And now I am one

Back when the Obama administration was taking form in the midst of the Bush-era financial debacle, there was considerable discussion of the appropriate scale for a federal stimulus package. The new President opted for a timid approach, perhaps because he didn't want to imperil his chances for bipartisanship, perhaps because he thought he could come back for a second installment if necessary, or perhaps because he thought his timid package would prove adequate. Some political leaders, several prominent economists, and a few progressive pundits thought that Mr. Obama was wrong on all three counts; the Republicans were not interested in bipartisanship, the political consensus needed to pass a stimulus package would soon unravel, and that the package being promoted would prove woefully inadequate.

Sadly, the skeptics were proven right on all counts. The Republicans became the party of "No," much more interested in thwarting President Obama than in helping America. The opportunity proved very short-lived, withering in the face of Republican obstructionism and a sustained rhetorical assault by the right wing -- an opposition unwittingly aided by a curiously detached White House. And the stimulus has proven so inadequate that the county appears to be locked into a long term period of stagnation in which millions upon millions of Americans will suffer as high unemployment numbers remain unchanging and the unemployed slip into long-term unemployment and lives of hopelessness and increasing levels of misery. Meanwhile, America's political leaders seem apathetic to the sufferings of their constituents and astonishingly removed from the realities Americans face.

All along, I've been siding with the progressive skeptics. All along, I've favored a much more aggressive stimulus package (coupled with a rapid drawdown in our pointless and expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a roll-back of the lopsided tax cuts given to the nation's affluent by the Bush administration). All along, I've sided with those who saw this terrible recession as an opportunity to embark on economic development strategies which would improve American competitiveness, address the growing problems of climate change and foreign petroleum dependence, and provide unemployed Americans with modern jobs that would help build our collective future.

But I never thought I was arguing in favor of what I personally would need.

Wrong.

Laid off. In a field which is dying. And of an age where the few prospects available to younger unemployed are unavailable to me.

These are dismal times for our nation. And now they're dismal times for me.

Dismal times, and very humbling. I entered the job market during a recessionary period when jobs were hard to find, and job scarcity has characterized most of my career. And here I am, still years from retirement but with no prospects.

One hopes hope will come, but it seems awfully distant now.

The library's flowers are wilting

We have a fairly new part-time employee whose job title is "research assistant" but who in reality is a library assistant, with precious little in the way of research duties. She's student at an MLS program in the region, full of enthusiasm for the profession she seeks.

The other day she got very upset with me. I forget how the conversation started, but she noted that she is disappointed with the job because it's mostly boring stuff and doesn't involve any research or much other opportunity for creativity. Mind you, I didn't write the job proposal, I didn't interview her, and I don't supervise her, so her disappointment isn't my fault. Anyway, I responded by noting that the field is mostly about process, and not content. We help others do the creative stuff, but mostly we just keep the information process operating as smoothly as we can.

We then started talking in greater depth about the field. I told her what I see: around the country, libraries are cutting back, laying off staff, reducing hours, even closing libraries. That's true in all sorts of libraries: public, academic, law and special. I also mentioned what's happening to just about all the people in the field whom I know. There's gloom across the board.

And I mentioned what's happening to my library. Next year my institute moves to a new building; for most people here, that's good news ... but for us in the library, it's definitely not. We'll suffer nearly a 50% cut in space, drastic reductions in work space and working conditions, loss of all of our bound journals, loss of the vast majority of our reference works, and loss of nearly half of the rest of our collection. Indeed, I'm already spending a goodly share of my time disposing of books, and I'll be doing that throughout the coming year. (I have to add that it's very dispiriting to be whacking at a collection I had carefully built over the past dozen years.)

And no, the losses won't be made up by electronic resources. Much of it simply cannot be replaced that way, and in any case there's no promise of corresponding increases in funding so we can afford to switch to more intensive use of electronic resources ... and they don't come cheap! And no, the researchers dependent on the library won't have anywhere else to go.

