The Australian Library Journal
volume 50 issue 3

Letters to the editor

Ross Harvey's article, 'Losing the quality battle in Australian education for librarianship' (Australian Library Journal Vol 50, no 1) continues to stimulate debate. Editor

In response to your editorial in May's ALJ 'A resounding silence?' I would like to say that I do not think it is that librarians do not have an opinion about this matter, but that it is almost impossible to reply. Ross Harvey made some interesting allegations in his article, especially the quote 'Few of the students we currently admit into graduate diploma- and masters-level first professional qualifications in Australia have a strong academic record.' I was shocked by this statement.

What can we possibly say in response without sounding conceited? My colleagues and I worked very hard to achieve excellent grades while completing the Graduate Diploma in 1999. Surely things cannot have changed that quickly?

To call the American example into play is a mistake. The educational landscape in the United States is so different from ours that it is near impossible to compare, despite efforts by the Australian government to make them more similar by introducing full fees for graduate degrees. Americans are able to travel to study and incur enormous debts because they know the payoff will come when they are employed on a starting income beyond what many of us in Australia could even dream of.

It is not always academic record that counts in the field. It is commitment to the profession and the love of information and helping others that really matters. Overseas, there is an extensive online network of librarians talking and learning with others around the world. We have librarian.net, lisnews.com, Library Underground, Library Juice, New Breed Librarian, Street Librarian, Progressive Librarian, Rogue Librarian, and the list goes on. Maybe it is time to establish a similar list with an Australian home.

It is interesting that Harvey does not equate the supposed lack of quality in new students with the image of librarians. We are still perceived as being book shelvers by teenagers and 20-somethings even after all this time. No wonder I bump into very few people my age who are librarians. Perhaps what we really need is a taskforce on improving our image and encouraging youth to choose librarianship, not unnecessary criticism of our very good library schools.

Fiona Bradley, SBS Radio Resource Centre

In response to Ross Harvey's article, 'Losing the quality battle in Australian education for librarianship' (Australian Library Journal Vol 50, no 1), I have several comments:

Education for librarianship has been affected by the changes to education in Australia over the past twenty to twenty-five years. This includes an increase in numbers of people undertaking university education, and an increase in personal financial cost for those people. Universities have sought courses to offer which would attract students and government funding - according to anecdotal evidence, often with scant regard to employment potential for graduates. These factors mean that some people are entering universities with lower marks than those of a generation ago, and are entering with an eye on maximising their salaries, to repay educational debt. In New South Wales, you can still see professional librarians' positions offered at about $32 000 per annum (less than some library technicians in some organisations), although figures also move into the $42-43 000 range. This does not compare well with other degree-based occupations such as nursing or teaching (which can have public sector salaries moving into the $50 000 range), or non-degree jobs such as call-centre operator or locksmith (with remuneration in the low to mid $30 000 range - occasionally moving higher). In other words, there is a strong disincentive to library studies, since the top of the base grade librarians' range is just on the average Australian wage. This may be changed as a result of an investigation into the notion that library work is undervalued because it's a female-dominated occupation, but those findings have been around for a while, and have yet to bear fruit.

In my experience, it is rare to find library workers who enthuse about their training, but not difficult to find those who will criticise (and usually with very good reasons, not merely to be negative). Interestingly, there is more likely to be praise from the technician level than the postgraduate level, just as employers are more likely to perceive technicians to have learned something useful than degree-based librarians. We have a system of certification, not education. The qualification gives entry to a wider salary range and career structure.

In New South Wales, it is possible to have professional librarians who have qualified by the following routes:

1. TAFE librarians certificate.
2. LAA registration papers.
3. A full undergraduate library degree (although some universities did not recognise these as suitable for some time).
4. Undergraduate library degree made up of technician qualification plus degree work.
5. An undergraduate degree plus postgraduate qualification in library or related area (information studies, archives).
6. Technician qualification plus accreditation as a librarian from employer for work done or responsibility accepted.

This does not cover people with overseas qualifications, or library assistants, clerks and so on! I would be surprised if any co-worker could accurately assign library workers to their training without prior knowledge.

It is possible (and not at all unusual) to go to your local library, and find it managed by a non-librarian (perhaps a community services manager or engineer). The catalogue could be run by the systems section of the council; the information in the catalogue provided by an external source which uses non-library clerical workers; the books selected by a library supplier with no librarians involved; the books shelved by volunteers; your information request handled by a council clerk who will also accept your rates or pet licence fees. And I might add, they could all be doing a better job than many trained librarians! Oh, and your friend down the street who knows a bit about computers will be able to help you with any internet queries.

