ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Letters

(C&RL News welcomes your signed, typed comment on recent content in our pages or on matters of general interest to the academic or research library profession. Letters beyond 250 words will not be acceptedormay be editedto fit space. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, C&RL News, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611;fax: (312)280-7663.)

Rust debate continues

To the Editor:

The response of Ann Levinson of ALA to the letter of Virgil D. Massman in the December 1991 issue is the usual liberal doublespeak. ALA has a longstanding policy in support of the murder of unborn children (whom we all know are human beings, but for ideological reasons many otherwise intelligent people refuse to admit the obvious). ALA’s support for government funding for this massacre is not the result of its commitment to lofty principles, for ALA has repeatedly failed to support the free speech of other Americans when their right has actually been infringed. In this case, not one person has been stopped from saying one word in favor of abortion. They simply cannot do it on the federal payroll. No surprise there! We do not permit our federal employees to speak words that are a racial slur or a sexual harassment. We do not permit them to advocate the violent overthrow of the government or to threaten the lives of innocent people or to instruct them how to kill themselves. The present policy of the federal government is perfectly consistent with this longstanding public policy, which ALA has never before—to my knowledge—challenged. Since the other applications of the federal employees’ speech policy I have mentioned glove-tailed with the view of the liberal clique that runs ALA as its own fiefdom, ALA never questioned it. But now that the federal government has taken the only principled approach to the problem of abortion, you shout “foul!” The selective application of your “principles” shows you once more to be no more and no less than foolish leftwingers with your blinders on.—Thomas G. Reid Jr., Library Director, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

Where are the jobs?

To the Editor:

I recently read the article by Anne K. Beaubien (“Nothing, ventured, no one gained,” Nov. 1991). Like Patricia Glass Schumann, she sounds the trumpet for the recruitment of “bright, creative” people to a career in librarianship. Apparently Ms. Beaubien, and the editors who decided to publish her article, are aware of openings for new librarians that I am not. I graduated from the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December 1990.1 was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate and held two graduate fellowships awarded on the basis of academic merit. I have two subject master’s degrees in addition to the MSLS, and three years of full-time preprofessional experience in academic libraries. Yet, after 16 months of job- hunting I have not yet had an interview at an academic library. In fact, I have been turned down for several paraprofessional positions such as I held before going to library school. I have applied to 73 professional positions; 11 of these (15%) have been canceled or frozen in mid-search. (One has been unfrozen and one re-advertised.) Many of the remainder have gone to librarians with years of professional experience, although they were advertised as entry-level. As one head of a search committee told me, “We had three very strong local candidates with a lot of experience who were willing to work for the restricted salaiy of an entry-level position, so we decided not to interview anyone from out of town.”

When I have called for feedback on my applications, librarians have repeatedly expressed amazement at the number and strength of the applications they received. I suppose their astonishment is not surprising, since the professional journals are not reporting an employment crisis. Instead, we hear calls for increased recruitment.

In hopes that you and Ms. Beaubien can direct me to a library that needs a “well-educated,” “bright, creative” person, I enclose my resume. I eagerly await your response.—Caroline Usher, Durham, North Carolina

Information literacy experts sought

The ACRL Information Literacy Advisory Board seeks individuals to include on their list of advisers. To be considered for inclusion individuals must have experience using the concept of information literacy in an academic program; experience teaching users critical evaluation of information sources; writing and speaking experiences on information literacy; and excellent speaking, writing, and teaching skills. Applications must be received by May 1, 1992. To obtain an application and the full criteria for inclusion contact: Hannelore B. Rader, Director, University Library, Cleveland State University, 1860 E. 22nd St., Cleveland, OH 44113.

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