It’s been a long time since I posted. I’m sorry. Will you forgive me? May was eaten up by changes at work, June by travel and July by catching up. Fortunately, things are starting to settle and I’ll be back to blogging soon.

Stay tuned. Hopefully not for too long.

Earlier this year, I had a conversation with a colleague. Anyway, we started talking about digital libraries and how Scribd can serve as a social media repository for libraries. I’ve considered using it, but I’ve always seen externally run programs as “off-limits.”

What do you think? Should I build something on my own? Or, do I bite the bullet and use something I won’t have complete control over?

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The popular conception of a Librarian is as rooted in the public’s consciousness as any other tried and true profession. Doctor, Lawyer, Teacher, Police Officer. Librarian. But, what happens when an entire well-regarded line of work undergoes a fundamental transformation? It’s hard to say, and the devil is in the details, but I get the impression that for anyone who works with electronic media today the devil is the details.

As journalists, librarians, researchers, and others take on added roles as information disseminators the lines continue to blur between previously separated professions.

Librarians traditionally have held two responsibilities: maintaining libraries (duh!) and helping patrons conduct research. Journalists, on the other hand, have been responsible for informing the public of noteworthy events (sometimes). Researchers have always researched. Given a preponderance of free, easily accessible electronic information, though, professionals in different fields are starting to find themselves pulling switch duty. A few cases in point:

• Google is digitizing library books and calling it “web content.”
• Journalists for the New York Times routinely add interactive web applications to their articles.
• Librarians are creating totally unique information resources instead of just finding them.

Put succinctly, the United States  is no longer an industrial nation but a knowledge based one.

Ok. So, with job responsibilities bluring together – and new media in a state of flux – it’s hard to tell the extent to which this is happening. The future is always clouded, and it’s impossible to say what this means for future Librarians, but it’s still possible to define  a set of job requirements that can be expected to remain in place foreseeable future.

What would this “new model librarian” look like?

In a previous post I hinted that working as a solo librarian was making me feel alienated.

After reading a colleague’s post at Library Attack I’m convinced that others feel the same way too. In fact, I’m willing to bet that any librarian who dosen’t work in a traditional environment will likely suffer from some form of existential dread. This probably varies in scope, of course, but there are several reasons to believe we’re a Kierkegaardian bunch.

First, as specified in my post on solo librarianship we don’t have co-workers who share our expertise. We’re the only librarian in the library! Without a group to confide in it’s difficult to vent workplace frustrations, explain complex technical problems to others, or seek professional validation. All of these situations can elicit feelings of detachment.

Second, embedded librarians usually blur the lines between job roles to the point that it can become disorienting. One instance was mentioned in another of my posts that patrons assume “because you can find something on a subject and talk about… then it you’re an authority.” Not true! Plus, embedded librarians can always become more interested in the applied side of things too. If you don’t do library work it’s hard to conceive of yourself as a librarian.

Last, technology is bypassing and shaking up traditional duties. Just because someone takes classes to do one thing they won’t necessarily end out doing it. Refer to my point earlier. If you don’t do library work it’s hard to conceive of yourself as a librarian.

From when we grew up, we were taught that librarians are people who check out books. That they tell us to be quiet and ask us to not bring food or drink into the library. Unfortionately, this conception is blantantly at odds with a number of progressive manefestations within the profession. As a young librarian, I wonder what sort of cracks this might produce? Most imporntantly, if we don’t know “who we are” then how can they know what to do for our patrons?

So, the numbers are in and we are undeniably, most assuredly, certainly, and incontrovertibly in the middle of a recession. I’ve heard predictions that unemployment could reach 9% by next year and that in Missouri (my home state) it could be as high as 10%. This is a problem for everyone, but it seems like something that is going to make life for M.L.S. grads miserable. I’m not expertly versed on the the profession’s job prospects, but if it turns out that librarians start waiting to retire even longer then life could be hard for the “young un’s.” The reason partially has to do with a rough entry level environment. This absolutely brutal article from LibraryJournal.com – despite it’s age – seems to hammer the nail into the coffin too.

Uhoh!

So to my point… The possibility for any youthful Renaissance in dealing with electronic resources seems nonexistent.  Here’s why:  If there is a massive amount of competition then it makes landing a job hard, and this can directly impact the collective “perspective” of the profession. Let’s face it, if it takes an M.L.S. and 5+ years of work experience to get a decent job then the average age of everyone will be high. Moreover, the age factor often hints at if or if not someone is tech savvy. The tough entry level arena for M.L.S. grads is killer too! For those qualified, given the choice between working where they want and doing what they can do I suspect that a young librarian would jump ship in a minute. Why wait around if you might be able to find a job doing some web development, building computers, or programing something somewhere? Especially when you have bills to pay.

Double uhoh.