Based on some of the reaction that I have received, I think I should try to provide a better example as to the point I’m trying to make. The easiest way for me to illustrate a point is with a metaphor, so bear with me.
Imagine libraries as being like the Army. Some people (paraprofessionals) enlist in the army while others (librarians) go to West Point or Officer Candidate school. Each group is taught the same set of skill basics that are needed to carry out the core mission of the Army. Once they have graduated from their programs, they are arranged into military units in which officers and enlisted operate in the same field space. Though they are seen side by side and can perform some of the same operations, they have different backgrounds and training.
In my perspective, what is happening in libraryland would be the equivalent of the constant comingling of the duties of the officers and enlisted. For librarians like myself, it arises to the question “Why did I get an MLS for this?” (or, to continue the Army metaphor, “Why did I go to officer training when I just could have enlisted?”) It’s not a matter as to whether or not the duties or skills of the paraprofessional are valuable or not; it’s a matter of the investment of time and resources by a librarian to allow them to step into higher library organizational functions. I don’t think I’m alone (and judging from some of the notes I have received, I’m not) in being someone who believes that because I spent the time, energy, and money in getting the advanced degree that my duties within the library should reflect that.
One might easily point out that there are no guarantees in this life; that the degree does not confer a magical ascent up on the library hierarchy to where a person “believes” they should be. But I don’t think it’s an unreasonable, pompous, or elitist presumption to believe in. And why not? If I was training for long distance running for the Olympics, I would think a high school track meet is beyond my level of training. It’s not because the high school track meet is terrible or unworthy of my attention, but because my training is not on the same level.
Yes, there are paraprofessionals who can (and have) stepped into these roles and done well; that aspect is beside my point. I’m sure each librarian of this post can point to the positive and negative aspects of their paraprofessional and support staff (and likewise with paraprofessionals thinking of librarians). This might strike some as a startling revelation, but there are a broad numbers of situations out there in libraryland. Not every staffing is going to be the same, nor the duties or levels of competence of any of those staff members.
But, to put this gently, this isn’t about the paraprofessional. This post is about the librarian. If you want to invoke the saying, “Shit rolls downhill”, then you’re right. What is discussed here and in the previous post has broader staff implications. I leave that for the other excellent paraprofessional blogs out there to discuss. But, for my blog, that’s the topic du jour.
Agnostic, Maybe 
I see where you are going here, I don’t like the analogy though. I feel it contradicts the “I’m not trying to be elitist” angle. You might compare it with seeing a doctor. A patient might see their doctor, but a nurse practitioner may do all the work of the appointment and if something major is discovered a doctor is consulted, and then even a specialist. However, making these comparisons can be a distraction from your points, which may explain the backlash. There is a lot of background and context to which you seem unaware.
“There is a lot of background and context to which you seem unaware.”
Then I look forward to being enlightened on it.
There is a quote attributed to the movie director John Woo that reads, “There are no original stories, only original characters.” I don’t imagine often that what I am writing is original, but when I look around at the current scene, I don’t see it being discussed so I write about it. Sometimes, it is a new angle; others, it is moving old bones to new graves. But I write what I write because it’s what I feel at the time with the information I have available. Nothing more, nothing less.
I think it’s a good analogy. Everyone has to do their part to make the organization function properly. However, I don’t see anything wrong in taking an “elitist” attitude. I went to college and grad school for the right to call myself “librarian”, as silly as that may sound to people outside of the field, and I take pride in that. Although, I may have other non-professional duties to take care of, I definitely have an expectation that the majority of work that I do is going to be on the level of my education. If it’s not, then something is wrong with the system.
Also, to those who commented that the work they do is not up to their education and question why they got the degree in the first place, I would say, in theory, that you should seek a position where your job duties live up to your expectations. This is much easier said than done in this kind of economy, of course. However, under normal economic circumstances, there’s no reason not to. I can assure you that these jobs exist and, in normal economic times, are plentiful. Don’t settle.
Feel a bit sorry that you felt the need to do a follow-up post; thought your original one was well thought-out and fine.
What was disappointing was that some – not all, but certainly the most vocal – negative reaction was from people who read stuff into it that wasn’t there. Seems it was taken as a “I’m better than you”, either implicit or explicit, text by a few, which is sad. Thankfully the large majority of commenters didn’t see it that way, else you would have been (rightly) called out.
