional e-mail from a librarian in mid life who was laid off. In the e-mail in capital letters, he emoted: I AM A HUMAN BEING; I AM NOT A SEARCH ENGINE. The irony here is that’s precisely the problem!
We’ve got a technical services area – they buy, catalog, and process books. Their jobs are dependent upon technology but none of them are computer geeks. They all read, express great frustration with technology that changes/malfunctions on a regular basis and none of them work with our library users.
We have a systems person who works closely with the IT Department. That person is a techno-geek, doesn’t appear to have much interest in books and rarely works with library users.
Then there are the public services folks. A couple of us are big readers, others not. We work with technology on a daily basis – teaching people how to use the OPAC, the databases, interlibrary loan, etc.
So we’ve got a mixture of types here but only one who lives and breathes technology/machines. I love books but cannot imagine going back to a life without a laptop. It’s an integral part of my life.
These are great days to be a librarian if you have that one quality the best librarians I’ve known have had in spades: curiosity. The changes occur so quickly and the improvements give us opportunities to assist people in ways we never imagined and have yet to imagine. After 30+ years I still find libraries a fascinating and fabulous place to work.
That’s a fantastic point about curiosity being a factor in library work.
I agree 100%.
One never knows when one goes out to the reference desk for a shift if one is going to be assisting patrons in finding the GNP of Chile, a biography of World War I era Sergeant York, how to find information on growing roses online or, as was really a recent question at my library – “I need to find a color picture of Donald Duck in his rain coat. Can you help me?”
It really is a cool cornucopia of questions one gets asked and then finds the answers too! A much wider range of questions than anyone would look up for his or herself based upon his or her own personal interests.
And I’ve always found that mixture of questions a great deal of fun – in working in library land because you never know what you are going to learn!
Ellen, I second the affirmation about curiosity especially in regards to new technologies and how they can further our search for better ways to do things. But that curiosity as you suggest really needs to stem from a solid foundation in the collection and the library’s databases. Well thought out. Thanks.
I’m rather tired tonight so I’m going to briefly comment on two related questions:
Is my division of the library profession into book people and machine people too simplistic?
Do you agree this is the best of times to be a librarian?
Speaking as someone who is both a book and machine person and who also started working in the library field in 1984…
I think that despite the changes in technology we basically haven’t seen anything yet as compared to how much technological advancement will change society in this century.
And that technological change is certainly going to have a great impact on the library field – it’s having one already but I really don’t think we’ve seen anything yet…
I mean think about it – Gutenberg invented the printing press with movable type in the 15th century and that transformed western society. No longer were books available only to the rich and privileged – the new technology brought the price of printing books, and thus the ability of the public to access information, down drastically so almost anyone could afford to buy a paper or a book and read.
And that first information/book revolution occurred more than 500 years ago; from the 15th to the early 21st century books have been printed by printing presses on paper and the technology to print books has changed a little bit but not in a major way during all that time.
But now we are at the beginning of a new information revolution where books will, for the most part, be read digitally. The benefits to this are that in short order people will be able to read books on portable devices and access and download new titles from anywhere in the world.
And with all of that in mind, my answer to the question regarding whether or not the division of the library profession into physical book people and machine oriented people is too simplistic…is yes.
To me it has never been about the physicalness, if I can use a made up word, of the books themselves – it is about the words and the portraits they paint in my mind via my imagination and previous knowledge. I haven’t notices that that aspect of reading has changed simply because I’m reading a e-book on my iPad or Sony e-reader as compared to holding a paper bound book.
So with all of that in mind, although I do agree that right now there are generally three types of people working in library land, book people, machine people and those people like myself who have a foot in both camps. I also think that eventually that will change; give it another 10-20 years and I think that both the technology and general view of staff working in libraries will advance to a degree that library staff will inevitable be more a blend of the two the combo book/information people & the technology people than is the case today.
And I’ll admit that I find the current changes in library land exciting. I think this is a great time to be working in the library field. And to prove that point – I’ve just finished putting in my application for Drexel’s MLIS program which I will start in September. So my answer to the question of “Do you agree this is the best of times to be a librarian?” is also yes.
Although granted the current economic climate gives me pause but then I know from listening to my mother and my aunts – that although we may be living through a tough economic era – it is nothing compared to the Great Depression and they all lived through that and came out of it intact. So I remain hopeful about the economy and the library field.