I guess I sounded pretty dispirited.

Anyway, the research assistant got really upset with my "negativity" because she is "just entering the field" and doesn't want to hear anything negative about it! Sorry sister, but the library field is a declining and increasingly stressed field throughout; like I said, I don't know anybody in the field who doesn't have dismal tales to tell. And I don't know of any libraries where morale -- or funding, or workload, or job prospects -- are improving. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. I suppose that I shouldn't be telling her about the weeding going on here and what it means for the collection, either, huh? Guess I shouldn't mention global warming or financial reform or the war in Afghanistan, either; just happy stories from here on out. Much better to be an ostrich.

It's not a good time to be a librarian. Wishful thinking won't help; the field is declining.

Relections on Iceland's volcano

As all of Europe and probably most of the rest of the world now knows, ash spewed from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has shut down much of Europe's airspace. It's obviously a tremendous inconvenience to would-be airline passengers, and a serious hit on the finances of a great many airlines and airports. Perhaps less obvious are three interesting implications of the eruption.












Iceland is comparatively far from Europe, but even western Russia and northern Italy are being affected, and flights from or to Europe have been canceled around the globe. Officials are sounding public health warnings about the ash, as well. We're four days into this phase of the eruption, with no indication of how much longer it will last; it's conceivable that ash in the atmosphere will come to affect air travel throughout the northern hemisphere. It is a very dramatic illustration of how weather events in one part of the world affect life and commerce quite remote from the event. We would do well to remember Eyjafjallajokull when we consider the effects of climate change!

This also highlights the extent to which modern economies and consumers have become dependent on high altitude jetliner travel. High altitude insertion of greenhouse gases is particularly pernicious. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has estimated that aviation is responsible for around 3.5% of anthropogenic climate change, and the impact is growing. It would be good if Eyjafjallajokull leads us to be more mindful of the need to reduce the impact of jet travel on the global climate.

One of the many impacts being felt in Europe is the impending loss of most fresh produce deliveries, as much of Europe's produce is flown in. I'll bet that is coming as a surprise to a great many shoppers! This should highlight how even such a simple act as eating a fresh fruit contributes to our greenhouse gas emissions. Perhaps Eyjafjallajokull will encourage consumers to choose locally grown foods? One can hope.

Virginia Treason Month

The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, my own state, has named April to be "Confederate History Month." One wonders why. What does he think we should celebrate? Treason? Bloody, needless war? The attempted destruction of the United States? Slavery?

Oh, I know, apologists for the secessionists will reject the treason charge. But what is the truth? Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, George Pickett, Jeb Stuart, Jubal Early, and just about all of the other Confederate "heroes" swore to "bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and [to] serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever." No exceptions, no limitations, no avenues for evasion, no escape clause. And certainly no allowance for rebellion. Oath-breakers, all. Enemies and opposers of the United States. Treason. Is this what Governor McDonell wants to honor?

The same apologists will blithely skip over the terrible blood price of their war, or wrap it in a filmy gauze. But face it; the War of Southern Treason was the bloodiest war in our history, even when counted in absolute numbers; deadlier than both World Wars combined. As a proportion of our population, their war was even worse, killing nearly one out of every 50 Americans, and maiming far more. Those weren't numbers; they were sons, husbands, brothers, fathers, dying in agony, millions of man-years of potential life, snuffed out. Hundreds of thousands of families shattered, widows and children thrust into destitution, wives and mothers keening for their dead. Is that what Governor McDonell wants to celebrate?

The proclamation refers to the South's treasonous war as "a war between the states for independence." Independence? No, destruction of the United States. Destruction just as sure as envisioned by any of our foreign enemies. Funny how many apologists for the Confederacy today proclaim loudly an espoused patriotism for the country their heros tried to destroy. Had the South succeeded in seceding, what would have become of what was left? Every regional squabble would have carried the threat of further dissolution, until North America was utterly Balkanized, with its various fragments lurching form one European alliance to another, dragging us into innumerable wars. Where, then, would have been the bastion of hope, the arsenal of democracy, when the Nazis marched over Europe, when Stalin looked for conquest?

