From: LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET (Public-Access Computer Systems Forum)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Subject: MLS and Caste
Date: 17 Nov 92 19:49:40 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

5 Messages, 189 Lines
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From:      "Walt Crawford" <BR.WCC@RLG>
Subject:   MLS: Not the only library professionals
I've tried to stay out of this "caste"/"MLS" discussion, since I
agree with most of what was said (in favor of MLS-holders)...
but Albert Tabah has now used what I consider to be fighting words,
to which I feel I must respond:

>     Those without the MLS are of course welcome, including those with
>computer science degrees. However, their contributions should be
>regarded in the non-professional or para-professional realm and only
>recognized as such....

I consider myself to be a library professional, although not a
professional librarian. The assertion that the only professionals
in a library are MLS holders is irritating. "Para-professional" is
a demeaning term when used to include everyone but MLS-holders.

I would never apply for a job as a reference librarian, original
cataloger, or AUL in either of those areas: I don't have the
professional background, and freely admit that. But I am, by god,
a professional, and even though I don't currently work in a library,
I have done so in the past and may do so in the future.
I have previously asked for a waiver of the MLS requirement for a
head of systems position, and would again; I believe
that my experience and record justify such a waiver.
I'm definitely not the only one for whom this can be said.

I would be quite willing to compare my record of:
-> service to the library profession
-> contributions to the literature
-> and possibly even understanding of the library mission
with that of your typical MLS-holder.

Perhaps attitudes are different north of the border, but I've just
finished a six-week period in which I spoke at three library meetings
around the country (by invitation in each case) and presided over the
executive committee meeting for a 5,500-member library association
as its current president. Never during those four meetings did I ever
sense that the other professionals with whom I was dealing, most of
them MLS-holders, were humoring me as a mere "para-professional"...
and I suspect I would have known.

-Walt Crawford (BITNET: br.wcc@rlg; Internet: br.wcc@rlg.stanford.edu)
 President, Library and Information Technology Association (LITA),
 a division of the American Library Association

 Naturally, these are my views, not those of LITA or of my employers,
 The Research Libraries Group, Inc.

*------
From:         Elizabeth Lane <ELANE3@UA1VM>
Subject:      Re: Caste Question
It seems we're discussion two topics here: first, the perceived value
of the MLS degree, and second, the degree to which that degree is either
useful or necessary in a library systems position.

As to the first, I am always amazed at how quick librarians are to be
their own worst enemies. Back in 1933, Pierce Butler wrote this, which is
still remarkably accurate:
    "Unlike his colleagues in other fields of social activity, the librarian
is strangely uninterested in the theoretical aspects of his profession. He
seems to possess a unique immunity to that curiousity which elsewhere drives
modern man to attempt, somehow, an orientation of his particular labours
with the mainstream of human life. The librarian apparently stands alone in
the simplicity of his pragmatism: a rationalization of each immediate
technical process by itself seems to satisfy his intellectual interest.
Indeed, any endeavour to generalize these rationalizations into a
professional philosophy appears to him not merely futile but positively
dangerous."

That any of us have concerns about the current value of the MLS is as much
commentary on the way we think about ourselves and the value of our work
as it is on the degree itself. Personally, I actually believe that we have
a domain of knowledge and service that is more than a job, and that, to be
well managed in this world of exploding information resources, requires
more than a "green card" for entry into the guild. It requires an
understanding of the philosophy and ethics of access to information.

As to the smaller issue of library systems...one respondent says that because
other fields don't require their systems analysts to have credentials in
their field, we shouldn't. I would disagree. There are an incredible number
of poorly designed, ineffective medical and legal information systems out
there. The trend in system design is to integrating the knowledge and needs
of the user with the capabilities of the technology. Although it is
certainly possible for "Non-librarians" (with or without credentials) to
participate in the design of library systems, if we do not ensure that those
with the primary responsibility for implementing the systems do have the
philosophical grounding and understanding of the library environment that
I would hope we are striving for in our LIS education, we
set ourselves up for more essentially unusable systems.