And I guess that really wasn’t very short…sort is hard for me!
Good grief! Those typos will be the end of me yet. I love spell check but it does miss things like sort as compared to short as in short is hard for me…
@ Linda,
You reflected my own thoughts on today’s questions. We do live in an exciting time, even with all the challenges.
This division of librarians into machine vs. print people, at least in educational libraries, goes way back to the introduction of information devices, which included slide and movie projectors.
We all agreed, no matter how strong the rivalry, that the formats complemented one another and enriched the information experience for the patron.
I think this will continue to be true.
Jeanne, you nailed it. The key is to enrich the user experience. Thanks for that phrase. Also thanks for the golden age of books quote also. I owe you!
Linda, for being a bit tired, you really kicked your brain into gear. I love the historical perspective that you have brought to the issue, and I doubly like the fact that you adeptly moved your vision from the past to the future. I’ll bet you can’t wait to delve into this issue in greater detail when you get into your MLIS program at Drexel. Good luck and if you think this well when your’re tired, I wouldn’t want to debate you when you’re fully rested!
1) *thinks* In the first sentence of this post, I’m a little uncomfortable with the use of “schizophrenic” to describe the library profession’s division. I get that you’re using it to convey that the profession, like a schizophrenic person, is dramatically and often bafflingly multifaceted. However, being schizophrenic is much more complicated and devastating than being multifaceted. It makes me uneasy to see a serious mental illness appropriated as a descriptor; it reminds me of the times when people around me make a small adjustment to something and laugh it off with, “Oh, I’m a little OCD.” As someone who actually *has* OCD, it’s hard not to tell them that straightening a picture frame or tidying a desk really has nothing to do with OCD, and that they’re making light of an incurable (though treatable) and difficult illness. (Note: I’m not asking you to change anything, nor do I expect you to; I just want to provide another way of looking at the appropriation of mental illness terminology.)
2) Book person. I dropped Cataloging I twice because I just could not get the hang of it. ‘Nuff said. :p
3) That probably depends on the library. I’ve seen the two sides work together amicably, and I’ve seen abundant snarkiness. Hint: “amicably” is more fun.
4) I would think everyone’s budget would shrink, but maybe I’m missing something.
5) Having been a professional librarian for just over a year, I’m in no position to make that assessment. More experienced Unwinders, I’m counting on you to provide perspective!
6) See above
7) Thank you, Elissa! You rock!
More later. Understand the issue and have made appropriate changes. Got to run. will be back.
Thanks, Jess! So do you!
Jess,as a book person, what do you not like about cataloging? Is it the fact that cataloging has become so machine driven with less opportunity for creativity or something else?
Will, I’m afraid my reasons for dropping cataloging were very George Costanza: “It’s not you, it’s me!” I understand the basic principles, and I can read a MARC record just fine, but doing original cataloging from AACR2 is completely beyond me. I’m not good enough with details. Also, thank you for the edit. <3
It sounds like the way I feel about derivative calculus.
I didn’t become a librarian because I love either books or technology; I don’t have any strong feelings for either. I do love information, and I’ll help people find it in any format that works. When I help my students find books I look at it as a reference transaction; I find out what they want/need and help them find it. When the ask me for a “good” book I tell them that depends on what they like, and go from there. Unless it’s a picture book or maybe a nonfiction book about a topic that interests me chances are good that I’d never read it myself. I feel a little hypocritical at times, being a school librarian with no real love of books. I could probably count the books I’ve read this year on one hand. I like my information in small bits, and no longer have the patience for plowing through word after word, page after page. For the past several years I can’t think of a book where I wasn’t thinking, “I really wish this book would end” halfway through it. I’ve read articles about how people aren’t doing “deep reading” anymore. I’m not, so I can understand those who don’t want to. Maybe I’m in a better position than a lot of librarians to help people who are in the same boat as me. I’ll help them decide which format is best and most efficient for the information they want. It may be a book to read for pleasure, and it’s my job to help them find it whether or not it’s something I’d want to read. I guess I’m not really in either of Will’s categories.
We already talked about this tonight, and you stated what you said to me well. I do still think that you’d be able to sink in to the right book, though (that “deep reading” that you’ve read about). You’re just a very discriminating book reader! I don’t think it’s hypocritical of you at all. You work even harder to help your students find just the right book for them, because you personally know just how difficult it is to find it!