Seeing words like ‘Elitism’ and ‘Privileged’ bandied around in a negative and inaccurate way – by librarians of all people – is especially sad. Smacks of jealousy and says more perhaps about the frame of mind of the people who write it. Isn’t this the kind of phrasing which Tea Party and NeoCon fruitcakes use against Obama, for getting a good education on his way to being president?
Anyway – you made your own personal choice, took the risk and the debt, of getting an additional education. People who angrily pull you down over that – well, I wonder about their suitability to work in an implicit-education field that is the library sector…
GeoShore
I have a master’s degree in librarianship. I did not learn a thing during that year that is of practical use to me as a librarian.
The worst librarians I have worked with are those who espouse professional skills and try to limit what library assistants can do. Some of the best librarians I have seen (and why not call them librarians? the public jolly well does) are without professional qualifications.
Stock work does not require a professional qualification. It requires common sense and a basic set of rules. There are no scientific guidelines that I have yet discovered about stockwork. It boils down to experience. Anyone can do it given time and dedication.
So what is the point of a librarian? I am not sure. What is needed are intelligent people who are committed to libraries (NOT the professional of librarianship) and are in it for the long game. By stressing the superiority of the librarian we are putting off those who are equally dedicated to the job but who happen not to have had, for whatever reason, the (largely irrelevant) higher education we have had.
Librarianship has for too many years been a cartel and I am glad that the barriers are breaking down.
With all due respect, I see two different strains of discussion occurring in these blog posts. One strain involves wondering why the public doesn’t know it requires a graduate degree to become a librarian. The other is about wondering if people with the degree should be exempt or nearly exempt from doing the more mundane, grunt work to be found in the library. And, in the latter, the question hinges on if doing the grunt work does indeed convey the dire message that librarians are non-professional and of little value.
Librarians need to be leaders in libraries. Just like the West Point graduates need to be leaders out in out the battle field. If you were to watch live footage of our soldiers in battle, I don’t think it would be immediately apparent which soldiers went to West Point versus which enlisted off the street. So what? But obviously, according to this metaphor, you do know the difference between going to West Point versus not. You acknowledge that the soldier trained at West Point has a positive leadership advantage that is worth a higher ranking and extra value (whether able to be discerned in live footage, or not). What makes you able to draw this conclusion? You have prior knowledge and understanding about the quality of training and rigor involved in going to West Point. It does NOT decrease the West Point soldier’s value if he is out in the field doing grunt work because you know that at other times his leadership skills will be put into action. Most importantly, you have gleaned evidence to know that West Point soldiers have a reputation for being excellent soldiers with strong leadership skills. This reputation and respect has been earned not just by attending West Point, but by proving these skills over and over and over again in battle.
So, when librarians prove themselves to the public to be leaders over and over and over again out in the field, when they provide the public with evidence of what it is that they accomplish and explain how it is able to be accomplished, and when the academic integrity of our degree is promoted and shared widely and proudly with the public, then this metaphor will work and we will gain the respect of a West Point Officer.
After all, the public cannot know what they do not know. They cannot support what they do not see. And they will not value what has never been promoted.
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Stacey, absolutely! Here’s my response, where I also talked about the two different strains of discussion, though not as eloquently (I wish I had seen yours first): http://shelfcheck.blogspot.com/2010/09/response-to-masters-degree_04.html
Ian, I’m also inclined to agree with you.
Bravo, Emily, on your reply. Maybe one of those jobs could be “translator” since this is not one of my finest posts but the best I could do with such a large intangible.
It’s a tough one because it’s hard to present without sounding like a complete ass, to know it’s on the minds of some of your peers but without a way to articulate it, and with the variety of library experiences out there, it’s not going to be something that resonates with other librarians and be able to empathize or understand.
I may not be able to phrase it right the first time, but dammit, I’ll keep trying till someone at least gets what I’m going for (even if they don’t agree with me).
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We need enlightened directors to make sure that librarians are able to perform the high level work they are capable of.
I still see the importance of librarians out there working with the public. All librarians should get out there for a little time each week to see how people use the library collection, databases, and public spaces. This is how we can really see the needs of our users and adapt services accordingly. Something that sounds really good in discussion in the back office may need fine tuning when put into practice.
This discussion made me think about an excellent post from David Lee King on getting permission: http://www.davidleeking.com/2010/07/22/getting-permission/
These strategies have worked very well for me at my library. I try to make sure I am able to explain how any new project I want to undertake will benefit the public and my library and the proposal is often well received.
