3 On the Run
With the American Library Association's presidential election just months away, the candidates share their views on young people's services, filtering, and (yes) salaries
Julie Cummins -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2001
Not since 1977-1978 have there been three men running for the presidency of the American Library Association (ALA). We were curious as to how these candidates would be receptive to the needs of school, children's and young adult services. The presidential hopefuls for the 2001 election are Mitch Freedman, director of the Westchester (NY) Library System; Ken Haycock, professor and director of the University of British Columbia School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, in Vancouver, Canada; and Bill Sannwald, assistant to the city manager, library design and development manager for the city of San Diego, CA. Haycock and Sann-wald were put forth as candidates by ALA's nominating committee; Freedman is a petition candidate. We interviewed the contenders by phone and their responses follow.Ballots will be mailed to ALA members in mid-March and must be returned by April 27. Election results will be posted on ALA's Web site (www.ala.org) on May 3. Describe a project or an initiative that you have taken on that has had an impact on children's or young adult services. Photograph by David Kutcher
Freedman: I come from a technical services background, and I have always cared about public service and working closely with children's librarians. I was responsible for the automation project at Hennepin County Library [in MN], where we innovated dozens and dozens of cataloging terms for picture books and YA books. From an access point, we did incredible things to make books and materials more accessible to the users.
Haycock: I helped design an implementation plan for Library Power that brought together components of advocacy, implementation, and continuing professional education. We [the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of ALA] recognized that we had to find ways to market the principles more effectively to educational decision-makers. We worked with a marketing specialist, the state affiliates of AASL, and the state coordinators to raise awareness of the role and importance of the school library media specialist. What I brought to this process was my experience as a president of AASL, a school library coordinator in a large system, a member of a senior management team in a large urban system, and a school board president.
Sannwald: Our new Point Loma Library [in San Diego], which will begin construction in 2001, is going to be a really interesting library with a large children's area and one just as large for young adults, plus an unfiltered computer lab. I've just written the fourth edition of Checklist of Library Building Design Considerations [ALA, 2001] and added a section on young adult areas, which was lacking in the previous edition. So for the last two years, I've attended every YA program at ALA conferences, and we conducted focus groups with kids in middle and high schools to find out what they want. This library is going to be a showcase of services to kids.
What is your stand on filtering computers used by children in public and school libraries? Should ALA modify its position?
Photograph by Nick Procaylo
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Sannwald: I'm opposed to filtering because it doesn't work. On the other hand, library administrators get a lot of pressure from politicians. So, I have one filtered computer in the children's room in every one of our libraries; the rest are unfiltered. As for ALA's policy, I think there has to be a distinction made between the things that libraries acquire by their process of collection development and the "uncollection" development that exists on the Internet [in other words, the information that is available online and not selected by experienced librarians]. It's a tough thing, and I don't think it's a case of intellectual freedom, it's a case of deciding.
Freedman: I strongly oppose filtering in public libraries and schools. Filters are a detriment to constitutionally protected speech and children should not have their constitutional rights violated just because they're children. ALA is taking a positive approach by promoting good, safe [Web] sites for children, while regarding the parental role as absolutely critical and acknowledging local autonomy.
If elected president, what will you do to help librarians who serve young people?
Photograph by Kevin Buckbee
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Freedman: I'm very concerned about the status of youth librarians in the United States. It's a crisis, and one of the first things that has to be done is to deal with the issues of pay equity and the status of women and librarianship. The salaries for youth service librarians have not kept pace with other librarians' salaries. ALA needs to promote pay equity and the status of the profession.
Haycock: It is critical for us to position libraries and librarians as essential players in addressing the education, economic, and social issues in our communities. As we reposition, we look at who the key decision-makers are and start to prepare resources and training programs that will help youth services librarians to work with them more effectively.
What would you do to recruit more school, children's, and YA librarians--and raise the bar for salaries for youth specialists?
Freedman: Recruitment must include minority recruitment--and even more so with youth services librarians, because minority librarians tend to go into adult and administrative areas rather than youth services. I would provide support for pay equity and use ALA's bully pulpit to get library schools to reinforce the commitments they say they have for youth services. We're losing public children's librarians to schools and youth services librarians to private industry and the dot-coms because of their knowledge, navigational skills, and their information expertise. We've got to attack on all fronts, recognizing the expertise of librarians, so they don't have to leave youth services to become administrators to get better salaries.
Haycock: The first thing is to make sure we have a recruitment plan to encourage people to come into the profession. Then there has to be a program that prepares them to work in school and public libraries, which means looking at the standards for accreditation. Third, is to address an emerging paradox in our profession where librarians are being remunerated most when they work for agencies that are not run by librarians. We have to bring to the attention of city councils and school boards that they're losing good people because their salaries aren't competitive. We have to make sure that we have effective advocacy programs that address the salary needs of librarians who work with young people. We have to recognize both that there is a shortage and that there are too few opportunities for librarians to specialize in service to children and young adults. That is a serious concern for me.
Sannwald: Salaries for all librarians are undervalued. What we have to do is raise the visibility of librarians. The president of ALA has to be a figurehead for the profession. It has to be somebody that the average person will understand and relate to. This figurehead can enhance the image of libraries and librarians around the country by talking to a lot of people and getting across the importance of libraries. That's what I would try to do, go out and talk with people about libraries: why we need librarians, why we need libraries, more than ever today.
To end on a lighter note, what were your favorite books when you were a child?
Haycock: I enjoyed the Enid Blyton books immensely for their sense of adventure and curiosity.
Sannwald: I loved the Dr. Doolittle books, because they were magic and I could imagine what life was like being able to talk to and interact with animals.
Freedman: All the J. R. Tunis books, especially The Kid for Tompkinsville. The themes of family and sports resonated with me.
Julie Cummins is editor-in-chief of School Library Journal
