Public Librarian Certification requirements

Since I got so many hits to my post where I directed people to the requirements for public librarian certification in Michigan, I decided to compile a list of all states that, to the best of my knowledge, require public librarians to be certified. Each state will vary as to when certification is required (ex. director level, library serving a population that exceeds 4,000, etc.), so check to see if your prospective employer requires, or sometimes rewards, you to be certified. Feel free to share this information with everyone you know. You may notice that Maryland is currently not linked. If someone can let me know how to contact the MSDE's webmaster to let them know that site is down, I'd appreciate it. Thanks to Mr. Jack for forwarding me the information about Washington. Also, if your state requires certification, and I haven't listed it, let me know.

The Young Librarian - Resources - State Certification Links

Committee work

I've been quiet lately mainly because I'm the chair of the Local Arrangements committee for NMRT, and it's the time of year that things need to start falling into place. I'm enjoying what I'm doing, partially because I'm getting management experience. It's not that I don't get that at my job, but I'm not directly responsible for management issues at my job. So, if anyone is looking for experience that you don't get through your job, consider volunteering for committee work with one of the many professional organizations out there. Experience is experience and every little bit helps.

Foot in mouth disease

Michael Gorman, president-elect of ALA, seems to be suffering from this lately. The latest example of this is his participation in an e-mail symposium with three other librarians who are involved in digitization to discuss the impact of the Google digitization project. Gorman uses hyperbole and invective, at the same time in one instance: "Any user of Google knows that it is pathetic as an information-retrieval system", and comes off as being an out-of-touch blowhard. Unless you get American Libraries delivered to you, the article, "Google at the Gates", is only available online at the moment to ALA members (it's in the March 2005, 36(3) 40-3, issue). There is a great discussion, with some excerpting, over at LISNews if neither of those situations apply to you. My favorite point in those discussions was that if Gorman is trying to make a case that you shouldn't get rid of librarians in the wake of Google's latest endeavor, why didn't he make suggestions as to how his concerns could be addressed? The other three participants were quite knowledgeable and reasoned in their responses in my opinion. They addressed problems that they saw with the program, but they also had suggestions on what should be considered when addressing those challenges.

This brings up another issue. ALA elections are right around the corner. What are some questions that you want the candidates for president-elect to answer? Keeping in mind Gorman's recent actions, what would raise red flags for you in our candidates? For me, it's not Gorman's stances on Google or bloggers (he does have some good points) that raise the red flag (too late) for me, it's the way that he expresses himself. Being president, or president-elect in this case, of anything is a thankless position. You have to keep in mind, though, that you're in a position whereby you are under a higher level of scrutiny and that your actions not only reflect on you, but also on the organization/business/country that you are associated with. That's a big reason why Boeing ousted their CEO yesterday. Mr. Gorman needs to realize that his comments, whether or not he intends them as such, will be taken as collective view of the library profession every time that he signs as "President-Elect of the American Library Association."

I *heart* my credit report

Remember, being young does not excuse you from financial stupidity once you're out of college, and probably not even during college. If you live in one of the Midwest States, as defined by the ACR, you are now eligible to receive a free copy of your credit report from each of the Big 3 credit reporting agencies, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You will be able to do this once a year from now on. The Western States have had this privilege since December, and the Southern States and Eastern States will have it in 3 and 6 months respectively. Do this as soon as you are able to as identity theft is considered by many to be the fastest growing crimes in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission has dedicated a clearinghouse website to the crime available at: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/. Even just checking to make sure your personal information is up-to-date is well worth the time of checking this out. I now know why I still receive correspondence with the wrong middle initial. My very first credit card company screwed that one up and one of the credit bureaus still has it as my proper name. Oy.

AnnualCreditReport