A Manifesto for Library School Graduates

Some have suggested Librarian is a dying profession. Some Libraries are cutting back on professional staff. Some organizations are eliminating Librarian positions and hope to replace these positions with sophisticated software tools. I believe these organizations are being foolish and short sighted. I believe Library School Graduates have key skills and tools that should be valuable assets for any organization that uses information.

Library School Graduates face serious professional challenges. There is a trend to see software as tools that can replace knowledge workers¹ in much the same way machines replaced industrial workers. For example, Google is seen by some as a replacement for reference services. Developers are working furiously to create software that can query large bodies of unstructured data to replace indexing. And social media is seen by some as a way to replace collection development by providing relevance. Corporate librarians are often seen as expensive professionals that do not contribute to the bottom line. They are not creating services used by direct customers and so are seen as a cost. Knowledge management appears to be evolving into an technology management role.

If we were to only look at these challenges the out look is grim. However, there are reasons Library School Graduates should be hopeful. The amount of information being created is increasing geometrically. Some people are starting to realize the amount of information that can be retained is greater than the organization ability to use it. Information technology is often taxed by the expectations to manage large amounts of data. I believe some organizations are coming to the realization that information technology (IT) can not fill the gap alone and are looking to various professionals to help them manage their information.

I believe Library School Graduates have an important opportunity in fill this gap:

1. Librarians have, as a profession, managed information for hundreds of years. Librarians create processes to successfully access information. This experience and training is still relevant and compliments the tools being created by IT. Library tools like indexing, controlled vocabularies, and facets have a role to play in solving information challenges face by many organizations. Often the skills need to use these tools effectively need to be taught to the users of IT tools. Library School Graduates could  have a part in filling this role.
2. Information literacy is becoming an indispensable skill. Librarians have taken on the challenge of teaching this skill. As organizations rely more heavily on  knowledge workers it is imperative each knowledge worker has this skill within their domain of expertise. Library School Graduates should be leading the effort to train and mentor these skills.
3. Librarians have experience and framing that brings a different context for understanding processes. Developing effective information processes is a difficult complex task. There are deep social, political and legal dimensions that must be tackled by any organization. Solutions require information technology, financial, and process components. Good solutions require the expertise of financial experts, software developers, legal experts, and information experts. Library School graduates should be actively participating in solving these challenges.

I believe the Library profession should be growing. I believe there are specific steps we should be taking:

1. Expand the focus of the job titles we include in the profession. Naomi House maintains a list of keywords for finding library jobs. The list includes a wide variety of key words including Social Media, UX Designer, and Data Management Analyst.² I would also encourage people to look at Technical Writing and Business Analyst positions for requirements that match library skills.
2. Learn the technical languages of other professionals. Almost every organization has its own unique technical language. Being able to communicate effectively to a wide variety of people in terms is imperative.  With this ability you can make the case that your contribution is valuable.
   
   I first became aware of this when listening to a seminar by Dr. Juran. Dr. Juran was speaking to Quality Engineers about the need to talk to corporate leaders in financial terms so their work would be appreciated. Library graduates need to do the same thing. Learn a little about finances so you can speak to financial professionals. Learn a little about programming so you can speak to software professionals. Take time to understand copyright and intellectual property issues so you can speak with legal professionals.
3. Learn basic statistics. Statistics are hard. I'm not advocating becoming a statistician. I am advocating getting enough of an understanding of statistics that you are "statistically literate". You should understand and rate any graph or number.  You should know the right questions to ask to rate the value of the information being presented. Think of this skill as statistical information literacy. This skill is invaluable in most organizations and help keep everyone honest.

By taking these kinds of steps, I believe librarians could become invaluable partners in education, government and business. I believe library school graduates have much to offer and will continue to make meaningful contributions for years to come. If the profession of "librarian" becomes irrelevant we will only have ourselves to blame.

¹Peter Ducker coined the term "knowledge worker" to denote professionals who functioned independently and created value by using their expertise with an organizations information.
  ²Naomi House INALJ (I Need a Library Job) http://inalj.com