Another excellent post continuing this “problem” involving the perception of the librarian role, the dilemma of librarians needing to get a Master’s, and the potential schism between librarians and paraprofessionals. Maybe the problem (and I know that this has been discussed before) is that, in sticking with the military analogy, there are too many officers being produced at West Point. Discontent, much like feces, rolls downhill. While I am new in this profession, I have beginning to feel the rumblings that there might be huge shakeups in the next couple decades within the infrastructure and philosophy of librarianship. For better or for worse (my money is on for better).
Andy, Sorry I wrote that comment before reading your new banner quote. That sums it up pretty well.
I once had two offers of employment in the same school district. One was a full time library position in a school where the principal expected the librarian to be in charge of recess duty. The other was in a school where I would be a half-time librarian and a half-time kindergarten teacher where I was not expected to be in charge of recess duty. Can you guess which job I picked? I picked working at the school where the principal at the school respected and valued the librarian, even though it meant I had to work 100x harder because I had never taught kindergarten before. Did I chip in and help out on recess duty in my new position? Of course I did. It’s not that I am “above” recess duty, but if my principal doesn’t respect and value what I bring to the table then why would the students, or the other staff, or the parents, or the community members that will be voting on a tax increase?
If library management expects the librarian to continuously perform tasks not directly related to the their professional and personal strengths then the value of the degree gets watered down. Yes, I understand that these are tough economic times chock full of budget cuts and staffing reductions. Unfortunately, the degree could care less about the reality of the situation.
Here’s an example of watering down the profession from a recent job posting at an academic library in the Boston area:
—-
To provide reference services and to supervise work-study student staff in performing circulation/reserves functions. Multiple positions and schedules of 10 – 20 hours weekly available.
Coverage needed:
Sunday 12:00pm – 5:00pm
Monday 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Tuesday 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Wednesday 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Thursday 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Saturday 12:00pm – 5:00pm
$12.00 per hour
Bachelors degree required, MLS candidate preferred; knowledge of library operations and electronic databases helpful. Good communication skills, commitment to public services and ability to assume supervisory responsibility required.
—–
You say supervisor, I hear manager. You say reference services, I hear MLS. You say part time, nights and weekends for $12/hour, I hear screaming. When we create jobs like this, what are we saying about our profession and the value of our degree?
$12 an hour???? That has to be some kind of typo. I have a friend who works part-time at McDonalds and makes more than that!
Not a typo. I know it’s not the same thing but I found a library director position that was 13.00/hr w/ no benefits. Almost drove me to tears.
Alas, it’s not a typo 😦 I looked twice, then found it online:
http://gslis.simmons.edu/blogs/jobs/2010/08/30/eveningweekend-supervisors-annenberg-library-pine-manor-college/
$12 an hour? Speechless… 😦
Thanks John for posting the job. I see now…it says “pre-professional” position with an MLS “Candidate” preferred. It’s a job for library school students. In fact, I had the same kind of job when I was in school. I thought this was for a professional position.
Hmmm; this is a reference, not a circulation job. And it does involve supervising other people. Whether they are students or not – it’s still supervision-management.
I’m a Brit so it’s trickier for me to work out the pay scale equivalents (also you Americans have a more complex system because of the health benefits thing), but by any measure $12 for a supervisory specialist role seems lame. Has the ‘candidate’ component been added to the job spec to deliberately justify this salary in some way.
Rob, apologies if that was deceptive – it wasn’t my intention. I agree with John that perhaps the categorization of the position is a justification for the low salary.
I didn’t link to the post because I didn’t want to specifically call out this library. This type of job is an increasingly common occurrence. Plus, I knew that librarians would be able to find it if they were curious 🙂
I have no problem calling out the library, or taking the rap if they want to make an issue of it with me. The amount of income received in various forms by universities and colleges of this size can be only dreamed of by UK ones. I had a look at some figures last year (income and profit) and they were difficult to get my British head around.
And as a non-US resident have just number-crunched the cost of me doing a masters in the library school there and … it’s massive, for example. Unlike the salary, which I’m also guessing you have to deduct taxes from? 60 dollars for a 5 hour shift, minus tax, minus travel expenses if living off-campus; not good. The lowest level of management at Wendy’s gets more…
As a “Librarian without faculty status,” ie Senior Library Specialist – a Civil Service job) I was initially pissed…and disappointed in your comments.
To follow your Army analogy…Hell no, I’m not an officer. I WORK for a living.
