My first post that actually has do with library stuff...
Ok, I'm going to try and start a conversation about library issues that DOESN'T involve flying squirrels. Well, it might involve flying squirrels. Later. But I really don't intend for it to do so right now.
I tried to bring up a conversation in my *cough* advanced reference class today. One group in class read and discussed an article about bringing marketing into libraries, and if librarians were for it or against it.
I asked if there was any discussion in the article, or among the group members, about the word "marketing." Is there a problem with "outreach"?
Nope. No discussion and the rest of the class seemed mightily disinterested, too.
My confession: corporate language in the library field makes me cringe. "Customers." "Value-Added Service." I've been trying since the beginning of classes in the fall to figure out why this is. Is it my own experience with the corporate world, which appears to bring little to the table of humanity? Is it because libraries (or at least the kind I intend to work in) are not-for-profit institutions and the juxtaposition is uncomfortable? Is it because I think underlying all this is the basic assumption that if you don't deal with profit, your profession will never gain any true prestige (speaking as a true former teacher)?
Is this an extension of what pisses Deborah off when people ask, upon hearing she's a library student, if she's memorizing Dewey? Is it an extension of what pisses me off when people say, upon hearing I'm in library school, "You need a degree for that?!"
This isn't really a criticism of the corporate world (although I have some of those, too). It's more the incongruity that gets me.
I'm musing. I'd like to hear your musings.
Here's the flying squirrel to help you think:
3 comments:
Andi, I too have always had a major issue with the use of "customer" and other terms that denote business. I think it just gets down to the fact that libraries are not really businesses, despite the push by some in the profession to run libraries more like businesses. Library users are not really "customers" though what librarians do is something akin to "customer service."
The missions of most libraries are not the same as most businesses except that at the end of the day, we need people to frequent the library and create numbers so that we may remain viable just like a business needs customers to do likewise.
I think it is really difficult for some people to think outside the box of business, especially when libraries and museums and the like are not entities that always fit well into a capitalism since they do not make a profit. I could be wrong, but those are my musings.
I've been using the phrase "customer service" a whole lot lately in reference to libraries (and archives). That's not necessarily because I don't agree with you. I think that such institutions should be there for the good of humanity, not for profit. But I've recently been on the receiving end of some really bad reference service, and it makes me angry that, while the corporate world recognizes the value of customer service because they realize it helps grease wheels, the library's entire purpose is supposed to be helping people, so why can they afford to ignore it? 'Customer service' as a concept is still important, even if they're 'patrons.'
Good topic! I hate that kind of language, too.
I'm pretty ambivalent about the "businissification" of libraries. I don't think that libraries should be treated the same as business, because they certainly are not--I have, however, read a few things about how libraries should charge for some services, because who are we to deny paying customers who want better services? I totally disagree because one thing I love about libraries is their truly egalitarian service--but, the country we live in is so obsessed with business as a model for everything that I think resistance to thinking "businessy" will only hurt us.
And, like Katie said, there are some things that the corporate world can teach libraries--customer service, organizational models, professionalism. Sadly, if we have to rely on a very business focused government for support, we have to act like libraries are businesses, too.
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