Comments on: Inmates running the asylum?

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:49:33 +0000

Thanks Luke. I’m glad it’s not just me who sees that there are folks who want guidance and folks who want answers. I’m happy to offer guidance, but if someone expects me to do their work for them, they’d better be paying me.

Mary, I don’t know that years of experience makes someone an “expert” either and I think there’s an opposite (and equally dangerous) tendency to only respect the ideas and opinions of people who’ve been in the profession longer. I think experienced and inexperienced librarians have a lot to offer, and both should be judged by what they bring to the table — not how long they’ve been in the profession. I’m not sure why it would be a problem for less experienced librarians to be making decisions about conference proposals so long as they are very knowledgeable about the topic areas.

By: Mary Broussard

Mary Broussard — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:21:30 +0000

I asked an experienced colleague yesterday if librarians are quicker to give away the title of “expert” than other fields are. I was disgusted when I went to ALA annual one year out of library school and vendors were touting their list of librarian “experts”… several of which were in school with me! These inexperienced librarians are making decisions that are important to more-experienced librarians, like which proposals will get accepted to conferences.

My colleague assured me this wasn’t just us, which promptly led me into a professional depression.

By: Luke Charde

Luke Charde — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:07:30 +0000

Great post Meredith. You’re right on with your analysis. As the designer of the Troy Public Library site you mentioned – I have found quite a few people curious of how to modify Wordpress.

These inquiring people fall into two categories – those who want answers and those who want guidance. The people who want answers seem most of the time to just be looking for shortcuts and are wary of research and troubleshooting. The people who want guidance only need to be pointed in the right direction – then they’ll get their hands dirty, do the research and figure out the rest. I’m glad to give some tips to these people.

Even if you are not an expert in a certain area – you might still be perceived as an expert by some (and you can’t fault them for that). People will always have questions.

Meredith, I like your approach, and totally agree. Let’s not give out answers – let’s give guidance and be participants in the conversation.