Brooklyn PL Director Mack-Harvin Resigns After Three Years

As I begin this adventure that is a career in library sciences I keep my ear to the airwaves for items of interest. Through one of the listserves that I joined I received an article regarding Dionne Mack-Harvin who will resign from her position at the Brooklyn Public Library in June of 2010. She has only held the position for three years but has been basically forced out because of a decision she made in the summer of 2009.

Due to our nations depressed economy Mack-Harvin made the financial decision to terminate 13 employees at the main branch of the library. The board of Trustees at the library was in full accord with that decision. However, it was the manner in which the terminations were carried out that caused embarrassment not only for the library but for the employees who lost their jobs. Mack-Harvin hired a company called "The Five O'Clock Club" to handle the terminations. This is a professional service created to separate individuals from their jobs in a gentle manner and provide up to a years worth of job counseling for these employees at a cost of around $2000 per person. It just so happens that a Washington Post reporter was covering the "Club" and published an article which pulled back the veil of anonymity which the situation deserved. Thereby embarrassing the library and those who were terminated. The firestorm of controversy which surrounded these terminations was made worse when the library director lied to the public refusing to admit that she had given permission for the coverage thinking that it would be good for public relations. Once the public got hold of the story the backlash was near universal. The Board of Trustees moved to oust Mack-Harvin and she eventually was forced to resign.

There is a lesson to be learned here. First cultivate your own human resources department so you don't have to hire outsiders at insanely inflated prices to do what you are already paying someone to do. Second, work hard to maintain the confidentiality employer employee relationship at all times. While libraries are depositories of information not everything is for public consumption.Third, always tell the truth. Admit when you made a mistake. Finally, never trust the media. They serve their own ends. The coverage that one receives is never what one hopes it would be.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6721715.html?nid=2671&rid=#reg_visitor_id&source=title

Time marches on.....

Hello All,

I observed an interesting article on the Library Stuff blog that I subscribed to last week. The link provided here: (http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-library-to-bid-farewell-to-card-catalogs/)describes the University of Michigan's removal of the card catalog system from the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library on March 8, 2010.

Paul Courant, the Dean of Libraries at U-M says " I'm sad to see them go. This is truly the end of an era." The major reason for the removal of the card catalogs is the need to make more efficient use of the space that the card catalog fills. "When the catalogs were first retired, we'd use them to fill in some blanks or correct mistakes in the electronic record. That was happening a few times a week at first. Then it became once a month. Nowadays it's only once a year, maybe, when we refer back (to the catalog).” According to Mr. Courant the building is filled with students all day and they need places to study.

The Michigan Digitization Project has made significant progress along with Google to digitize the university's entire collection. It seems that as time marches on technology will continue to change the way libraries function. Library Directors have to stay abreast of the changes in technology so that they can more efficiently serve their patrons. The University of Michigan's conversion to an electronic catalog only makes sense.

Review of monitored web blogs

Hello again everyone.

I just wanted to check in and tell you about some of the blogs that I have been monitoring. Of the three the blog that I find most compelling is the LibrarianActivist.org. This site follows the exploits of librarians as they seek to effect positive change around the globe. I went back through some of the older posts and viewed a post by Danielle in which she describes a French organization, Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF). There was a link to a PDF report that they released (http://www.bibliosansfrontieres.org/images/urgence/rapport-mission.pdf) which details the efforts of librarians to save the cultural heritage contained in the libraries which were destroyed in the earthquake which struck Haiti in February. She mentions that "over 80% of public schools and 90% of private schools have collapsed. Thankfully, the National Library is still standing, with only minimal damage."

With all the challenges that the country faces, this is a blessing in itself. At least the government is not starting from scratch in their efforts to rebuild their educational infrastructure. Unfortunately for me the text of the link provided is in French. This gave me an opportunity to search for an online translator (http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt) which allowed me to understand what was being said in the PDF.

All said this Library Sciences work really does teach someone how to find all the answers.

Hello Everyone!

This is my first post to my very own blog. I have a class called computer information technology which required me to create this and I'm glad I did. The first order of business is to talk about my experiences creating this blog and to review some of the material on some of the other blog feeds that I've subscribed to.

First off this was by far the easiest assignment of the three. It was as simple as setting up a Facebook page. I was even able to include my picture. I found subscribing to the Bloglines feeds surprising difficult. There were many dead links and I had difficulty navigating the web site. It was just too busy for my eyes. I was finally able to select three sites to follow.

These were:

i. LibrarianActivist.org
ii. The Shifted Librarian
iii. LISNews

Personally, I found it easier to subscribe to the feeds through the Google.com/reader site that I established. I copied and pasted the links into the google reader and was good to go. Perhaps I felt it was easier because of the familiarity that I already have with Google. This made it easier for me to use and my eyes were not hammered with all of the advertisements that Bloglines contained.

In any event, this should be the first of many blog entries so stay tuned. hopefully you will enjoy this journey as much as I will.