As you know, I've have been firm in my thinking that libraries need to be evolving. There are many people who think that libraries are becoming marginalized and in short order will be unnecessary. One way I want health sciences libraries to evolve is to get involved in new areas such as informatics in order to stay a relevant part of health care and education. Sure, there are some libraries that dabble in the surface of these areas, a few library schools that offer a class or two, and a little lip service paid to it at professional meetings - but by in large there is very little movement in this direction and a lot of resistance to changing the traditional role and activities of libraries. Often these can be signs of an upcoming significant shift in a profession, and that is what I hoped was the case: That it will be rough on the early adopters, but librarianship would not become marginalized and remain a vibrant profession by evolving. That librarians will focus on to how information is being organized and used today and librarianship will remain a field that needs and utilizes professionals.
But...maybe I was wrong. Information technology is changing so quickly today that if we want to evolve with the trends, we need to change - now. And as a group, we are not changing. More than that, many are holding back those who want to change. As a group, we are vehemently resisting change. We might be turning into one of those professions that have strict education and training requirements that are unnecessary and useless for our work. But maybe that is okay. Maybe I should stop fighting it.
The world of information is changing - and fast - and we are not. In the health sciences, our positions are being replaced by paraprofessionals or being eliminated altogether - and often for good reason. There is no need to pay a professional salary for paraprofessional, repetitive work (and so much of what we do is just that). So, maybe I was wrong, maybe we shouldn't change the profession and just let health sciences libraries continue down the road they now seem honestly content to travel. As for those of us who did not get into this field for that road...well - maybe it's time to find another road. Go where we are wanted and our work is useful and used, not where it is discarded as a new fad and a passing phase of the inexperienced. Get into informatics, which the majority of librarians seem all too eager to separate out so much so that it is a completely separate field. Or get into education, begin to use our knowledge of adult learning theory to teach. Or get into real IT, where systems are built around how information is needed and used (sometimes), and not how a small group think people should be using it.
I guess what I'm saying is - maybe I was wrong. I usually push too hard on a lot of stuff, but maybe this is something that shouldn't be pushed at all. Maybe it's like pushing librarians to become booksellers too - it just doesn't work for the people in the field. What do you think?
Recent Comments