Dear Anonymous,
Just to play devil's advocate, there are librarians out there that need
dragging, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century (and I don't mean
anyone in my own region, in case you're wondering). It isn't fair to create
the idea of big, bad consortium librarians without us knowing more about the
situation. Do we have a consortium librarian, for example, with fixed ideas
who is stifling local initiative, or do we have librarians who have managed
to ignore professional and political advances over the last 10 years and who
are now being required to catch up?
Mike Roddham
Chichester Health Libraries
-----Original Message-----
From: Anony mous [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 January 2002 10:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Summary of responses to "Comments/Feedback requested re
Confederation Librarians
Many thanks to all who replied. It is interesting that more people replied
to us confidentially than on Lis-Medical, and their views are summarised as
follows:
Most people endorsed the "ideal" of co-operative working but realised that
this would not always happen. Comment was made that the Confederation
Librarians were not uniform in their approach or their perceived role, but
they would have a lot of power (a point made by three respondents) and there
was a definite need for some guidance. One respondent had experienced
"inappropriate interference" to a degree which was causing concern (which
was also our situation). Another respondent felt "powerless" to challenge
decisions made by their Confederation Librarian which they disagreed with.
(These two separate respondents, from different libraries, had the same
Confederation Librarian!) There was some assurance sought that the
Confederation Librarian posts should be fairly advertised and open to
competition.
Finally, nearly everyone welcomed some general guidance, and particularly
welcomed Veronica Fraser's news that the WDC Librarians' December meeting
identified that this would be useful and would be pursued. Thanks again to
everyone who replied.
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