[Publib] Backwage and the Sacred Cow

Thu Nov 12 16:47:15 EST 2009

Mia culpa!

This is the right one:

http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/libraries/library-jobs.htm
 <http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/libraries/llibrary-jobs.htm>
R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Tina Marie Adams <Tina.Adams at nau.edu>wrote:

>  Hi Robert,
>
> I could not get your link to open. Are you still in the building phase or
> is the link live?
>
> Best,
> Tina
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* publib-bounces at webjunction.org [publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On
> Behalf Of backwage at aol.com [backwage at aol.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:13 AM
> *To:* rballiot at gmail.com; jessica at tcpls.org
> *Cc:* publib at webjunction.org
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Publib] Backwage and the Sacred Cow
>
>
> By their description she really liked books, but was very shy and did not
> like people.  So, they were postiive she would be perfect to work in a
> library.
>
> That's all *so* not right.  If she was *outgoing* and didn't like people
> she'd have been perfect.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Balliot <rballiot at gmail.com>
> To: jessica at tcpls.org
> Cc: publib at webjunction.org
> Sent: Thu, Nov 12, 2009 9:54 am
> Subject: Re: [Publib] Backwage and the Sacred Cow
>
>  We were approached by some family members at a social gathering.  They
> wanted to recommend the perfect person to us to work in a library and hoped
> would could use our connections to make it possible..
>
> By their description she really liked books, but was very shy and did not
> like people.  So, they were postiive she would be perfect to work in a
> library.
>
> The people making the recommendation were an architect and a nurse.  So,
> you would expect that in the course of their studies they would have used a
> library once or twice.
>
> Speaking of jobs -  I am still building this resource -
>
> http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/library-jobs.htm
>
>
> If anyone is  aware of local library job library related websites, please
> send me the link.
>
> R. Balliot
> http://oceanstatelibrarian.com
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 11:50 AM, <jessica at tcpls.org> wrote:
>
>>  fred.judi at myfairpoint.net,
>>
>> I don't think anyone is suggesting that librarians are bad people, only
>> that some library staff members are rude and that public library directors
>> seem to have a habit of not addressing this issue.
>>
>> Regarding your statement about not knowing that this was such an issue, I
>> only realized that it was one when I started taking online MLIS classes 2
>> years ago.  In a program with over 150 other students, the majority of which
>> already work in libraries, we were able to discuss a variety of issues, and
>> regardless of the class, whether childrens literature or reference
>> practices, the overarching theme of these discussions were rude staff
>> members and library directors who didn't do anything about them.  Don't get
>> me wrong we've talked about lots of stuff from cats in libraries, how the
>> dewey decimal system drives our patrons crazy, to patrons who come in with
>> poo on thier shoes and how to deal with them.
>>
>> jessi
>>
>>
>>
>> >
>> > Forgive me for not joining in this rant. I find it quite amazing
>> > that so many people on this list seem to have encountered so many rude
>> > staff members in public libraries. In the 30 years that I was closely
>> > involved in libraries (and I only retired a year and half ago!), I
>> > never met these rude people. And yet, from reading this thread, I
>> > gather that many on this list believe rudeness to be pervasive in
>> > public libraries, caused by the ineptitude of administration and the
>> > recalcitrance of unions.
>> >
>> > Come to think of it, I did have one staff member who started to lean
>> > in this direction. She left the library not too long after. Don't
>> > know where she ended up. Not in a library.
>> >
>> > Come on people, lighten up. Librarians are really pretty good people.
>> >
>> > Judi Crowley
>> >
>> > Retired
>> >
>> > Quoting Tony Ross :
>> > "Were the public library a business like any other, these rude staff
>> > members would have been fired long ago. Why don't public libraries deal
>> > with rude or ineffectual staff?"
>> >
>> > My impression is that there are a few different reasons:
>> >
>> > 1) Many systems are unionized, and that can often mean that there are
>> > very specific parameters about what is "actionable" and what isn't.
>> > Fuzzy things like "rudeness" can be very hard to address.
>> >
>> > 2) Along the same lines, even in non-unionized systems, the guidelines
>> > for taking action can be very onerous and time-intensive. The people in
>> > management positions who have the authority to "write up" poor
>> > performance or behavior are often trying to juggle a gazillion things
>> > and may not see the hours and hours spent on paperwork/meetings to
>> > address poor behavior as worthwhile. (Personally, I think that's taking
>> > the short view, since one bad apple can kill morale for all the staff,
>> > and it's worth taking whatever time needed to deal with such problems.)
>> >
>> > 3) Warning: huge generalization coming... Librarians, as a profession,
>> > tend to be confrontation-averse compared to the general population. As
>> > a result, sometimes librarians who are in authority positions may be
>> > less willing to have the difficult conversations required to change
>> > poor performance/behavior.
>> >
>> > 4) In some systems, there may be hiring freezes (official or
>> > unofficial) that prevent you from replacing any staff you lose for any
>> > reason. So, the thinking might be that it's better to have an FTE with
>> > a bad attitude than no FTE at all...
>> >
>> > I should note that I'm not a supervisor, and have no direct experience
>> > with any of the above, but it's definitely a topic of conversation
>> > among staff in my system.
>> >
>> > T. Ross
>> >
>> > -------------------------
>> >
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>> >
>> >
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