I forgot to give you a shout out for your report. I got some good info about graphic novels at a session today, and am looking forward to learning about virtual author visits tomorrow. I don’t doubt there’s a book out there somewhere I could actually finish; I’ve just lost the interest in looking for it. I haven’t lost the interest in helping others look for it, though.
Steve, tell us about virtual author visits! Is this via Skype or something?
Steve, thanks for augmenting Elissa’s ALA report. You 2 roving reporters are indeed the dynamic duo!
Steve, your honesty as a non book loving, non machine loving, info loving librarian is disarming, refreshing, and instructive. Coming from the unique position that you occupy, you are in some sense a harbinger of the future. Access to information has exploded. To keep up with it generally or in specific subject fields a person has to perfect the skill of scanning and retaining. That skill which rewards quickness and complete focus is at odds with immersing yourself into a 19th century Russian novel. To me you have suggested a topic that bears further discussion on this blog, namely will a generation brought up on google and the internet develop the skills needed to sustain an elongated reading experience.
I think only time will tell if members of the “Google Generation” are able to read for extended periods of time. I had it at one time, provided I was interested in the subject matter. Over the years I have lost it. I have gone from having a brain like an encyclopedia to having one like an almanac. I haven’t gotten to the point where it’s like a dictionary yet. I have plenty of students who do a lot of reading. It’s getting harder to do reader’s advisory for these kids, as I am going on second hand info. I haven’t read anything other than a picture book I’ve bought for the collection the past year. If it gets to the point that I (or my superiors)think it’s a major problem, I guess it will be time to move on to a position where my skills are in demand. Will kids who are in school stop reading anything that isn’t in easily digestible chunks? Despite the fact that has happened to me, I hope not. I wish I could say I miss the experience of really getting into a story, but I don’t at all. It’s probably good for me that Elissa hands me a book and asks me to read it once in a while, because there’s not anyone else that I’d do that for. I can usually scan the first half and skip through parts of the second provided I find the story interesting. Clearly there is plenty of research to be done on the topic; too bad I don’t have the attention span to do some of it.
I’m definitely a book person! I do, however, think that we have to incorporate new technologies appropriately, and I’m passionate about serving patrons in any way that we can. I love social networking, and think that it has a place in this new library world.
Here’s today’s ALA report: Steve and I took our kids to the exhibit hall today. Older son asked to go a couple of weeks ago, because he remembered going when he was about 4 yrs old, and wanted to go again. Younger son liked it better than he thought he would. We got a book autographed by his “favorite author” (Jon Scieszka). I snagged a few ARC’s and books that I’m really excited about, but only picked up things that I really wanted to read. Got to meet Nancy Werlin, who I’ve known online for years, and I’m so, so, so excited to read her new book! I paid $5 for a really cool new GN memoir (signed by the first-time author), and started reading it on Metro on the way home. I also took older son (12 yrs old) to the BFYA teen feedback session, which we both enjoyed. Met a librarian yesterday who works at one of the closest branches to our house, and she was there today, too. Fun to find another YA person close by that I didn’t already know about! Also got to have dinner with a former co-worker from NYPL (who now lives in WA, where she’s originally from–I was her husband’s boss for awhile at NYPL, so she took a picture to prove to him that she spent some time with us). All in all, an excellent day!! Still hot and humid, but it didn’t bother me.
Elissa, thanks for the report. Boy would my grandkids love to meet Scieszka! Keep on truckin’! I have always said one of the huge benefits of ALA conferences is bumping into folks randomly and then having a chance to catch up. Neat.
WOW OH WOW. Scieszka!!! It sounds as though pretty much all the J/YA superstars have turned out for this! I guess that is one of the big advantages of being on the East Coast!
Good point, Joan.
I’m crazy about books; when I went to ALA I usually came home with about 50 books for myself and my friends. But ironically, I’m the head of ILL, which uses a great deal of technology to obtain books for patrons, along with articles which aren’t usually as interesting.
