Taps for the Rocky Mountain News Library
Angelica, who has a fabulous title graphic on her blog, wonders if she’s trying to enter the wrong profession in light of the note we saw today regarding the situation at the Rocky Mountain News. Two years ago, the newspaper had seven librarians. Because of budget and staff cuts, the number has dwindled. The last one will leave soon.
Many of our colleagues are in similar situations because of the bad economy. Cutbacks are happening to many librarians, not just those at media outlets. The corporate world has also been hit hard. Many colleges and universities have been laying off librarians. Public and school librarians aren’t faring much better, either. My local public library has lost at least two positions because of staff cuts and several neighboring branches have reduced their hours.
What will be the real test is how things change when the economy improves. If frozen and closed positions don’t return, then we’ll really know there are problems in our profession.
It seems silly to say "Wait and see," but that’s really all we can do at this point. The lesson of this situation is for us to work harder to market our profession. That’s not always easy because some environments are just hostile to librarians, but it could be a step forward.
My position was new four years ago. Maybe there’s hope yet.