The governor speaks of the "sacrifices" of Confederate leaders and soldiers. What of the sacrifices of the millions of heros who paid with their blood and sweat to save the United States from the terror the Southerners brought to the land? They are the ones I would honor.

And then there was that little matter unmentioned by the governor, that curious institution which bound men and women as property of other men and women. What was slavery? Do they reflect on that as they celebrate "Confederate History Month"? What do those who wax nostalgic for the Old South think of slavery? As little more than a form of employment for those enslaved, exchanging their labor for room and board, and not of much significance beyond that? Slavery was oppression, at its most vile. A human being who had no future but toil. A human being utterly subjected to the whims and caprices of his and her oppressor. Men and women denied the ability to strive for better lives, build families, raise children, know their parents and their brothers and sisters. Women raped to serve the carnal lusts of their oppressors. Men beaten and humiliated to profit and amuse the heartless who commanded them, the psychopaths who abused them. What would the governor have us celebrate about the effect of the Confederacy upon their lives?

Oh, I know, the apologists will argue that the South's treason was about states rights, and a way of life, and an economic order. But slavery was the essential link to all of those things. Without slavery, the supposed cause of states' rights would have been meaningless, except perhaps to debating societies. Without slavery, the Southern way of life wouldn't have existed. Without slavery, the Southern economic order would not have been opposed to the rest of the country. The Civil War was about slavery; the Confederacy was about the debasement of millions of Americans. Is that what Governor McDonell wants to honor?

I hope not. For if it is, neither he nor his supporters understand anything about what America is. The Confederacy belongs in the dustbin of history. If this sorry chapter in Virginia's history is to be remembered, it should be understood for what it was, so that this country can finally overcome the errors that led to this greatest violation of Americans' rights, and our bloodiest war.

Do School Libraries Need Books?

The New York Times online op-ed page includes a feature entitled "Room for Debate: A Running Commentary on the News." Following on a news account of a prep school's decision to remove the books from its library, "Room for Debate" earlier this month asked the question "Do School Libraries Need Books?" Except for the head master of that school, the participants - authors, a professor and a school library director -- answered with a resounding "Yes."

Today's "Room for Debate" continues the discussion with "The Library, Through Students’ Eyes." In most cases, the educational level of the students queried wasn't given, which is too bad, but most read like high schoolers. Be that as it may, several participants echoed the oft-heard critique that books and the libraries that own them are obsolete. Like the similar critiques frequently given by those in positions of greater authority, the arguments have enormous holes in them.

One student wrote "Books are very expensive and schools could put that money toward many other investments such as charities, fund raisers, proms, etc." This chestnut probably requires little comment, although one is left wondering about this student's concept of schooling in general. The same student went on to state that "Students, such as [the writer] do use the Internet for nearly every assignment because of online encyclopedias/databases, online texts, blogs and other Web sites and search engines." Another extolled the currency of the electronic, stating that "Online research ... typically yields more up-to-date and accurate information than books," contrasting books with "online journal databases, JSTOR, etc., [which] are invaluable."

As a librarian in a library catering to scholarly researchers, I have a perspective that some of these students might lack. First of all, my researchers use both electronic and traditional print resources extensively. For example, about 19% of my book collection circulates annually, and interlibrary borrowing of books adds an effective 10% on top of that -- that's heavy usage. My online journals aren't accessed nearly as often (and aren't expected to be). Serious scholars continue to rely on books to a very significant degree. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the books my researchers use are comparatively old, too, although they're also interested in my new books.

Second, books aren't library budget busters. My annual book acquisition budget is far, far lower than my electronic journal and database budget. Any one of our more extensive online journal services and commercial databases (e.g., Academic OneFile, LexisNexis, SCOPUS) cost more than my entire book budget. And yes, those services, too, come from the library and its budget; they're not the product of the school administration waving a magic wand. Where the old library only acquired paper books and journals, the contemporary libary needs to do not only that, but subscribe to a host of expensive electronic resoruces. (Admittedly, space is a separate and costly issue, and sooner or later libraries face very difficult weeding decisions as a result.)