I’m convinced that the people who design e-books for libraries are machine people who really hate books, because very few people want to use e-books as they exist in the formats provided by Ebrary, Netlibrary,etc. You can’t download them to a portable device, and you can’t turn them with the flick of a finger. I didn’t like them before, but now that I have been exposed to the Barnes and Noble reader, which actually allows me to loan my e-book to a friend, and to the Ibook reader, with its color illustrations that I can also read on a plane without needing Internet access, and am able to turn pages with my finger in both of them, just like a real book, I am even less likely to put up with them. I routinely obtain print copies of books we only have in library vendors’ e-books on behalf of patrons who request them because I sympathize with their reluctance to use that format.
Great point about library e-books, Denise. We have several collections that “beef up” our collection for a small cost. But the format is so awful I encourage students to find a real book if they can. Netlibrary is absolutely pitiful – it hit me immediately when a friend and I were looking at iPads (want one want one). I wasn’t thrilled with my brother’s Nook but it was more book-like than Netlibrary. I’m really puzzled library e-book providers haven’t taken a look at the competition and improved their product.
The e-book providers don’t have any real competition or motive to improve. It is the same reason I often search Amazon for info instead of plowing through our library software. It is so much faster and easier that it is embarrassing. How long are we going to keep mumbling that the library software has to do things Amazon doesn’t do??? It is the same situation with e-books.
I’m still thinking about the iPad to be honest. We’ll see….right now my Nook is good enough.
Denise, Ellen and Joan…I’m enjoying your e-book discussion immensely. Here’s my take on things: Convenience dictates. The convenience of a real book is going to be very tough for the e-book to beat. Right now it’s no contest for me. Things would have to change drastically for me for the convenience factor to tilt in the direction of an e-book, any e-book.
I consider myself primarily a book person – but I entered the profession long ago enough that books were the primary medium we dealt with. As an AV librarian, I’ve seen the decline and fall of cassette tapes and LP records. (We had a collection of the latter up to a few years ago.)
I also remember the subscription search services (which were expensive), primarily Dialog and ORBIT.
What’s good about getting information online is the ability to search full text of documents. I used to gnash my teeth trying to find information in some government publications where the indexing of the print version left a great deal to be desired. (If I am ever made dictator, I will abolish the designated hitter [ten on a side is softball] and interleague play. No n
(AARGH – I didn’t mean to post without finishing my sentence.)
No non-fiction book would be granted copyright unless it has a GOOD index. And SuDocs would be subject to the same standards.
Sue…we are in agreeance on the designated hitter and on the index issue. My latest horror story re. indices: As you know I am devoting the year to mysteries. Found an interesting book chock full of very interesting mystery stuff, but it does not have a full index, only an author index. Now that’s what I call murder!!!
I think you’re drawing a false distinction, Will. I’m not sure that Louis Shores is much remembered, but he developed one of the few concepts that has consistently been useful to me since I came in contact with it in library school. At that point, the whole role of A-V (in library speak “non-print materials” [ARRRRGH] was controversial, as was the question of whether libraries should build collections exclusively of 16mm films or if the collections should include 35mm. Shores closed the discussion down — at an intellectual level, at least — with the concept of The Generic Book. If it acted like a book and did the things that a book does, it’s a book, regardless of whether it has pages or not. That model has made it a lot easier to deal with the format changes that have happened over the last 40+ years. So far as I’m concerned, they’re all books, whether they come with pages, on vinyl, on disks, or in streams of electrons. I guess that’s why my nom de net tends to be a variant of “Bookman” or “Happybooker”. (The former is no longer as pretentious as it once was. Once upon a time, “He’s a real bookman” was a compliment paid to the stuffiest out-of-touch librarians. The latter, unfortunately, is running out of the demographic that enjoys the joke.)
Bill, thanks for bringing Louis Shores to the table. He was, indeed, an enlightened thinker for all things library. I like his “duck” test. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc.”
Let me be honest – personally I LOVE books, the way they feel in your hand, the way you can drop them when you fall asleep, the way you can remember a great vacation from finding that old candy wrapper as a bookmark.
But I also love the machines – it’s amazing how they have revolutionized life in general, and been THE major factor in equalizing library service (though I fear the digital divide is in some ways getting wider as powers that be seem to think everyone has a computer & internet these days, and they do not). Let me explain – back in the early ’80s, I worked in a rural library that formerly was a one room schoolhouse. If someone came in with a reference question, I had to search long and hard to come up with an answer, and sometimes had to do an interlibrary loan to our regional center – which took 2 weeks to get a response. These days, that library is connected to the web, and our statewide consortium pays for some amazing databases. Questions are answered. Fast. How fab is that?
