Thanks to Evi for a thorough and knowledgeable comment on these issues. Let me emphasize (again,with apologies) that in some cases, the closing of the library isn't the issue. The library remains, but the librarian position is gone -- and not always because of funding. In my previous position at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, MD, my half-time position was combined with the half-time funding of the cultural arts position into one full-time person -- as the cultural arts person, which she's terrific at, but including her being in charge of the library. She is not a librarian. This seems to be a case of "anyone can do this job, right?" You know, you read a few stories, you check books in and out, what else do you need to know? The administration (new the previous year) hasn't a clue about what librarians do, what professional library education is about, how much I was able to accomplish in four years, or the huge amount that still needs to be done. They never came to the library and never had a single conversation with me about the library. The "People of the Book" and all that is like motherhood and apple pie. It seems wrong to me that an institution should be able to call itself a "Hebrew Academy," but not have a librarian, of all things.
I'd be glad to work on whatever AJL sets up to address these issues. Madeleine Cohen Oakley Adas Israel Congregation Washington, D.C. Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
