I may not have expressed myself as elequently as you did,
but I do agree that there is more to being a professional than
just doing your duty. I think that you have put into words
what I was trying to say.
Bryan M. Carson, J.D., M.I.L.S.
Reference/Computer Services Librarian
Hamline University Law Library
1536 Hewitt Avenue
St Paul, Minnesota 55104
612-641-2063
bcarson@gw.hamline.edu
*********************************************************************
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it."
--Samuel Johnson
*********************************************************************
All opinions expressed are my own and not my employer's.
All original content (c) 1997 Bryan M. Carson. All rights
reserved.
>>> Pam Deemer <libped@law.emory.edu> 03/26/97
08:19pm >>>
Bryan Carson said: "The true mark of what a librarian is
depends on what
their duties are."
I was going to avoid getting into this discussion, but the
recent
teleconference on positioning ourselves for success and
seeing a recent
"in memorium" to Robert Vosper, who died in 1994, I believe,
makes me want
to add my two cents. Vosper was president of ALA and
IFLA, and when I went
to UCLA, he taught the introduction to librarianship class.
What I
remember from his class is that if you just do your duties in
your
library, you have a job in a library, not a profession. True
librarians,
whether "papered" or not, have a profession. That is, they
look beyond
their immediate called for/contracted/whatever duties, and
work to enhance
the profession for all those in it and their patrons by
continuing to
study various aspects of information provision, by keeping up
to date in
professional readings, by publishing to inform others (not just
to gain
or retain tenure or a good reputation for political reasons), by
joining
professional organizations such as ALA, AALL, MLA, SLA,
etc., and by
taking active part, serving on committees, working groups,
etc. I
think it has been proven you don't need an MLS to do all
these. In other
words, if you care and perform competently beyond the
needs of your
job, you are a librarian.
Library and information science programs should teach how
to research and
analyze to make judgments and decisions as well as
introduce students to
the various tools for knowledge service and knowledge
management. By
doing so, the schools cut down on learning time on the job,
but by no
means eliminate job learning time, as every library has its
own way of
doing things. Armed with the "template for a profession" that
the MLS is,
a person perhaps can assume the profession faster than
someone without the
guidence of the schooling. With or without the MLS, if
someone has a true
profession, they can adapt to new situations, developments
and eras.
Pam Deemer,
Assistant Law Librarian, Cataloging Services
Hugh F. MacMillan Law Library
Emory University
1301 Clifton Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30322-2780
libped@law.emory.edu
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