LISNews: Librarian Blog Since 1999

I'm a librarian, I work in a library, and I have a Masters in Library Science degree. I now work in a map library along with books, journals, electronic databases and all sorts of other things.
When the academic leaders of our profession shy away from the name of our profession, then we need to fire those people and get new ones. They betray our profession with their rationalization, lack of esteem in their own profession, and a desire to pander to transient trends instead of professional truths.
Call a spade a bloody shovel, and damn the devil.
No wonder our patrons are confused. They use "media centers" in high school, then use an "information center" in college. We do nothing to make sure the education of our students is consistant and professional, by using standard names and standard terms, such as "librarian" or "reference desk" or "library catalog". We do everything possible to confuse our children with our own childish desire to pretend to be what we aren't.
We are librarians. Those who aren't librarians, work in something other than a library. And bad cess to you, too, for still wanting to be thought of as a professional librarian!

R. Lee Hadden (These are my own opinions!)

Could we try to go a couple days as a profession without creating a panic? I'll wait till a couple more schools do it before I start running down the hall tearing at my hair screaming about the demise of library/librarians/books/storytime.

While I love the word 'library' (and its counterparts in other languages), I do think it's a bit antiquated to call a place funded by my local city, where I go borrow books, DVDs, Music, Software and have free access to magazines and the internet a 'library' because it doesn't capture what the place offers. I much prefer the french Mediatheque.

As far as 'library schools' go...that is another debate which is probably not suited for the topic here which involves the changing roles of libraries, do we need ALA accreditation, and so on.