Ellen Chapman took the words right out of my mouth. With populations and
nos. of new library buildings increasing nationwide, where did they think the
next generation of librarians would come from after the library schools were
closed? Perhaps those who thought the new technologies would bring about
the death of books also thought they would make librarians obsolete? And
Paula Hardin, Shannon Van Kirk, and Moira Steven are also right about
librarians' salaries. Perhaps a letter could be sent from the ARLIS/NA Board
expressing thanks to Laura Bush for her support AND suggesting these other,
perhaps more subtle (!!), issues? Nothing is new under the sun. The library
schools that survive need more funding AND the value of librarians needs to
be made more clear. That is an old story that apparently needs to be told
over and over again. I think that ALA does educate politicians (out of its
Washington office) but perhaps they don't make it clear how diverse
librarianship is (culturally, institutionally, and in terms of subject
matter). It wouldn't hurt for Mrs. Bush (an ex-school librarian) to hear
from organizations such as ARLIS/NA, SLA--and VRA.
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