[Bogtrotter]

I would have thought that the TPL would be a principle employer for grads of the UofT program, so they're basicaly hiring non professionals into librarian positions? I've noticed a lot of private sector librarian jobs seem to be filled by community college graduates as well. I imagine enrollment in library masters programs will decrease in the coming years.

My local branch at Bayview seems to have increased its hours- odd.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I imagine enrollment in library masters programs will decrease in the coming years.

Seems like an obvious conclusion. When we moved away from steam power to diesel and electric engines the enrollment in programs focusing on steam would have declined. The concept of a big open building filled with books and a few visitors is not going to last for ever when in my childrens' future they'll be able to download and view almost everything ever written on their tablet at home. Yes, there are those that can't afford computers, and the democratization of access to books and information will take a big hit when libraries move from bricks and mortar to simple servers - but that's the way of it.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Don't be too sure. I have a friend who is an instructor at the iSchool at U of T, he can't get any TAs yet his classes are bursting at the seam.

As for jobs, well:

iSchool job site (recent postings):
http://www.ischool.utoronto.ca/jobsite

ALA job list (268 jobs posted in the last month, which is not bad considering the cutbacks down there):
http://joblist.ala.org/modules/jobseeker/controller.cfm?search=showall

I've just landed a full-time gig at a Seven Sister law firm, so there you go.

"Librarian" is an umbrella term these days. It incorporates everyone from a p/t staffer at a TPL branch to Competitive Intelligence and corporate research specialists at Bay Street law firms (all people I know). The job's evolving: more consulting and research work, more training-oriented and pedagogical research going on, more evaluation of online resources, and in my old academic stomping grounds a greater emphasis on scholarly output (second masters becoming mandatory). There is still that traditional aspect of it in the sense described above, but to analogize librarians with steam engine engineers is, to be kind, wholly ignorant. The profession, at least as far as I can see, is far from obsolete. If anything, people who do what I do have had to adjust to more change more rapidly than I would imagine others in many other professions have had to.

 

[Marko]

...but to analogize librarians with steam engine engineers is, to be kind, wholly ignorant.

To be fair, I think the point he was trying to make was that as the real world changes, the education system eventually catches up with it. Graphic designers are needed as much as ever, but a lot less emphasis is being placed on being able to produce a color wheel in guache paints and much more on understanding design software, for perhaps a more suitable analogy. You still educate rail engineers, you just do it with the actual knowledge and technology of the times. So too with librarians.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I've just landed a full-time gig at a Seven Sister law firm, so there you go.

Congrats.

"Librarian" is an umbrella term these days. It incorporates everyone from a p/t staffer at a TPL branch to Competitive Intelligence and corporate research specialists at Bay Street law firms (all people I know).

Much like a commercial sailor today is unlikely to touch a sail in his career, today's students of libraries will soon be unlikely to touch a bricks and mortar public library.

As a marketing guy I have to give the universities and the industry itself full credit for expanding the term Librarian to encompass nearly everyone who touches information, thus avoiding the taint of obsolescence. Whatever happened to the term Clerk for the guy or gal that looked stuff up for you?

 

[Thanos]

Seems like an obvious conclusion. When we moved away from steam power to diesel and electric engines the enrollment in programs focusing on steam would have declined. The concept of a big open building filled with books and a few visitors is not going to last for ever when in my childrens' future they'll be able to download and view almost everything ever written on their tablet at home. Yes, there are those that can't afford computers, and the democratization of access to books and information will take a big hit when libraries move from bricks and mortar to simple servers - but that's the way of it.

Isn't TPL's subscription, if it's called that, increasing? If it is, then how do you explain this Mr Beez, considering this tablet internet and IT stuff has been around for quite some time now.

 

[Thanos]

To be fair, I think the point he was trying to make was that as the real world changes, the education system eventually catches up with it. Graphic designers are needed as much as ever, but a lot less emphasis is being placed on being able to produce a color wheel in guache paints and much more on understanding design software, for perhaps a more suitable analogy. You still educate rail engineers, you just do it with the actual knowledge and technology of the times. So too with librarians.

And to be fair fiendishlibrarian was just explaining how the program and term "librarian" have evolved over the years much like those steam engines.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Isn't TPL's subscription, if it's called that, increasing? If it is, then how do you explain this Mr Beez, considering this tablet internet and IT stuff has been around for quite some time now.

Well, my usage of the Library has been increasing exponentially for years now, but I haven't been inside a Library for ages. I use the TPL for on-line books and audio books - and I imagine this is the case for much of their increased subscription. The TPL does great work, and I love using their online services.

 

[kkgg7]

We have to be rational about this issue. Cutting libraries sounds bad, but is not necessarily a bad idea. You need to weigh the cost and benefit. If a library does not get enough traffic, it is not worth keeping just because two or three kids sometimes go there. It is not that those kids don't have any alternatives. The government has limited financial resources, and library is like everything else: if the benefit is too low for its cost, it should be cut. Just because it has something to do with "Education" or "kids" doesn't mean it is untouchable.

 

[Thanos]

We have to be rational about this issue. Cutting libraries sounds bad, but is not necessarily a bad idea. You need to weigh the cost and benefit. If a library does not get enough traffic, it is not worth keeping just because two or three kids sometimes go there. It is not that those kids don't have any alternatives. The government has limited financial resources, and library is like everything else: if the benefit is too low for its cost, it should be cut. Just because it has something to do with "Education" or "kids" doesn't mean it is untouchable.

Where are the numbers and studies that show us that these libraries that benefit a handful of people only actually exist?
The issue i have is that the Fords are not doing the necessary work to see where the inefficiencies are.

 

[Paleo]

We have to be rational about this issue. Cutting libraries sounds bad, but is not necessarily a bad idea. You need to weigh the cost and benefit. If a library does not get enough traffic, it is not worth keeping just because two or three kids sometimes go there. It is not that those kids don't have any alternatives. The government has limited financial resources, and library is like everything else: if the benefit is too low for its cost, it should be cut. Just because it has something to do with "Education" or "kids" doesn't mean it is untouchable.

Would a truly rational analysis not include having tax hikes on the table?

 

[Tacoma]

Would a truly rational analysis not include having tax hikes on the table?

Given our high taxes, I wouldn't mind a little irrationality once in a while. ;-)

 

[Eug]

Maybe you should change the title?

Libaries

 

[jje1000]

Given our high taxes, I wouldn't mind a little irrationality once in a while. ;-)

Toronto's taxes are lower than the surrounding municipalities.

 

[Eug]

Toronto's taxes are lower than the surrounding municipalities.

Toronto has a lower mill rate. Not quite the same as lower taxes. However, I would not disagree with raising Toronto's mill rate, if done appropriately.