The professional/paraprofessional distinction is being lost, and for a very good historical reason. The only need for the distinction between librarians and technicians was only to bolster librarians' claims to be 'professionals' (although you will not find this openly stated in the literature of the time - instead you will find a lot of nonsense about freeing librarians from routine tasks so they could involve themselves in professional activities). Although it is hard to believe in these economic rationalist times, in the mid-1970s there was a strong movement amongst established professions such as law, medicine and education, to break down their professional mystique. Legal centres, some alternative schooling centres and women's health centres date from this period. In other words, practitioners were willing to let go of privilege (and money!) to help their clients. But at this time, librarians were beginning to say 'We are professionals,' aiming to boost salaries and prestige - but at the same time, removing themselves from their effective community base. One means of reinforcing professional status was to create a paraprofessional class (to do the mundane work). In practice, though, we all still checked books in and out, shelved them, registered borrowers, typed book labels, filed cards and so on. However, the qualifications establish a structure that can be used in an organisation, so that quality and quantity of work become secondary to official status. We have probably all worked in organisations where technicians or assistants are quicker, more accurate and better workers than qualified librarians.

There were arguments that professional qualifications would improve library management, but it would be difficult to prove this. The managerialist imperative of increased profits and decreased costs was not part of traditional professional training, and has imposed itself on libraries from above. I see little evidence that time spent in managerial activity has resulted in better service delivery for library users, and I see some managers with a stunted 'business school' view of management which was not part of the thinking of some of the great managers I have worked with. Tying library studies with business or information studies in universities limits the radical nature of libraries and their work (a library, like a museum or art gallery reminds us that there are different ways of looking at the world. For example, libraries have information about why level playing fields don't exist, about free trade not working, and about tertiary education being provided free to students. This threat to orthodoxy is the reason why books are burned or censored by those who would limit choice of thought).

I am afraid I don't have the answers to Ross Harvey's questions, but the preceding observations lead me to the conclusion that librarianship is a practical discipline, probably ill-suited to the university environment. I remember the late Professor Melvin Weinstock from the University of New South Wales, saying, 'At best it's a quasi-profession.' I think a TAFE-based approach, or a separate Institute of Library Studies (operating like the old Colleges of Advanced Education) is a more suitable means of training library workers. In an ideal world, I would see all technicians with a certain number of years' experience converted to librarian status. There would be no sneaky upgrading of librarians to senior librarians (without additional work) to keep the financial distance between them and technicians. From then on, there would be untrained library workers, library workers in training, and trained library workers - which reflects the current workplace situation.

Thanks to Ross Harvey for raising this interesting debate.

Richard Goodwin, Narara NSW 2250

From the former chair of the Board of Education

Imogen Garner

From the president

In the May 2001 editorial of ALJ, you challenge ALIA's Board of Education to participate in that debate. The Board of Education ceased to exist with the implementation of the new ALIA structure, and it will not be re-established for the time being at least. This follows a number of decisions taken by the Board of Directors to cover some Board of Education responsibilities. This does not represent a change in the policy directions of the Association - the important work undertaken by the Board of Education, such as course recognition and membership eligibility programs, will continue. Rather, it represents a transition period for the Association as its focus broadens to include initial education for the profession and a significantly greater investment in career-long education.

In addition to the continuing membership eligibility programs managed by Marie Murphy, the Board of Directors has three new initiatives in place

• An initiative to position ALIA as a key co-ordinator of issues, communication and collaboration for research for the sector. Marie Murphy will manage this initiative.
  
  
• An initiative to develop a career-long education and training program. A staff member is being recruited for this.
  
  
• An initiative to establish a partnership between ALIA, education providers and employers to ensuring adequate career-long education for the profession. As a first step, the Board has invited Professor Mairéad Browne to convene a small working group to identify the issues, outline the consultative process and develop mechanisms for establishing a plan of action encompassing partnership for dealing with education and professional development. ALIA will convene a national forum on career-long education for the profession in November with key stakeholders, including representatives from major employing and educational institutions, and possibly allied professions. The forum will be one of the steps in what is envisaged to be a year-long consultative and development process. The issues will also be discussed at the National Policy Congress on 7-8 December.
  
  

The decision to establish the partnership initiative arose from a paper prepared by Mairéad in April when she was still president. Because Mairéad went overseas, her proposal was not considered in detail by the Board of Directors until its August meeting when she could be present. It thus has not been possible to communicate information about this development earlier.

I am confident that these initiatives will be well accepted by the membership and the profession alike and that the discontinuation of the Board of Education will be understood in this context.

Alan Bundy (Dr), president

Feedback on 'The role of the internet for people with disabilities: issues of access and equity for public libraries' (Australian Library Journal Vol 50, no 2)

Joanne Elliot, librarian/book review editor, Medical Journal of Australia

more poetry please...

A bouquet for you! This e-mail is to let you know how much I enjoyed reading Martha Morseth's excellent poem in the May 2001 issue of ALJ. Come on all you poets out there - more poetry please. Being a librarian in the automotive engineering industry is great, but you have no idea what a relief it is to have a break from reading about toxic gases, catalyst poisoning and noxious odours.

Christine Jones, librarian, Orbital Engine Company (Australia) Pty Ltd