As an administrator, I love how technology has allowed me to keep up with rising circulation and attendance while not getting funding for more staff time. Automation has its place.
But to me, as a librarian, format is immaterial. It’s ACCESS that is important. And I don’t care what format a patron wants – they ought to get what they want – an ebook, a Harvard Classic, a movie, whatever. It’s all about the patron. Period.
So book person/machine person? Maybe a bit simplistic, and I really dislike blogs written by librarians who are book snobs or tech snobs. There is a place at the table for everyone.
Leslie, thanks for the clarity of your thinking. This is exactly what I was trying to get at in my post. Maybe you should be writing this blog!
Nope, not smart enough! Thoroughly enjoy reading your blog when I’ve got the time – and truly appreciate the broader view (dare I say, because you’ve been an administrator??? – we management types have to stick together!).
Leslie, exactly. It is the responsibility of the director to make sure the book people and the machine people are on the same page and are working together to achieve the same set of goals and objectives. That’s what leadership is…creating a vision and making sure that the staff shares that vision and is working cooperatively to make the vision a reality. Writing a blog for me derives from another aspect of management: How do you articulate issues in a way that will make staff members want to participate in the discussion and resolution of those issues? I can always tell when someone is a good administrator by sitting in on staff meetings. If the employees are quiet, that’s a very bad sign.
Personnel management is the most difficult part of the job. And you are right, if somebody is not talking at a meeting, it is a bad sign. But in many ways a library staff is like a family, with its ups and downs. Bringing in a new hire is one of the most stress inducing things for me, personally– will they fit in? Will the chemistry be right?
My staff once all showed up to a meeting with tinfoil on their heads – good or bad?
Very good in that they felt free to express themselves in a very creative way. Also the presence of humor is a very very good workplace sign.
I spent 1/4 of my career being a reference librarian, 1/2 as an IT librarian and the other 1/4 as a trainer and consultant (network and state library). I’m a hybrid. I got into IT work not because I was enamored with machines, but because I was enamored with library work. IT because I was interested in the entire library and IT allowed me to work with virtually every aspect of library work in one way or another. I saw myself multi-lingual – I could speak “library” and “tech” and translate the needs of the library to campus IT and vice. versa.
Yes, I think you’re being too simplistic…this work is not mutually exclusive. Today the work is so intertwined, it doesn’t make sense to separate it that way.
Good time, bad time to be a librarian – I’m not sure. It’s heartbreaking to see libraries being reduced to a shadow of themselves while the demand is so high. It hurts everyone the same because it hurts the organization and the work that we believe in the same.
It might be a bellwether time and how we ride it will define what we are in the next 10 years.
Geri, I totally agree with you. The library profession should be an integrated whole, but I fear we are not yet there. Time will tell.
I’d have to say I’m both a book and a machine person, but if you put a gun to my head and made me choose I’d go with books every time.
Matt, a gun is a machine!
And I would definitely take a book over a gun!
To quote Ellen, “I love books but cannot imagine going back to a life without a laptop. It’s an integral part of my life.”
I’m in a rare position in my job in that it is more electronically than book focused, but I have to do both. I try to get to panels on both when available at conferences. Because my patrons are spread around the country, a lot is done electronically. But I have a few who still prefer a book for reference. Then we get a copy of what they need sent out to them. We focused on research. When they ask me to check something for them, I tend to grab the book first if it’s on my shelf. But I have no problem going to a database to find what I need.
Again, because I’m in a rare position, I can’t comment on whether it’s the best time or the worst time to be a working librarian. I know when it comes to finding a job it’s one of the worst times. But once you’re working? I don’t have to deal with local government budgets and problems. Because research is our backbone, my library has a generous budget.
Vicki, thanks for an interesting comment. You have a unique perspective.
I was a book librarian first who turned into a machine librarian, largely self-taught. Some of my book librarian colleagues did not appreciate machine librarians, but a funny thing happened when I retired. The powers that be decided they needed a “professional” machine person, one who had more “machine” skills than your typical self-taught machine librarian does. The argument was that the systems in libraries had matured and been incorporated into library culture and budget well enough that you ought to be able to get a professional IT person into that kind of position.
