Daniel, As a librarian who received a majority of her professional experience *from an internship*, I too must object. This seems like a serious opportunity for a library school student to put coursework to use. Even without a direct supervisor at the shul, they will not be alone in this endeavor. I should hope that they should be able to reach out to Ha-Safran without such judgement. Many unpaid internships lead to excellent work opportunities, and uncover real-world problems for trainees to solve.
Please do not assume that Rabbi Travitsky is looking to demean the profession of librarianship. I think it's most important that these materials become available for circulation, don't you? Sincerely, Elaine Levia On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:00 PM, Daniel Stuhlman <[email protected]> wrote: > 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:* <[email protected]> > > > > Bensalem Kollel, Synagogue, and Outreach Center > 2446 Bristol Road Bensalem, P.A. 19020 > Phone (215) 752-5032 • Fax (215)752-2340 > www.bensalemoutreach.org > [email protected] > > ____________________________________________________________________________________________ > 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 > [email protected] > 267-228-8774 > <[email protected]> > > > 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: > [email protected] > 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: [email protected] > 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 > [email protected] > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > > -- Elaine Levia 510-531-8600 x43 www.ohds.org <http://www.facebook.com/pages/OHDS/165708280116807> School videos: http://www.ohds.org/video.php
__ 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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 [email protected] https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
