Libraries in Philly managed by library assistants *instead of* librarians
At Free Library of Philadelphia, 20 Branches to Operate Without Librarians
[Library Journal c/o ResourceShelf 22 jan 05]
“Faced with staff and budget cuts, the Free Library of Philadelphia will operate 20 of 49 branches without librarians. This decision will allow systemwide Saturday service. The branches–each of which will be open four afternoon hours for six days a week–will be managed by a library assistant supervised by a library supervisor at a full-time branch.”
My SO’s response, “It’s like trying to operate a hospital with nothing but nurses.”
Now, neither my SO or I have anything against nurses, and they *absolutely* fill a crucial role in the functioning of health care systems, the same way that paraprofessionals fill a crucial role in libraries. However, this is a *documented* instance of a library system forsaking it’s professionals for cost-effectiveness. The article does note that there has been an issue with “staff absences” in relation to branch closings, but the article doesn’t specify if they were predominantly professional staff absences.
Would anyone like to join me in a research study of libraries and staff hiring practices across the US? Perhaps the data would be enough to get a grant for a hard-core study…
Tags: librarianship
