Not only do librarians have to have a master’s degree from an accredited university, we also subscribe to a Code of Ethics, a Freedom to Read Act, and almost every division of librarianship (from Youth Services to Young Adult to Reference Librarians) has competencies that they are expected to meet. Further, we have five laws* passed down to us from the beginning of Librarianship, which, if you had to chuck everything else for expediency and sanity’s sake, would still ensure you’d be a pretty damn fine librarian.
Yet. Even with all of this education, guidance and oversight, there are still many complacent, lazy, and–dare I say it?–BAD librarians out there. Librarians who are content to give out bad information, who don’t bother to keep current on new trends and new possibilities, who are too indifferent or too afraid to challenge outdated policies and procedures. There are librarians who censor books by not purchasing them, who put together tired power point after tired power point and call themselves educators, librarians who don’t bother to stay aware of and interested in what is going on in their own library much less what is going on in the profession as a whole.
I want to discuss all of these issues in more detail over the coming weeks, but I am going to begin by asking for help from the top: ALA.
ALA does a lot for librarians, and the ALA website is an imposing chunk of information. Perhaps too much information. I want to be a member of ALA, and ALSC and YALSA, but I find the dues too rich for my blood. Since it’s the American Library Association, why can’t the memberships of the librarians who work in those libraries be put forth by their institutions? Wouldn’t that be easier on everyone? Wouldn’t it save a lot of issues of American Libraries from being thrown away?
I cry ignorance on this topic. I beg to be told what’s what. Because, Lord help me, I can’t even begin to wade through ALA’s website without twitching. To be clear, I value what ALA provides–I did link to much of their information above–but I don’t understand why they need my money, and once they have it, where it goes.
*By the way, this page sucks; could someone more savvy fix it?
