Librarian schools and Libraries disappearing

[StClone]

A disturbing trend is the disappearance of Libraries/library training in Bush's economy. Here are three of many stories from across the country indicating the decline of access to libraries.

ATLANTA (AP) _ The state's only school for librarians may close, and librarians are arguing the program at Clark Atlanta University shouldn't go the way of paper card catalogs.
The university wants to shut down its school of library and information studies _ the state's only accredited librarian education program _ to save money.
About 80 Clark Atlanta alumni and supporters gathered Monday outside downtown's Auburn Avenue Research Library to protest the idea.
``The library school has helped so many,'' said Dorothy Williams, a Clark Atlanta alumna and Fulton County librarian. ``I can't imagine what would happen if it wasn't there.''
Clark Atlanta is one of about 50 colleges nationwide that offer accredited degree programs in library science, and one of just two historically black colleges with library schools. Clark Atlanta's school has 99 students.
Arthur Gunn, the dean of CAU's library school, said the closing would hurt more than just students who want to be librarians.
``The profession will be severely impacted if we are forced to close,'' Gunn said.
More than a dozen library graduate programs across the nation _ including one at Emory University _ have been shut down in the past 20 years.
Bobby Player, the president of the black caucus of the American Library Association, said librarians across the country have started an e-mail and letter-writing campaign to try to save the school.
``This is a historical landmark, and we can't lose that,'' he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ``We're hoping we can sway the president to give it another lease on life.''
University President Walter Broadnax defended the proposal. The school overspent its $100 million budget by $7.5 million last year and is looking for savings so the university won't close altogether.
``What's on the table is saving this university,'' he said. ``That's the most important issue.''
Broadnax said the college's Board of Trustees ultimately will determine the library school's fate. He said he plans to recommend closing it after the 2004-05 school year when the board meets Oct. 16.

http://www.houstonianonline.com/main.cfm?include=subApplication&subApplicationName=quickRegister&fuse=registrationOrLoginRequired&thereferer=http%3A//64.233.167.104/search%3Fq%3Dcache%3A6UU4Igu46HYJ%3Awww.houstonianonline.com/news/2003/10/02/CollegeNews/Librarians.Make.Noise.About.Georgias.Only.Library.Program.Getting.The.Axe-511112.shtml+georgia+librarian+school+to+close%26hl%3Den

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Salinas votes to shut libraries

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/15/BAG29AC6OK1.DTL

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A whole county of libraries closing? Erie Co., NY

http://ketchup.franklin.indiana.edu/wdueber/blog/index.php?p=29


***SIGH***

[Yuugal]

1. reading never taught me nothing

and books is the worst!

[illflem]

2. Books and libraries will always have their place

But the days of the card catalog are over. The google organization is going to work on get most all books on-line very soon. We'll still need librarians, but not as many.

[StClone]

5. On-line Books are great

But a Library is usually free and on-line costs for computer, connections and access fees may push many away from reading.

Besides a quiet library filled with books will always be a wonder to an open mind. Not saying the internet isn't filled with promise but we need libraries for sense of community. too.

[skooooo]

6. Forget it...you will have to pay the publishers

There's no free ride. Google is not the answer. Do you have $50,000 to pay for a subscription to a real fulltext database? I didn't think so.

[One_Life_To_Give]

3. Who needs Libraries

Lets store all the data on central computers. Give access to everyone, and then close down those old dinosaurs. No sense wasting space, when the electronic version will do. And while were at it I can fix some of the spelling errors in these books. Saint Hitler is misspelled far too often. /Sarcasm

[StClone]

7. any go to Libraries to access the internet

Some resources are still best in book form: maps, animal identification guides etc.

[Bridget Burke]

4. Where's Laura?

Library School was there for her when she decided to dump teaching--after a couple of years. Librarianship supported her a few more years, until she meant her future hubby.

I thought she was an advocate of libraries & reading & all that stuff....

[StClone]

8. Last Link disappeared

New link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/alnews2004/november2004abc/buffaloclose.htm

[SmokingJacket]

9. Fucking disaster.

Goodbye civilization.

[LittleWoman]

10. Back when I was in Library School

public libraries were referred to as the "peoples' universities" because anyone who wanted to could use them for free to educate themselves. Many lower income people especially immigrants did exactly that. Librarian jobs never did pay diddly because most of the lower level librarians were women and it is no surprise to me that Library Schools are closing as they have been doing so for years. The people you see working in libraries today are mostly people who do not have library science degrees but rather are clerks possibly with a BA. NB: professional librarians are expected to have a masters degree in library science. Nowdays much of information science is housed in the computer and management science areas and for the most part people in these programs are not "book people" as the old library science people tended to be. All of this makes me ill because there are many people without means who need the services of public libraries and they will not realize it until the public libraries no longer exist. This is all a tragic result of the dumbing down of our culture and the main example of that is the man who currently occupies the peoples' White House.

[StClone]

11. True

I see nothing good out of closing libraries except closing doors to an open mind.