I’ve been reading more writing by Australian librarians lately which, of course, I should have been doing all this time. Jennifer Cram writes great stuff, my favorite so far is Ten Questions to Ask About Filtering Software. Sharp questions deserving of serious answers for anyone who is considering filtering.
Author: jessamyn
circumventing censorship, some tips
I’m sure you’ve all heard the maxim “the internet inteprets censorship as danger and routes around it” but did you ever wonder how? Paul Jones from ibiblio has been preparing a talk on Censorship on the Net and has put a short list of resources on his blog.
new librarian web domains
New regular feature at Resource Shelf: new librarian web domains. Anyone know the guy who registered nakedlibrarian.com?
Top Ten Tips to Tackle Tech
Aaron has a great list of tips for making sure your tech works at your library. I can not stress #4 enough. If you want to provide public access computing and you don’t have time or money to train the entire public on your weird banjaxed system, make the computers in the library work like the ones they use at home and at work, or provide clear instructions when they don’t.
the great librarian shortage debate
ALA’s FAQ states there is or will be a shortage of qualified candidates for library positions. News articles support this assertion. It may be worth noting that their press kit about this shortage cites an article written January 1, 2002. Here are some stats from ALA’s own placement center. Do these numbers jibe? New librarians know there is also a shortage of jobs, because they’re looking for them. How do we explain the disparity between all these facts about the availability of library jobs? Here are a few ideas I have. Do you have others?
- As librarians retire their jobs are eliminated due to funding crunches.
- As librarians retire, senior librarians take their positions and open paraprofessional positions for the librarians who moved up.
- Retiring librarians’ positions aren’t always available to newer librarians with less experience, so jobs requiring experience stay open as library students look for entry level jobs.
- Professional organizations misrepresent the true state of library employment due to optimistic outlooks and in order to stay relevant and keep their own doors open.
- As populations move around, some libraries are serving smaller populations with the same staff. Other libraries are serving larger populations with the same staff. Increases in population do not always reflect increases in staffing due to tight money situations and the false belief that automation has reduced our staffing needs.
- It is not in library schools’ best financial interests to tell you that there are not many jobs available, or to take on fewer students to meet a reduced demand. There are many ways to interpret statistics, they choose ones that are most favorable.