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Re: Article in Chronicle of Higher Ed



I have to question some of the criticism of the supervisor/institution that
has been seen in some posts to the list.
1. the writer had a job description with clearly assigned tasks and a
performance review after 6 months.  sounds like good basic procedure so far.

I think the main problem is that she took the job even though she found the
assigned duties "robotic".  Then she whines...
"that university administrators did not encourage or expect staff members to
learn anything other than the largely robotic "assigned duties" listed on a
job description startled me. "
the writer also admits she has little work experience (summer jobs only I
believe).  She presents a glaring example of faculty ignorance of what it
takes to make an educational institution run and denigrates the hard work of
all those who toil to produce the context for learning that she so
cherishes.
None of the main reasons she claims to have taken the job for: location,
steady compensation, etc... seem to have changed according to the article
yet she is unhappy.  She then lashes outward looking to lay blame on others.
I only hope she learns from this experience.
What does this episode say about our profession's reliance on Library
administrators (and the "Archival MLS") to protect professional standards?
I think it says we need our own INTERNAL standards for our own profession.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fitzgerald, Rebecca [SMTP:rfitzger@MSMARY.EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 11:13 AM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Re: Article in Chronicle of Higher Ed
>
> This is just another testimony to our profession's ineffectiveness.  Her
> only qualification for the position of curator of photographs seems to be
> her Pile Higher & Deeper degree in American Studies (please don't yell at
> me--I would love to have a PhD but I would need to clone myself to do it).
> If she had other qualifications, she didn't mention them.  I would have
> thought that the minimum qualifications for her position would have been a
> grounding in library and archives theory, access and cataloging principles
> and training, and education in the care of photographs.  That she was
> hired is an indication of the ignorance and incompetence of her
> supervisors.  If she was hired with the understanding that she would be
> given this exposure and training, she seems to have been short-changed or
> failed to follow up on her own.
>
> It's obvious that the message of our profession--that professionally
> trained and educated archivists are needed to perform professional
> tasks--is not even getting across to our own colleagues in academic
> settings.
>
> I am the first to recognize the necessity of the outreach efforts she
> seems to have undertaken and carried out so well and I applaud her
> efforts; these types of activities are absolutely vital to any archival
> program.  However, was she expected to process and catalog a certain
> number of photographs or collections?  How did she do it with no
> experience or training?  If she doesn't think this is important, how does
> she suppose that she finds books and other research materials when she
> visits libraries and archives or looks for them online?
>
> I would love to hear the other side of the story.
>
> Rebecca Fitzgerald, CA
> Mt. St. Mary's Archives & Dept. of Special Collections
> Mt. St. Mary's College & Seminary
> Emmitsburg, MD
> 301/447-5397
> 301/447-6868 (fax)
> rfitzger@msmary.edu
>
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> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>