Mon Aug 17 11:24:26 EDT 2009

BookBitch wrote: "I learned more library skills when I worked for 
Borders than I will ever learn in library school."

Carl's response: This line of thinking utterly baffles me. It's the 
second time I've heard the "Borders is better than MLS" line of 
reasoning on this Listserv. It is so foreign from my experience it's 
almost to be unbelievable. Sure most MLS programs needs some 
modernization and technological infusion but I've worked at Borders and 
gave my MLS degree everything I had and the two aren't even in the same 
league. There may be a certain type of “customer service” skills that 
one could likely learn better at Boarders than through an MLS but the 
theoretical underpinnings of search, research, cataloging, archiving, 
instruction, and the history of our profession are no where to be found 
in large box stores. This all seems like hyperbolic vitriol to me.     

Mr. Carl William Long, M.L.S. (http://carlwilliamlong.googlepages.com)
Reference Librarian II (Email: carl.long at reading.lib.pa.us)
Reading Public Library (http://www.reading.lib.pa.us)
Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

BookBitch wrote:
> Lisa, I am also in library school and totally empathize with your 
> frustrations with the curriculum. The required coursework at my school 
> (Univ of South Florida) doesn't include any tech classes whatsoever - 
> at least nothing beyond using databases. There are a few electives, 
> but not nearly enough and not nearly the depth that is truly called for.
>
> I learned more library skills when I worked for Borders than I will 
> ever learn in library school. After working in a public library for 
> eight years, I can tell you that Readers' Advisory is a very important 
> skill that again, my school doesn't address but in the most 
> insignificant way.  Any librarian who's faced a patron who wanted a 
> "good book to read" - which happens several times a week at my library 
> - knows what I'm talking about.  Without the necessary skills, it's a 
> daunting task.  I've been trying for more than a year to get them to 
> add an RA class to the curriculum, but there have been three different 
> directors during my time here and I've gotten nowhere fast.
>
> What really baffles me is why technology is not a major component of 
> the curriculum.  Library schools are supposed to be turning out 
> "information professionals", but without advanced technological 
> skills, that's a joke.  (I am getting really good at doing APA 
> citations though, which I'm sure will come in handy some day...) 
>
> Every librarian I know tells me that library school is something to 
> get through, then you learn your job on the job. Seems to me there is 
> something inherently wrong with that, but what do I know, I'm just a 
> library school student.
>
> Stacy Alesi
> I am the BookBitch: http://www.bookbitch.com 
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> BookBitchBlog: http://bookbitch.blogspot.com 
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>  
> Palm Beach County Library System, Boca Raton, Florida 
> Florida Authors Wiki: http://floridaauthors.wetpaint.com  
> /The views expressed are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views 
> of the Palm Beach County Library System/.
>
>
>
> --- On *Mon, 8/10/09, Lisa Guidarini /<lguidarini at aapld.org>/* wrote:
>
>
>     From: Lisa Guidarini <lguidarini at aapld.org>
>     Subject: RE: [Publib] RE: Jobs and People
>     To: publib at webjunction.org
>     Date: Monday, August 10, 2009, 3:11 PM
>     >>snip>>
>     Third, I'm in library school right now and sometimes have steam coming
>     out my ears. At least half of what I learn is common sense. The
>     summary
>     book I have on library skills, plus on the job training, would have
>     covered everything I do in a public library. Everything.
>
>     I have all the basic computer skills, but if I want to be on the
>     cutting
>     edge I have to do that on my own time. I don't even know what I don't
>     know, or need to know. You know? What should I know? What courses
>     should
>     I take, and why doesn't grad school provide that? I can't be the only
>     one in this boat.
>
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