I know, I know, it's all been said before

[deborah]

If you believe, as I do, that there is a crisis in library education that threatens the very existence of libraries and librarianship, you are likely to draw a negative reaction from a variety of people. First, there are the millenniarist librarians and pseudo-librarians who, intoxicated with selfindulgence and technology, will dismiss you as a "Luddite" or worse. They and their yips and yawps can safely be left to their acronymic backwaters and the dubious delights of clicking and surfing. Then there are the increasing numbers of faculty in LIS schools who are, at best, indifferent to libraries and, at worst, hostile to libraries and theircontinuing mission. Their concerns are with "information science" and other topics that are marginal or irrelevant to the work of libraries.

Michael Gorman, our favorite bombast, in the May issue of American Libraries [pdf]

I know mocking Michael Gorman is so yesterday, but honestly, to be president of the primary library association and -- whether he agrees or disagrees with the broad spectrum of opinions his opponents hold -- to publicly brand everyone disagrees with him as "pseudo-librarians" with "yips and yawps", and to call everything labeled "information science" as "marginal or irrelevant to the work of libraries". Goodness.

Mr. Gorman, there is a crisis in library education. It's that while you can't see how core library knowledge and values can be compatible with technological and cultural changes, library schools are churning out unemployable graduates because your organization isn't doing anything to market professional librarianship to budget-strapped schools, towns, and universities.

Comments

[cavlec.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm to the point where the only reaction I can muster to Gorman is "FOAD, fossil. I am the future and you are NOT."

[deborah]

Which is presumably why he's so hysterical, but he's still so frustrating.