[Publib] AP story on library outsourcing

[K.G. Schneider]

On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:35:58 -0400, "Rachel Davis"
<rdavis at thomas.lib.me.us> said:
> "Adelaide Rowe" <Adelaide.Rowe at egvpl.org> writes:
> >One quick thought - WHO is in charge of the libraries? 
...

> 
> For this particular community in Oregon, it seems to be a choice between
> no library service at all and the limited library service that is being
> provided as a result of the contract with LSSI.  Surely, there is more
> complexity to the situation than "corporation = evil."  

I don't have a bad impression of LSSI, but Adelaide's question is a good
one: she's pointing out that things change when they're controlled by
companies. Her question isn't simplistic at all. I say this as a former
private contractor for a for-profit company that staffed many of EPA's
libraries. One reason you didn't hear from those libraries much during
the EPA library shut-down was that they couldn't speak out. In fact,
when I wrote an American Libraries article critical of outsourcing, even
though I was complimentary to the company I worked for (the only lie in
the article), I got in a heap o' trouble just for criticizing
outsourcing at all. It was kind of funny, after the fact, because the
article came out after I had resigned but not left, and they sent me a
letter terminating my employment. I mean, you can't fire someone who's
already quit... they were just being pissy. In addition to being cheap
offspring of unwed mothers, my "supervisor" was some former shoe-clerk
supervisor stationed states away from me; I barely saw him. I made far
less working shoulder to shoulder with other workers in the same
building who were true feds, but that's ok, right, because the Taxpayer
saved MUNNY!!! And besides, it was clearly women's work, so how much
money was it worth anyway?

Do get me started on the for-profit library model... again, I know
people in LSSI who are good folk, and they aren't the bucket of usurious
fools I worked for, but I feel quite qualified to comment on Adelaide's
question and point out that in a for-profit model, who owns the place
darn tootin' matters.

 Happy Friday one and all!

Karen G. Schneider