Comments on: Inside Higher Ed :: A Provost and Librarian Walk Into a Meeting… http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2007/06/inside_higher_ed_a_provost_and_librarian_walk_into_a_meeting.html a library weblog by Steve Lawson Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:57:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jenica http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2007/06/inside_higher_ed_a_provost_and_librarian_walk_into_a_meeting.html/comment-page-1#comment-2842 Jenica Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:19:37 +0000 http://stevelawson.name/seealso/archives/2007/06/inside_higher_ed_a_provost_and_librarian_walk_into_a_meeting.html#comment-2842 I read that one... and agreed quite completely. I'm becoming very, very aware that the only people who care how many books we have, or subscriptions to print journals, or what's on microfilm, are librarians whose professional philosophies were developed in an era when those were the only counts of success and certain members of the teaching faculty who are their contemporaries. The rest of the institution wants to know how we're furthering student learning and encouraging the intellectual life of the campus. That's not to say that the number of books doesn't matter in succeeding in those goals -- but it's not the part we need to be talking about or focusing on. I read that one… and agreed quite completely. I’m becoming very, very aware that the only people who care how many books we have, or subscriptions to print journals, or what’s on microfilm, are librarians whose professional philosophies were developed in an era when those were the only counts of success and certain members of the teaching faculty who are their contemporaries. The rest of the institution wants to know how we’re furthering student learning and encouraging the intellectual life of the campus.

That’s not to say that the number of books doesn’t matter in succeeding in those goals — but it’s not the part we need to be talking about or focusing on.

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