In Praise of Librarians and Archivists: Appreciating the Colleagues Who Make Professors’ Jobs Easier
Thanks to Professor Mark Cheathem, Associate Professor of History, Cumberland University for some very kind words about librarians and archivists.
Via His Post on the Readex Blog:
Working with academic librarians and archivists has opened my eyes to some of the challenges that they face. At the risk of being accused of finger wagging, one of the major challenges, unfortunately, is the professoriate itself. While many of us value our library and archival colleagues, we may not realize that we may be our own worst enemy when it comes to helping them help us.
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The challenges that archivists face are not unlike those facing academic librarians. During tight financial times, public archives offer an easy sacrificial lamb, as the Tennessee State Library and Archives discovered this past year when Governor Bill Haslam and the state legislature threatened to, and subsequently did, cut employees and hours at the state archives. Even private archives are affected by an economic downturn, when donors and memberships may dry up.
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So, for all of you librarians and archivists who have helped me and others over the years, thank you. You do not get enough credit (or pay) for what you do.
Read and Share the Full Text of Professor Cheathem’s Blog Post
Filed under: Academic Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, Jobs, Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.