Actually, many of the librarians I have worked with treat me as a colleague and an equal…and I respond in kind.
You mean well, Andy, but you really need to find a translator, because you are still sounding just a little on the condescending side to me.
I think the real question that needs to be answered is why so many libraries want someone with a degree of experience in Major League Soccer. I mean, are children’s nooks and corner kicks really THAT similar?
… sorry, I don’t mean to belittle a serious discussion, but my brain saw the acronym, misapplied it, made me giggle, and so I shared it. Carry on. 🙂
I love that NCO quote, but I think it’s slightly misapplied here. It’s not a question of whether or not other employees of a library are working hard enough – it’s the question of what a degree in library science is supposed to mean. To the public, for one, and to librarians themselves, for another.
To use another metaphor – because that’s what we need now, another metaphor, but anyway – it’s like orderlies at a hospital. You need orderlies. The place won’t run without orderlies. And smart doctors and nurses acknowledge and respect that. But at the same time, if you’re hiring PhDs or RNs and asking them to do orderly work all the time, they’re going to ask why they went to the trouble of getting their degrees and certificates, if they’re never asked to do work that requires them.
As someone who is attending school for my MLIS right now, I find this discussion fascinating and disheartening.
Instead of everyone getting defensive (and in some cases, rude) about their job description, I wish people would address the issue you’ve raised. “Librarian” is not a one-track job anymore (if it ever was); the people who handle shelving and checkout and even reference are in customer service roles, which is way different from the cataloging specialist which is different from the director. The field did not develop with paraprofessional positions built in; for instance, the legal profession has lawyers, paralegals, and legal secretaries. Chances are, the paralegal or the secretary knows a hell of a lot more about the process of dealing with the court’s bureaucratic system than the lawyer. That is because it is their JOB to know that; the lawyer should be aware of the process, but the lawyer’s job is to know LAW. The paralegal can make or break a firm, but the lawyer is the one carrying the full risks of being responsible for it.
But libraries don’t have that structure built-in or recognized. Librarians need to be the people who handle and manage the library and its collections at the wholistic level; the paraspecialists are the ones who need to deal with everything else. It’s sad that some people take that to mean that they are being professionally “dissed” on. But the military analogy IS the correct one here, because without officers, the troops would not know where to go; without sergeants, no one would never get there.
I’m in school to become the information technology equivalent of an officer. That should mean something in the profession, something clear and understood by colleagues and the public alike. It is not. THAT is a problem.
I don’t think this issue is limited to libraries. Teachers without masters degrees do the same work as those who have gotten their masters. Business people with MBA’s often have similar jobs to those without. When you are talking to a business person you don’t always know if they have a masters, and the same goes with teachers. Customers (or patrons if you prefer) know who provides good service and who does not – they don’t really care about the masters degree.
Now, I do think it is important for the administration and library staff of a library to understand the impact of a masters degree. And should staff and assign responsibilities accordingly. However, there are always exceptions. And, many times management forgets who is a degreed librarian (trust me I know, I’m a children’s librarian).
I think the dilemma here is more that administrations need to understand the value of a masters degree and also know how to judge employee skills. If your administrator is not a good manager and does not work to develop staff skills, then the library and the community you serve will suffer.
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I’m finding the climate in the different places I work to be different. And it’s sometimes set by management. I’ve worked places where every person on staff is called librarian, and has the knowledge and skills to the same work the librarians there do (despite that they may not have the MLS). I’ve worked in others where the distinction is not only clear, but encouraged (staff did not want the responsibility of the librarian’s job).
I think I try to fit in where I am, and maintain respect for the people I work with and the working milieu. Does this mean I feel differently in each place about my degree? Not really. I feel like I earned the degree, and I am a professional. But these discussions are often just a way for me to reinforce that it is my responsibility, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing, to keep up with the current literature and practice and collaboration, to remind myself that my education continues, and that I can convey something of value from my schooling to each position. This may, or may not, be different from the staff around me.
-Lisa
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I have a question that might apply to all this; I’ve worked in the library field for over 20 years, I have a LibTech certification, I run a small library (from collection developement to processing to supervising to cleaning out the book return I do it all) and *I* still don’t understand what a librarian with an MLIS can do that I can’t.
What is it that you guys learn that is so wonderful?
And please, I’m not saying that to be smart or anything, I’d really love it if someone could explain to me what I could learn by getting my MLIS that would make me a better librarian.
A parting thought – If *I* don’t know what makes a MLIS so great and I work in the field, how can we expect the public to?
Cathi,
The difference, in theory if not always in practice, is that when you come out of school with an MLS you are ready to do the highest level work. I’m sure you would agree that when you started at your library 20 years ago you weren’t prepared to do what you do now. Consider an MLS a head start.
Also, different libraries require different skills as well. A small public library might not have that many in-depth research activities which require a high degree of professional skills. On the other hand, a large research library will.
The difference is that librarians have a degree that is accreditted by the largest librarian organization in the United States. That degree is essentially a license to practice librarianship; without it, yes, you can do the same things, you can even have the title, but you won’t get paid like one nor have additional higher professional opportunities. If that’s fine by you, then I wouldn’t worry about it.
Overall I agree with Stacey about the perception issue, unfortunately, I think we have too many librarians who either don’t see themselves as leaders or aren’t willing to take on the leadership role. I’d like to say more on that, but I need to mull it over a bit more.
In the meantime, here’s a different way of looking at the issue: if we regularly have degreed librarians doing the work of pages, clerks or techs, then our organizations are top-heavy and we are not making the best use of our resources.
Caveats: I understand that tiny libraries with minimal staff don’t have the luxury of differentiating job duties much. Larger libraries have no excuse. Sure, in times of need, I take an “all hands on deck” attitude; I don’t care what your job title is, you step in to help get the job done. And I don’t think it hurts anyone to take some hours at the desk to stay in touch with the experiences and needs of customers and staff.
But we need to balance that against the bigger picture. If our higher paid employees are doing the same work as lower paid employees, why are we paying them more? With resources as tight as they are, it seems really irresponsible to pay someone a librarian’s salary to shelve or checkout books on a regular basis.
Degreed or higher-paid employees should be earning their keep by doing work that lower-paid employees aren’t allowed to do by virtue of union rules, skills, policy or whatever. It’s not that circulation or paraprofessional work is “beneath” a librarian, or that paraprofessionals are not capable of doing more than their jobs require. Perceptions aside, it’s a matter of maximizing our budgets and making sure that people are doing the work we’re paying them to do.
Librarians as leaders has been on the back burner for me for a long time. It’s a strange quagmire, really, since someone could be seen as an expert and leader in one area of librarianship and not in another. Finding someone to transcend the field is quite a task, for they would need to appeal to librarians from all types of libraries as well as all sizes. I don’t really see too many people who are positioned to do that, and even those who are tend to focus on what they know best. (A good thing, but still limiting.)
As to the rest, I thank you for your comments. =D
I think we need to start by encouraging leaders at the local level, before we worry too much about finding leaders who transcend the field. We have too many really wonderful and qualified people who aren’t willing to take even that first step.
I don’t believe everyone with a certain amount of experience makes a good leader or should automatically be promoted, but I do want to find a way to combat some of the fear and anxiety I see in people who have a ton of potential and just won’t make the leap.
Many professions and industries have people who would rather just punch the clock and not move into management or take on a leadership role, and libraries are no exception. Where libraries differ, in my experience, is that we have a lot of people who couldn’t be considered clock-punchers, who are genuinely engaged and passionate about what they do, and STILL won’t take the next step and move into a position of influence. I haven’t seen that in any of my other jobs, or at least not to any significant extent. In libraries, it’s rampant.
As far as the rest of my comment, re-reading today I feel like I came across as a bean counter, which was not my intention. The budgetary aspect is not the be-all and end-all for me. However, I am frustrated by the accusations of elitism in the comments to this post and the previous one because I think that obscures an issue that needs to be addressed.
I think we all realize that it’s not practical to have (for example) separate lines at the Reference desk: one for directional or tech support questions, and a separate line for “real” reference questions. There will always be an element of overlap in our job duties and a need for people to just do the work that has to be done without worrying about their job descriptions. But I still think it’s legitimate to ask “Why are we using higher paid, degreed librarians to do tasks that paraprofessionals or non-professionals can easily do?”
There’s a middle ground in here somewhere. We need to take a hard look at what duties REALLY require a librarian’s training and skill set and adjust our job descriptions accordingly. It’s just as silly and inefficient to limit certain duties to degreed librarians if there’s no legitimate need to do so as it is to have highly paid librarians doing clerical work on a regular basis. I suspect a lot of our libraries are preserving organizational structures that made sense 20 years ago but don’t necessarily make sense today, and that’s a problem that should be fixed.
