Feedback | Letters to LJ, April 1, 2011 

A more democratic ALA
John Berry’s “Eroding ALA Democracy” (Blatant Berry, LJ 2/15/11, p. 10) highlighted some of the issues emerging throughout the American Library Association (ALA) as we grapple with the theory and realities of virtual ­participation.

It’s probably not a surprise that [the Library and Information Technology Association], with its focus on new technology and so many “wired” members, is among the first to experience the challenges and complexities of taking open access from theory to reality. The group is already in the process of working the “bugs” out with the same commitment and clarity that its members brought to developing the association’s first how-to-do-it guide to virtual participation last year.

As Berry points out, we have an unprecedented opportunity for the workings of the association to be more open and democratic than ever. While there may be a few bumps in the road along the way, we remain dedicated to creating the means for all ALA members to be actively engaged in its discussions, professional growth opportunities, networking, and collective action.—Roberta Stevens, Pres. & Keith Fiels, Executive Dir., American Lib. Assn., Chicago

A CEO, not a librarian
I believe users, libraries, and the institution...would benefit from having more people at the helm who did not rise through the library ranks (Francine Fialkoff, “Can Bankers Keep Our Books?” Editorial, LJ 2/15/11, p. 8). This view is based on experience with highly technical organizations that routinely place technologists in executive positions, with someone else at the helm to focus on finance, organizational structure, marketing, and stakeholder management. This model acknowledges the difficulty in “serving two masters” well. It’s quite common for IT-oriented organizations to have a chief technology officer.... Ex Libris recently appointed its CEO, Carl Grant, to the position of chief librarian.

Executive experience from other types of organizations might result in more fruitful negotiations with publishers and technology providers, development of more sustainable funding models, and successful marketing efforts to expand the user base and...relationships with existing users. It would also free our librarian leaders to focus on vital knowledge issues such as what collection development means in an age when neither buildings nor bindings house information, what constitute reliable knowledge systems given the myriad information resources at our disposal, and how information authority can be established and verified given the widespread disruption of previously established authoritative sources....—Jean Costello, MA

Librarians need facts
I’m certainly not going to defend what is taught in library schools and how they do it, but I want to take issue with [an idea] in Michael Stephens’s “Heretical Thoughts” (Office Hours, LJ 12/10, p. 72). When he writes, “I don’t want students to memorize facts, I want them to understand what it means to be in the ultimate service profession...,” Stephens trivializes facts. There are a lot of facts a librarian needs to know, e.g., how call numbers are organized, which source is good for people who want to put on a play, car price guides, etc.

In Bloom’s taxonomy, the highest levels are creation, understanding, and synthesis. But those levels are built upon memorization of certain core things. It is not an either/or but rather an “and” process, building upon a foundation. So a balance of facts and attitudes is required to be successful in any profession.

[Also], just because your colleague says he is looking for library candidates who are risk-takers doesn’t mean she or he...is.... [T]hey know that is what they are supposed to say. But in practice, you and I know that many are control freaks, who stomp on creativity and risk-taking [at every] chance. Why else do we still use abbreviations like “col. ill.” in MARC ­records?....—Tony Greiner, Reference & Instruction Libn., Portland Community Coll., Cascade Campus, OR

Leaks from VOILA
Although its report won’t be finished until the ALA annual conference in New Orleans, the Task Force To Build a Virtual ALA has already made some decisions. My partner, who is on the task force, leaked a few of them. Since it has no real members, the task force easily decided to rename ALA’s Allied Professional Association (APA) as the Virtual Online Internet Library Association (VOILA). The Mac computer in the office of Mary Ghikas will be chief operating officer or virtual executive director of VOILA, with the title Digital Executive Administrator and Director (DEAD). The mission of VOILA will be “to write resolutions articulating the position of the library profession on all the major social and political issues faced by American society and urge their passage by the VOILA Council, schedule and organize the Digital Annual and Midwinter New Educational Dialogs (DAMNED) and Virtual Annual Conference (VAC), and, finally, prepare educational opportunities for paralibrarians through its Department of Paralibrarian Education (DOPE).” I can hardly wait for the full report.—Avrille Première, Libn., New York