So they hired a guy who was a pro. He promptly implemented VOIP services, and implemented a financial management package for admin. But he did not particularly care about or value the integrated library automation system, and when it developed problems, he didn’t see any particular reason to address his attention to them. After all, he’d never seen an ILS before and had no idea how entwined they were with library service. He was more interested in tweaking the VOIP system. But if the holds system broke, he did not consider it much of a priority.
The immediate issue was that most of the rest of the IT staff cut him off. They would barely talk to him. But he had the ear of the director, who had enjoyed a good and trusting relationship with the previous IT guy (me) for over ten years. She just kind of assumed the new guy would be like the old guy, so she did not pay particular attention to issues either. I guess he was a good talker.
The upshot of all this was that the library lost a year of momentum and went through a lot of chaos. The new IT guy left–and so did the director, a casualty of all this. There were other issues, but this one surely did not help. Some folks blamed me for leaving, but I’m not the one who hired the pro. Besides: Tough beans. Had they treated me better I might have stuck around. There comes a point in life when suddenly you get to be in charge again and no longer need to “suck up to the Man.” I had reached that point.
The majority opinion in the library today is that it is a pretty good idea to have a librarian, even if it’s a machine librarian, in charge of your IT services. Because a machine librarian is still, after all, a librarian, and librarians know that the machines are there for the purpose of running the library smoothly, not the other way around.
Mick, this is truly one of your best comments. I totally agree with you on several fronts. IT people who have no library background and who have no respect for library needs can do a tremendous amount of damage to a library system in very little time. This is exactly why I raised this issue in the first place. Tech and book people need to be working together for the same goals and objectives. It is the responsibility of the library director to make sure that this meshing occurs. In the case you sight, Mick, that did not happen. There’s another important point here for library directors: Value the folks who make you look good becuase if you do not value them they won’t be around long to make you look good and then you will look very bad. Thanks, Mick for a first rate set of observations.
Is my division of the library profession into book people and machine people too simplistic?
If not too simplistic, then maybe too binary. Binary thinking is prevalent in American culture. Someone or something is either “this” or “that,” Democrat or Republican, with us or against us, a book person or a technology person, etc.
How many people do you hear say, I love my books AND my Kindle AND my downloadable audio books? I love cataloging AND working the public services desk? (Maybe not in equal parts, but still comfortable on some level in all camps.) Why do people limit themselves to Either/Or-Thinking? It seems like And-Thinking is so much more constructive, productive, and liberating.
Linda, you make an exellent point.I think to some degree the either/or thinking in this case comes from the very popular notion advanced 20 or 30 years ago that people are either left brained or right brained. I have heard many people refer to themselves in that regard.
Will, I was thinking about the right-brain/left-brain concepts as I wrote my previous reply. I never felt like I fit comfortably in either camp. I have an undergrad degree and almost a masters degree in art as well as a completed MLS. Drawing on both sides of my brain has made dealing with the challenging aspects of being a librarian quite fun. If there is every a profession that calls for creative problem solving, this is it!
On the other hand, the left brain – right brain seems more than useful. The best book that I’ve read in the last year or so was A Stroke of Luck by Jill Bolt Taylor. She’s a neurologist — a very left-brained one — who survived a major left hemisphere stroke. Reading about (or listening to — she has an excellent video up on YouTube) her tell about the experience is fascinating on a couple of levels. First, is the way she used her knowledge and survival skills to call for help when she could no longer even read the numbers on a telephone. Second, and more important, is her account of what it’s like to live in a right brain world where individual data have no meaning but underlying patterns are everywhere.
For decades I have described myself as a thoroughgoing rationalist in search of a conduit to mysticism (nope, no drugs). That experience was almost but not quite enough for me to think about that as a part of my answer to the ‘how would you die’ thread. However, I’d still as soon avoid both the pain and the risk that I’d survive in an impaired state.
The right brain/left brain approach has merit for me. Irrespective of the group or the age, I have always tested out the most right brained member of my cohort (from middle school through city management). That means that I need very left brained people around me to be functional and successful. It also means that I have a tremendous respect for the left brained approach. I think we tend to have a high regard for those who have skills we wish we had.