Why, I keep wondering, is there such thinly veiled contempt for the skills
and training of librarians being exhibited by respondents on this list?
Personally, I'd prefer to have my systems designed by someone that
recognizes my *professional* needs, and sees me as more than a glorified
clerk.

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*----------------------------------------------------------------*
| Elizabeth Lane                   Internet: elane3@ua1vm.ua.edu |
| University of Alabama            BITNET:   ELANE3@UA1VM        |
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From:     <ACADMARG@STMARYTX>
Subject:  Re: Caste Question
I think some people are missing the point on what library systems administrators
do for the library.  I see this position as being filled by someone who plans
future automation for the library, interacts with other librarians and library
users to see that their needs and wants will be fulfilled by the system, and
interacts with automation vendors to keep up with what is happening in the
library automation world as well as running the system on a day-to-day basis.
I believe that this sort of position, which really involves the future of
the library very deeply, requires a person grounded in the theory of
librarianship.  Part of the problem with many of the current library
automation systems stems from the fact that in the initial planning stages
the theoretical groundwork was not properly laid.  Later fixes have to
be added to work around these initial inadequacies and often the fixes
themselves are inadequate because the initial structure was faulty.

Sure, I think we should hire CS majors to work for the library but I don't
think I would put someone in charge of planning my library's automation
who had no MLS.  I love my computer center people and I couldn't do without
them but the most important thing to them is their system.  The most important
thing to me is the library users.

For me, the library system (and the university computer for that matter) is
there to serve _me_ and the _library user_.  When I talk to our computer
center and when I talk to library automation vendors, I often get the feeling
they think that it's my job to bend over backward to get their system to
work for me.

My only problem with MLS's as system administrators is that we seem to be
too timid to take on the automation vendors.  We are too easily put off by
promises of forthcoming releases and future bug fixes.  When these arrive
(if they arrive), they often don't fix the initial problem but they do
introduce new errors.  We let vendors charge us special programming fees
to fix problems that shouldn't have occurred in the first place.

Hmmm.... maybe we should hire some tough CS majors to take on the vendors
for us.  So that's my theory on library system administrators.  Now that
I'm all worked up I have to call my vendor and complain some.

Margaret Sylvia
St. Mary's University Academic Library
San Antonio, TX
acadmarg@stmarytx.bitnet
acadmarg@vax.stmarytx.edu
**----
From: THENDERSON@Library.MsState.Edu
Subject:  Re: Caste Question
As a follow up to Judith Hopkins' message about the Merwine case at
Mississippi State University, the case was finally heard and thrown
out by the Supreme Court in 1985.  Mississippi State
University successfully defended the MLS degree requirement.  Hopkins
is correct in that the case centered on the legality of requiring an
ALA-accredited MLS.  The plaintiff held a master's degree from this
institution in education with emphasis in library science, a program
we offered for some time for school librarians, and she had some
experience in this library in a non-professional position.  In the
suit the plaintiff not only questioned the legality of the required
accredited MLS but also claimed sex-discrimination when the
Veterinary Medicine Library position was filled by a male applicant
who met the degree requirement.

It is important to note that the American Library Association chose
not to support Mississippi State University in this case.  The taint
of sex-discrimination was apparently more important to ALA than it's
own degree accreditation program.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas W. Henderson                     THenderson@library.msstate.edu
Coordinator of User Services            601/325-3060
Mississippi State University Libraries  FAX 601/325-3560
P. O. Drawer 5408
Mississippi State, MS 39762
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From:      Sharon Ahlers <SEAHLERS@SUVM>
Subject:   Caste Question
Kendall Simmons writes to object to the claim that a "broader philosophical
grounding in the concepts and context of libraries" is required to be a libra-
rian, and implies that not only is such a grounding not needed, but in reality
there is no broader philosophical or professional framework for librarians. I'm
still waiting, though, for Mr./Ms. Simmons to explain why s/he has decided that
there is no professional identity or philosophy. The only argument s/he advance
s is a bad course in library school. I'm getting a terrific professional ground
ing at my library school...does that prove that it exists?--Sharon Ahlers,
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University (seahlers@suvm.acs.syr.edu)
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU