Watching this second go-round of the whole debate with great interest and
a sympathetic grin on my face at the sacred cow bashing and bash-ees...

        No, Barbara, I don't think it has to do with professionalism...
necessarily. If it is your job to do check in, then you should do it to
the absolute best that you can, and that holds true for every one of us to
do whatever we've been assigned - even if it's flipping burgers. What I've
heard Rick say is that maybe check-in of paper periodicals is not the most
important job there is, and maybe other tasks are more important and
should be assigned instead. Those are two different animals.

        If you've been assigned to do something else, then no, you should
not have to deal with the angry patron. Instead, send them to your
supervisor who did the assigning.

Julie

Julie C. Blake
Collection Management Coordinator and Asst. Professor
LR&TS, St. Cloud State University
320-308-4756
jcblake@stcloudstate.edu

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of barbara trumpinski-roberts
> Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 3:39 PM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Accuracy (RE: [SERIALST] dropping serial
> check-in?)
>
>
> As a library technician who is responsible for checking in
> and binding periodicals/serials/etc, i really take exception
> to someone who doesn't deal with my job on a daily basis
> saying 'a little inaccuracy isn't important.'  Your
> acceptance of inaccuracy makes MY job a lot harder.  On one
> hand, you say it saves time to not check in whatever it is
> that you aren't checking in...on the other hand, when a piece
> is missing and a faculty member needing information is
> screaming and I have no clue if we received the piece or
> not...it's my butt on the line and I will be taking the blame
> because I am the one who hasn't done my job properly (given
> that my job is to make sure that the periodical is on the
> shelf and available because I am the technical staff dealing
> with periodicals).
>
> What we are REALLY dealing with here is that old bugaboo
> of "professionalism."  Should I, as a library tech, not treat
> my job with the respect that it deserves because I am not
> getting paid a faculty salary nor wearing the
> title "librarian"?  I don't think so.
>
> Barbara Trumpinski-Roberts
> Funk ACES Library Technical Assistant
> MSLS Eastern Illinois University, 1979
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 10:52:53 -0700
> >From: Rick Anderson <rickand@UNR.EDU>
> >Subject: [SERIALST] Accuracy (RE: [SERIALST] dropping serial
> check-in?)
> >To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> >
> >> My library administration doesn't really think claiming or
> >> inventorying
> >> periodical collection is really necessary.  As the
> administration puts
> >> it "a little inaccuracy, disorder and instability are not
> always bad."
> >> Personally, I found it is very difficult to persuade
> library
> >> administration why it is important to be accurate.
> >
> >At the risk of starting another argument, I think it's worth
> pointing
> >out that the question isn't whether we should be accurate or
> not, but
> >rather how much a unit of accuracy is worth.  If you
> employed one person
> >and said "Handle serials any way you want," you'd probably
> end up with a
> >completely unacceptable level of inaccuracy.  On the other
> hand, if you
> >wanted perfect accuracy, you'd probably have to hire 100
> professional
> >librarians and create endless manuals for them.  We can
> probably all
> >agree that that's too high a price to pay.  So where's the
> balance
> >between those two extremes?  Cynthia, you're not wrong to
> say that
> >accuracy is important.  But your administration is also not
> wrong to say
> >that "a little inaccuracy... is not always bad."  The
> question is, how
> >little?
> >
> >----
> >Rick Anderson
> >Dir. of Resource Acquisition
> >University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
> >(775) 784-6500 x273
> >rickand@unr.edu
>
> barbara trumpinski-roberts (smotu) 217-333-2416   kittent@uiuc.edu
> Funk ACES Library-UIUC
> 200 LIAC  1101 S. Goodwin  Urbana, IL  61801 mc-633
>
> "the one thing you can't give up for your heart's desire is
> your heart."
> mitch burnside-clapp
>