And of course I got the book title wrong. (Who, me, a librarian?) Let’s make that “My Stroke of Insight” Sigh
Freudian slip!
Bill Manson – Your comment about Dr.Taylor re-orienting to a state where “individual data have no meaning but underlying patterns are everywhere” is pertinent to thinking in terms of blending left brain AND right brain thinking. Its my experience in library world that “individual data” reveal useful “underlying patterns” that tell me a lot about patron preferences, needs, etc. and help me target resources and services most needed at my library.
Technology is often used and sold to libraries and other businesses on the basis that it will save them money. The problem is it takes time and people to make technology work for people. Often it takes more time and money to implement technology solutions than the old systems cost.
The truth is that we are surrounded by time saving machinery but we all have less time time available then we did 100 years ago. Even though people have access to billions of pieces of information people are less informed than 50 years ago.
Douglas, your comment is bursting with interesting ideas. I’m copying it and adding it to my future post list. The average cave man knew much more about the night sky and the cycles of the moon and of the sun than the average college educated person today. Think about that.
1) Is my division of the library profession into book people and machine people too simplistic?
I believe that the division is too simplistic if only due to personal experience. Like my librarian idol Lawrence Clark Powell, I love books, but I’ve also been websiting, teaching computers, and generally fooling around with technology since I was a teenager (not all that long ago). To put myself into either camp would be strange.
2) How would you categorize yourself in the library profession?
As I wrote recently elsewhere: “I didn’t choose my profession because I loved books (though I surely do), I chose it because I loved working with the public.” I’m neither a bookman nor a technologist, I am a public servant.
3) Are the book librarians and the machine librarians friendly competitors or edgy compatriots?
Generally, it is the partisans of either side who are edgy competitors. On the other hand, book people who are anxious about new technology or tech people who are pelted with reader’s advisory questions are edgy compatriots. Middlers like me are friendly competitors in the forum of ideas supporting the best plan for the matter at hand.
4) Who will the current economic slump hurt more?
I think the economic slump will hurt the booksters more. I’m currently living with the presumed assurance that if something goes wrong in libraryland I could beef up my programming skills and re-enter the workforce as a hacker. If anything, I could work freelance on temporary library projects.
5) Do you agree this is the best of times to be a librarian?
It’s always the best of times to be a librarian. That said, it is most certainly not the best of times to become a librarian.
6) Do you agree it is the worst of times to be a librarian?
No. In an unrelated note, non-book librarians may see your obvious reference to Tale of Two Cities.
7) Anything else you’d like to comment on?
Nope. I’ve said my piece and can now glower at edgy competitors who disagree with me.
Oleg…thanks for checking in. Good to have you back. I totally enjoyed reading your comment. Let’s hope you represent the wave of the future, a book loving tekkie!
“Good to have you back.”
Oh, I’ve been around, mostly as a reader though. Sometimes, by the time I get to a post it already has 150 comments and as I read them, I realize others have already expressed what I think. It’s either that or that I don’t always have something to say (people who know me might disagree).
I’m considered the translator between the two groups and a large part of this has to do with the education I received doing my library science degree. When the book people don’t understand or complain about the machine people, I relay to them what is “really being said” and how it pertains to them. Same idea, but different direction with the machine people. As far as budget, I’m extremely lucky because the money comes from two different budgets, so the economics affect us very differently. Our major concern is making sure everything works for everyone, and we don’t have a small riot in the information commons:).
A side note, if we are going to have more e-resources and e-machines, we better come together because if something doesn’t work, we are all pretty much in the same sinking boat. For instance, one of our lab gurus, help us look at the Ipad and how it compares to other technologies when it comes to viewing text, movies, photos, etc. so we can inform students or decide what ebook databases may be compatible. Because I work in the reference area, we have to talk to the machine people about scanners and their functions and are they suitable for students. How are updates handled with databases’ irritable is a big one. So, the division of labor exist, but I don’t see us butting heads too much because we tend to focus on one goal, even though we may take different ways to get there.
[...] It looked to me – a “newbie” first time attender – like the conference was many things to many people. Will Manley saw it this way – book people and machine people. [...]
[...] of the big divides in our profession today is what I call the Mason Dixon line between the machine librarians and the book librarians. I will admit that I fall firmly on the side of the book librarians. Number one, I’m slow to [...]