Wednesday, February 16, 2005

The Centered Librarian

The Centered Librarian

And what about the future of Librarians? Bangor University is proposing to sack eight of its 12 librarians because students can find the information they need on the internet.


2 comments:

Gayle Keller said...

The link is here:

Link

Aimee Reist said...

Similar layoffs are occurring in the public library arena. In Philadelphia, at least 17 librarians have been laid off and morning hours have been eliminated at 20 library branches. The effected branches are now opened from 1 to 5 p.m. six days a week and are run by non MLS holding staff.

A Philadelphia librarian said that the idea of operating a library without a librarian is "a slap in the face to professional librarianship. It says they don't need us."

There have been protest, read about them here. (Free sign-up required)

Incidentally, Philadelphia is spending a large sum of money ($110 million) remodeling the city’s main branch.