TechNique: September 2002

National convenor visits the Northern Territory

Come to dinner in Darwin? And could you be the guest speaker????

Approximately twenty -seven people were present to hear me, in my role as National Convenor, speak to the ALIA TopEnd group in Darwin on the 28th of November. Amongst the guests were Library Technicians, Librarian's and their partners.

Talking about personal beginnings in the field of Librarianship, study and the pathway into becoming a Library Technician led to a discussion of the perceptions of the industry and how Library Technicians are placed to be utilised in the process of change that has become integral to Library development. The friendliness of the group provided a warm relaxed atmosphere and made the stay most enjoyable.

Read an adapted version of Lothar's talk below:

'Men and women of Darwin's TopEnd ALIA section. Thank you for inviting me here tonight and thank you for being here.

'Here am I, a library technician, a person who spent 15 years at university studying library processes and theory, and I still have come to the same conclusion. It is us, and it has been us for all the time the Library profession has been. This is my past vision - to avoid being in the profession for as long as possible.

'But something happened along the way.

'I remained a part of the group of people that work in libraries. I became a victim of that vision. I worked with and understood what it takes to work in libraries, and here I am still. Even though I did give avoidance a good run, I found out that in the end, being in libraries was worthwhile. I was a wayward student and now I am the National convenor. There lies my path to being a victim of all I absorbed.

'Look around you at our profession. If I could offer you an insight into my vision for the future, our profession would be it. We all of us are in it together, whereas the rest of my talk tonight is no more than my own meandering experience. I will start with that point.

'In libraries we have power and beauty and youth. And that is just the staff... The faded visions of life are contained in the resources we preserve and dispense. How much possibility lies with that charge and how can you not but admire it. Indeed become victim to it.

'I don't worry about the future. Well I worry, but I know that there are people and ways that will change my worry and perhaps my future. The future of not only my life but also our profession. The real trouble in our profession is the understanding of change. Change divides us and gives us new vision. It draws us in and leaves us behind.

'People ask me about the library technician (LT) versus librarian issue. That is, are LT's a threat to librarians jobs and are librarians a threat to LT jobs. That issue in my mind, is not a threat, but a business management issue. Why divide your talent? Why draw borders for abilities. No-one wants to have their verve and drive held back. Some like to be complacent and avoid change. These days LT's have university degrees. But that still makes them as intelligent as before...just with recognition. The change has arrived for both areas. Librarians and technicians. There are new areas for all and to best deploy talent to change is clever and can involve all staff with proper and appropriate management.

'What divides us? What are its courses and inescapable consequences? You who are librarians and I, a library technician, what divides us? Is it the qualification? Is it our relationship to each other? Does it matter what relationship it is? Does the profession want a division based on a qualification or a geographical place in a building? I cannot answer those questions, because I am not qualified to do so. I do believe each situation in each library is unique and that should be grasped and affirmed. Affirmed not just in our discussions about ourselves, but in all areas of a modern library, from staff to patrons to ambience

'So what should we do? We all believe in different things, so let's believe together. And if someone does come up with the answer to the way librarians and library technicians should specifically interact, I hope that at that time I will stand behind them and I will whisper. "Please don't answer." Elie Wiesal said in his Canterbury Medal Address in New York in 1998, "Answers are dangerous, questions are not. ...We all have different pasts, we have different experiences, and yet what do we have in common? That we don't care that much for the unique belief, we believe rather in the uniqueness of the person who believes that every person is unique, that every person is uniquely worthy".

'Our Association (ALIA) binds this process through recognition. Not by drawing rigid divides. There always will be limits, but they can be creative limits. Managed limits. Limits appropriate for the benefit of us. The whole profession. What I say may be scary. And it is just my opinion, and you are free to constructively criticise them. But what scares us today is the reason we need a vision. Because if we don't get scared we will fail in our task to rethink our futures.

'How things change. There is little value to new beginnings if we simply criticise one another. Many of us will view the beginning of the 21st century with some degree of excitement. What will the future bring? What can we make of the opportunities that were not given to our forebears? Are we going to be weak-minded and say whatever will be will be, or are we going to face the challenges of what a century ago were unimaginable technological and social developments...together? Should we be reckless?

'If no one in our profession was reckless then Internet access may have been available at the post office instead of in the public library. But our profession banded together and stopped that occurring. Sometimes we have vision, sometimes visions find us. Other time we have to sit down and find them. This is usually a collaborative process. I recently attended the ALIA National Policy Congress, where we discussed ALIA's vision for the future. There was no I or they, it was us. Our profession grouped together to see together.

'When our enthusiasm to develop is sufficient beyond doubt, then we can be certain we will never be under represented. We can not ignore that we are part of a powerful group in the work sphere because of ALIA's overall existence. Membership of ALIA will always contribute to our profession in the larger sense. For those that are concerned with representation issues, it is comforting to know we are big enough to be a presence through ALIA where individuals can make up something big, with credibility.

'The process of finding a vision in my profession has been a long one. And I have taken the round about route. I have taken the short way at times when I have found it. During this journey I have worked in libraries with librarian's - who were artists in the past. Library assistants - who played drums in rock bands on the weekends and a library technician that ran a pub bar to name a few. All these people had a common 'victimhood'. They came to work in libraries.... and had talents peculiar to there identities. Each bought a different vision into our libraries when they worked, and each was respected for that.

'Some went on to study in the library profession. Others were happy to remain as they were. All have been a part of what makes my vision for the future. A vision that encompasses the identities that we need in libraries. That is a diverse range to give us balance and to help with our vision. In my time as a library technician I have met an... interesting...array of people from all walks of life. Some enjoy working in libraries, some don't. If you meet someone who doesn't, do you get annoyed? I do. The library as a profession doesn't get the glamour press that movie stars get but it has its quiet achievers. But where else can you supply medical information that saves lives, or help someone research for a qualification that will shape the rest of their working life. Think of the task that we are charged with when we stock children's books. A child will read what a library supplies and may go on to read more. That is a responsibility, a charge where we cannot be ambivalent

'Library staff have the ability to analyse the situation, analyse the reality and then, accordingly, utilise it more positively. The sense of community is there, otherwise I would not be here.'

Lothar Retzlaff
National LT convenor

'You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians.'
Monty Python skit