ALA-APA features comments by CCL

A Profession Worth Defending: A Call for Advocacy!

An opinion piece by The Committee of Concerned Librarians (CCL), a Canadian advocacy group for librarians.

Librarians are the fierce defenders of the principles of intellectual freedom and access to all expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity. We are the defenders of equitable service policies and users’ rights to privacy and confidentiality. Yet we have failed to defend ourselves. The fervor librarians exhibit for libraries and their collections, whether in print or electronic formats, is noticeably absent when it comes to advocating for our own profession.

One might argue that libraries are comprised of all classes of employees, from librarians to clerical assistants to paraprofessionals. The absence of a significant number of librarian-only associations seems to support the stereotype of the "mild-mannered librarian": selfless, inclusive, democratic and -- less flatteringly -- timid or apathetic. This all-too-prevalent stereotype has accelerated deprofessionalization. MORE (a subscription is required to view the whole article)

Source: http://ala-apa.org/newsletter/current.html