All Mimsy Were the Borogoves
Julie Cummins, Editor-in-Chief -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2001
A futurist opened the American Library Association's second Congress on Professional Education with this daunting question: Will librarians exist as we know them in the year 2020? She proceeded to dangle provocative indicators of the future such as: by 2010, when we talk to computers, they will talk back; and the majority of publishing will take place online. The Congress focused on continuing education: who needs it, what kind, and what benefits. Janice Dost, library human resources director for the University of California at Berkeley (UC-B), was one of the presenters on a panel addressing issues for the library profession. What struck me most of all as she described the new approach of her library educational institution is its name change, from the School of Library and Information Studies to the School of Information Management & Systems. Students with a degree from UC-B will no longer receive an MLS, Master's in Library Science; instead, they will have a MIMS--Master's in Information Management Systems (pronounced just like it looks, rhyming with rims). As an advocate for youth services, I was curious about how the new focus and change of name was reflected in the courses offered by this graduate school. Upon checking its Web site, I found 42 graduate-level courses listed, not a single one of them pertinent to services to youth. Instead, there were such titillating offerings as "'User Interface Design and Development"' and "'Privacy, Security, and Cryptography."' Library schools continue to drop the word "'library"' from their names. And if others follow UC-B's lead, allowing technology and its applications to override coursework tailored for specialty services, where will we be in the year 2020? Children will still exist; schools will still exist; but will librarians trained to provide library services to young people? The degree called MIMS reminds me of Lewis Carroll's poem "'Jabberwocky"': 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bit, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"' Carroll's rhythmic and foolish poem is wonderful nonsense. As I ponder the librarian of the future, particularly school, children's, and young adult librarians, and reflect on the exploits of the ex-library school at UC-B, I call it pure nonsense, foolishly so. Julie Cummins
Editor-in-Chief
jcummins@cahners.com
