Comments on: A Conversation with Kristin Antelman

By: Derik Badman

Derik Badman — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:26:36 +0000

Kim: That’s a great point about administration and training. I’d be curious to see some kind of data on administrators, training, and the criteria for which they were chosen for their position. Obviously, not the kind of data one could get.

But I wonder if administrators are often chosen for a) previous administrative experience and b) performance/accomplishments at non-administrative level, with b preceding a in a career path.

I would suspect there is a perceived correlation in minds between performance at a non-admin job and potential for an admin job (i.e. I’m do great as a reference librarian so I should do great as an administrative librarian). A correlation that is, probably, often, not necessarily true.

By: DaleA

DaleA — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:38:42 +0000

Quoting Antelman: “…linking technologies, like OpenURL, will have to work even better than they do now.” Can’t agree more with this statement. The greatest problem in this area is not the technology, however, but our lack of human investment in the technology. Most libraries woefully understaff their link resolvers, and think that by licensing some vendor KB that it can be managed in a few hours per week. As she notes later, digital library development is generally starved, and this is one of its key manifestations in the realm of direct user services.

Going beyond this issue, there’s also the issue that a fair percentage of academic librarians (yes, even those fresh from library school) couldn’t explain how a link resolver works nor contribute in any useful way to its maintenance, even if their contribution were only occasional feedback informed by just a bit of knowledge and understanding.

By: Kim Leeder

Kim Leeder — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:50:59 +0000

To bring up something a little different from the post, I’m interested in exploring the “gap of trust” in administrators Kristin mentions. One theory on the matter is that the shift from librarian to administrator is akin to the shift from library school student to librarian, or from grad student to professor, in that the preparation is woefully unequal to the task! Where our leaders stumble, I think, is in lack of management training, not a lack of good intentions. And where libraries differ from other academic units is that (in most places) we are not empowered to select our leaders. A lack of involvement in the process of hiring our administrators translates as a lack of investment in the result. Then, above all, it is much easier to criticize than to take the time to understand.

By: Trying to understand twibes « Liblearn’s Blog

Trying to understand twibes « Liblearn’s Blog — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:28:04 +0000

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By: thorn

thorn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:11:58 +0000

this interview, and the taiga 4 ‘provocative statements’ raise some larger questions in my mind.

- higher education as a whole is changing, too. how will libraries and higher ed as a whole affect each other?

- who will have access to all of this information? in the past and present, the quality of library resources and access has been, and is a ’selling’ point for each institution to attract the highest-quality students, graduate students and faculty. in the future, will that continue to be ’siloed’ as it is now?

- what is to become of individuals’ access to current information to keep their knowledge and skills up to date once they’re ‘out in the world’, given that only a small minority of university graduates end up working in academia? will this improve over time, remain much as it is, or will it get worse? and, given that failing to remain informed is the surest path to rapid obsolescence of the human resource, what about use?

just thinking.

By: Derik Badman

Derik Badman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:26:58 +0000

I’d hazard a guess that some of the response might be a combination of the lack of context/transparency and the origin of the statements from library administrators. As has been noted in some other posts on the statements, there is a “smoke-filled room” aspect to the document that be too analogous to relationships between administrators and the “rank and file” librarians.

This type of published conversation with one of those administrators is/would-be a much more effective way to be provocative and engage discussion. Kristin’s statements certainly add context to some of the Taiga statements.

By: Steve Lawson

Steve Lawson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:31:29 +0000

Thanks for this very interesting (should I say “provocative?”) interview.

I wanted to respond to the idea that some of the negative response to the Taiga statements comes from a general distrust or dislike of library administrators. I’m not sure I see that, even in the admittedly harsh or hostile statements from John Dupuis, Dorothea Salo, and myself. (It might be worth pointing out that John Blyberg, one of the authors of the Darien Statements, is himself an AD, though of a public library. While there have certainly been some negative reactions to the Darien statements, I don’t think they have directed at Blyberg’s job title.)

I think the response is to the content of the statements and to the lack of context and transparency that Antelman acknowledges to be a problem. The Taiga participants apparently had a very lively, open discussion with each other, but it so far it has seemed like they aren’t really all that interested in having such an exchange about the statements with the outside world (with the notable exception of Steven Bell).

When people are “provocative” on the internet without engaging with their audience in good faith, we call that “trolling.” This interview is very different, with Antelman providing context, opinions, questions and answers of her own. I’d rather read ten such revealing interviews with ADs or AULs than read ten more provocative statements.