Third, some of these students' comments undermine their own arguments. For instance, one cited JSTOR as an example of an up-to-date resource ... and I've heard the very same assumption from many of my own library's patrons. Wrong! JSTOR is a wonderful resource, but it is archival and not current. Nor is it meant to be; for most journals covered by JSTOR, there's a five year moratorium; for almost all of the rest it's a three year moratorium. Even many of the journals covered by more current journal services, such as Academic OneFile and Academic Search Premier, are embargoed for several months or even a year. Woe to the researchers who assume that by searching JSTOR or other online services that they've located the current literature on a topic!

Moreover, some of these students' comments echo a common failing which most librarians (and faculty) must confront: students have great difficulty separating quality research material from the chaff freely available on the Internet. A simple question illustrates the problem: which source is more trustworthy and presents material which is more effectively vetted: a blog written by an unknown writer (such as me!) or a book or journal published by a major academic press? There is an enormous literature on this topic, but it all comes done to a single point: most students cannot effectively separate the wheat from the chaff on the Internet, and by relying on it instead of more traditional information sources make their research weaker, not stronger.

Lurking behind this entire debate is the issue of funding, and the frequent desire of administrators to pare back their budgets. Libraries look like easy targets, but the reality is that the advent of electronic resources is the principal engine driving up library costs, not books. Libraries need both if they are to serve the information needs of their patrons, and administrators ill serve their researchers by trying to skimp.

Mission accomplished

The College Road Trip did what it was supposed to do: bring clarity. It was also fun, mostly.

Long, long drive down to Wise, in the rain. Lot's of snow hanging around from December's big storm, some still pretty, some not. Near Radford a farm field of concentric furrows, with snow in the troughs, was particularly striking. Not many trucks on the road, thankfully - not much traffic at all. 27.7 m.p.g. in the Chevy truck; not bad, but hardly green.

Wise is pretty remote, a little town up in the mountains. Definitely coal country. Must be really beautiful in the Spring and Fall. UVa-Wise surprised by being thoroughly modern. Liked the school and liked the people, but Goldilocks would have understood: it was too small. Thought that would be an attraction, but it wasn't.

Liked Longwood U. a lot when she visited it last year, but was generally underwhelmed this time around. Did like the chair of one of the prospective majors, but that wasn't enough. Farmville is bigger than Wise, but somehow neither the town nor the school rang her bell this year.

But Radford! Loved Radford. Loved the size - big enough to offer a lot of variety, small enough to still be personal. Loved the look, rather what Hollywood thinks a college should be. Liked the majors, and really impressed by some of the faculty. Liked the amenities, liked the town. Had lunch with the daughter of a friend who's a senior there, and what she had to say just added to the enthusiasm. Will take real commitment, especially to being proactive in seeking help - tutors, profs, library, etc., but I'm pretty sure she gets it. And the help seems to be there for those who seek it.

Decision made.

And I didn't embarrass her.

College Road Trip

We're going on a college road trip!

Daughter worried that she'd never get into college, but dutifully sent in early admission apps to three schools. Minor snafu when the high school counselor forgot to send in transcripts, but that was resolved in time.

Pick up the phone at work; daughter screaming. First thought: something terribly wrong! Second thought: no, wonderfully right!

Admitted! To her first choice school. About a week later, another letter: admitted to a school she didn't think would accept her. (Still waiting to hear form the third.)

Much fretting over which to accept. A slowly dawning smile when I reminded her that a couple of weeks earlier she worried about never getting into college. This is a far, far better dilemma.

So we're leaving Sunday. Four days, three schools, a lifetime to chart.

I'm told that under no circumstances am I to sing "Double Dutch Bus." Or anything else to embarrass her.