Ultimately, though, I’m not sure it’s important that the general public understands the difference between a librarian with an MLIS and a paraprofessional. I think what’s really important is that they understand the value of libraries in their lives and communities and believe that the services we provide are vital and necessary. I want them to be passionate supporters because they’ve experienced the transformative power of libraries first-hand and can’t imagine their lives without us. If we’ve got that, I don’t think it matters so much if they understand the specific value of the MLIS.
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This is from a former Library Specialist1 paraprofessional who happens to moonshine as an adjunct Instructor.
The MLS or MLIS is not a professional qualification because of the ease of entry by all and sundry.
There’s no barrier to entry by anybody if not the artificial barrier set in motion by the ALA mafia or cartel.
What do Reference Librarians do beside looking up stuff- information online or from the shelf/stacks? I know, Iknow they do other things like “programming and Information Literacy”
Without a barrier to entry, the paraprofessionals will keep encrouching into your professional space. The convergence point is customer service not the title. Library customers want service and they could care less about the ALA demarcations.
How difficult is the job of a librarian anyways apart from occassionally dealing with some customers from hell?
It all boils down to customer service and until we remove the artificial barriers put in place by ALA, customers will be betteroff without that. ” After all, that’s not part of my job description”.
Lenn, poppet,
It’s quite probable that to get a decent qualification you need to know basic language, grammar and spelling.
I would be concerned at any paraprofessional entrusted to catalogue, or shelve, a book who didn’t even know the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less”. That’s another book probably lost forever in the system…
Le sigh.
John Kirri,
You’re part of the problem and have nothing good in your little elitist brain if you have any.
You little rat cannot pass any opportunity to prove that you know it all. I guess I forgot to do my spell-check or “google it” instead of seeking out the Library Guru to help me out with my grammar!!. Why do I need to since I know that Mr Kirriemuir is ever present to help me out with my poor grammar? If I know how to spell, then there goes the joy of sadistic John K. There goes his inflated sense of importance in the food chain. There goes another opportunity to save mankind from self-destruction by Mr Librarian! Maybe John you can help with editing/updating my Resume since I am out of work! You’ll do it for free anyway. While at it, can you help me find employment because I have just been downsized by the ever-shrinking County Library systems where I worked up to the end of the last fiscal year September 30, 2010.
You jumped right in to correct the happless and helpless paraprofessional to get it right.
There lies the problem with the future of Libraries and smart Librarians like John k when mankind will finally figure out how to “google” out of their problems instead of facing the humiliating and condescending stare of the “know-it-all’ Dewey-JK.
John still doesn’t get it with his swollen-head command of the language and monopoly of information, to demonstrate some humility in his dealing with the lesser folks who come to his shrine of knowledge to get answers and solutions to their worldly problems.
Ok John, proof read this and be happy for a change out of your miserable being!
Go ahead, make my day oh night, and be happy for assisting with my “little” grammar problems.
This blog doesn’t have a spell-check feature embedded.Please help me little Jonny.
I think spelling, grammar, paragraph structure, and punctuation are like the 6th-9th things wrong with your postings, Lenn.
I’d comment more, but quite frankly, based on what you have written and as they say in court, the defense rests.
Andy,
I think you will and still need more of us with poor command of grammar to remain relevant by keeping you busy correcting us! Don’t you think so? This way, you’re happy and I am ok with it. Big Deal!
I admire the enthusiasm that you bring to your trolling.
Will all the English and Art appreciation majors in college raise their hands?
Andy must be an Engish major in college before proceeding to Library school to obtain his MLS degree and certification from ALA to practice the hallowed profession of Librarianship?
Andy what say you now?
I did not expect to be schooled in an English writing lab in this blog.I do blog in sports and politics where average folks don’t care alot about grammatical correctness. Maybe I am not sufficiently schooled to blog around here which seems a bit sophisticated and highly enlightened. What about the substance of our discourse since “me no understand no english?
Now I get it! Now I know where exactly I need to go with my writing skills deficiency, maybe that’s why I am unemployed at this time?
Professor John and Andy where can I upload my Resume for you to “correct/edit” for me?
I need your pro bono help. That could be one giant step forward for mankind!
Well, should the resume of Lenn Berry ever cross my desk when I am choosing candidates for interview, I suspect it will easy to make a decision.
Lenn: you do realise that this is a high profile and open blog, and potential employers and colleagues in the library sector can read your immature comments? You are doing a fine job of making yourself unemployable. Consider that before you next make a fool of yourself online.
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