wow ... that annoyed librarian sure is annoyed. but at what i can't really tell. seems like she just wants to tear apart anything anyone says about progress in libraries. everything must stay the same! don't change! don't adapt!
i think there is a big problem with librarians thinking they know "what's good" for patrons, even if what we say is "good" for them isn't what they actually want. what is our job? is it to decree to the patron what they should be doing with their time? read plato not patterson! watch foreign films not chick flicks! use online databases not online dating services! NO FUN ALLOWED!
i think it is our job to provide services to the community, based on the community. now, that doesn't mean you have to dumb down your library ... but a llibrary should reflect its patrons. THAT IS WHO THE LIBRARY IS FOR! i think we should always strive to expose our patrons to higher forms of literature and media and culture ... but we also should give them what they want. if we don't they'll just go somewhere else.
i'm not saying we should just do anything a patron asks or order whatever materials they suggest, but we can certainly try to take what they say into consideration. i don't think we need to follow "every stupid idea" but i think we should be open to new ideas.
what does this annoyed library want out of a library anyway?
if we want people to use the library we should make it easy to use. we shouldn't be bogged down with archaic rules that may not be neccessary anymore. we shouldn't be difficult for the sake of being difficult. the library should be welcoming ... it should be pleasurable to use ... it would be nice if people could come in and ... my god i can't believe i'm saying this ... FIND WHAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR!
i know, let's make everything hard to find ... let's not be user friendly ... let's insult the patrons' interests ... tell them what they should like and what they shouldn't like ... then let's complain when patrons say librarians are strict and mean. and we can even act surprised when circulation goes down and no one comes in and people say stuff like, "libraries? we still have those?"
no wonder people would rather hang out in barnes and noble.
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