I haven't discussed the subject of who will fill our ranks in the future. It seemed that there wasn't the kind of concern for this potential problem because there was little reaction to my posts. Most of the reaction was centered around the low pay aspect. This is true for experienced professionals. I can understand the frustration with the pay scales but what about the new members of our specialty group. They could opt for lower salaries and grow either in their institutions or elsewhere. We really need to ask ourselves where will our libraries be in ten years.
I am currently trying to fill a professional position at Gratz. Rabbi Yisrael Meyerowitz, who served our library for almost two years is headed for Touro with an increase over his Gratz salary. He is very talented professional. His library degree was a perfect partner to his Jewish education. He came to Gratz out of Drexel and took the job with its low pay and grew. I have advertised the position since mid-April and have only received a trickle of resumes. Can we say that a new graduate or someone with less than three years experience would shy away from gaining more experience. Definitely not. A person seeking to build a career will look for opportunities to learn and grow and accumulate experience. The dearth of applications are a result of small pool of recent graduates with an interest in Judaica. If there are so few at the entry level what will happen later. This shortage will compound our problems. As we retire our collections will not have enough professionals to administer them. I didn't realize the extent of the problem until I tried to fill a position. We are not doing enough to recruit. The pay issue runs into a catch-22 with a lack of potential professionals. Children's librarianship is suffering a severe shortage. In fact that specialty which does not really attract many has seen an increase in salaries to entice people to take that road. School districts are having a difficult time recruiting teachers. The reason, there are very few going into teaching. Next time any of you try to fill a lower or more than entry level position you will run into the same problem. You might even have to opt to hire a non-professional who knows Hebrew and some Judaica to fill the position. This will undermine the effectiveness of the administration of Judaica libraries and be a disservice to readers. We need to do something. The most important resource of any library is the human resource. A qualified professional is needed to use the technology to its maximum potential. We don't want to have a staff of Israeli emigres who have no professional training. We need to recruit. I urge AJL to discuss this important issue or we may find our rich resources locked away in some Catholic University. Eliezer M. Wise Library Director Tuttleman Library of Gratz College 7605 Old York Road Melrose, Park, Pa. 19027 215-635-7300 x 159 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ========================================================================== HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries Submissions for HaSafran, send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org/
