Re: [ha-Safran] Library intern

[Daniel Stuhlman]

I discussed this with my fellow librarians here at the college.  What I have to say may sound mean, but we have to stand up for our profession.  We put in a lot of time training to be librarians  and trying to keep up with the latest developments.  Cataloging is as complex as all the books published.  While most contemporary commercially published books have cataloging from Library of Congress or another vendor, many Judaica books need special attention.  Without a proper catalog, a circulation system will not work.  Without a classification system no one will find a particular book on the shelf.

Librarians are professionals.  I would not expect my car, my plumbing, my electricity, my roof, or my teeth to be fixed for free or by a volunteer intern. I would not want a medical student treating me without supervision.  Students and interns are learning how to be professionals. They work under the careful supervision of seasoned professionals. They have to learn "first do no harm." 

Don't demean our profession.  Don't condone using volunteers for professional work.  It is hard enough to get people to understand that libraries don't get created and don't operate by magic.

This "rabbi" is essentially asking someone to steal from one of us.  Please do not become a party to his theft.  Stand up for our expertise.  Let everyone know we desire to be rewarded for our knowledge.

There is a story --  A person called for a plumber to fix his noisy pipes.  The plumber arrived looked around for a few moments, asked a few questions, then took his hammer and hit a pipe.  He announced that he was done and prepared a bill for the homeowner.  The homeowner was thankful for the job, but didn't understand why a 2 minute visit cost $150.  The plumber changed the bill to:  $5.00 for the hammer stroke; $145 to know where to hit the pipe.



Thank you for your attention.

Subject: Library intern
Reply-To: <ra...@bensalemoutreach.org>

Bensalem Kollel, Synagogue, and Outreach Center
2446 Bristol Road  Bensalem, P.A. 19020
Phone (215) 752-5032 • Fax (215)752-2340
www.bensalemoutreach.org
b...@bensalemoutreach.org
____________________________________________________________________________________________
                               August 29, 2014

To whom it may concern,

My name is Moshe Travitsky, I have a small Congregation in Bensalem, Pa. We have over the last several years built a Synagogue, established a full time kollel where Talmudic law is studied, and have an active outreach program where many people are connected to their Jewish tradition. Starting from scratch, we have built up a library of a few thousand (English) books. Things were totally out of hand as far as having books borrowed and returned, with no good record of what was out. One lady in the community tried to make a system with cards that were in each book,… but it really did not work. This summer my mother put bar codes on most of our books. She lives in NY, but came here to volunteer for a while.
At this point we are at an impasse as we try to get our library functioning again. The bar coding is still not finished for the hundreds of new books that were never entered,  nor with old books as they come back. We also have not yet set up a system to actually start using the scanner that we have here. In addition my mother has told me that I must have a librarian come in once a week to simply keep the library in order.  Of course, paying a librarian is something that I simply don't have funds for. I've been trying to get a local person to volunteer, but haven't succeeded yet. I know that in many fields schools encourage their students to spend some time interning, as that gives them experience. Someone suggested that I contact you, if you might be aware of or possibly be able to help me find an intern and at the same time help us get our library together?

Thanks for your time and consideration.
                               Sincerely,

                               Rabbi Moshe Travitsky
                               ra...@bensalemoutreach.org
                               267-228-8774

Daniel D. Stuhlman
ddstuhlman  at earthlink.net
Chicago, IL

Blog:  http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/

__
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.service.ohio-state.edu
To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: 
https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu
Ha-Safran Archives:
Current:
http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html
Earlier Listserver:
http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html
AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
--
Hasafran mailing list
Hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu
https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran