I was away for a couple of days, and came back to a pile of e-mail on the list about JC's library standards. I have not read through every last one of those yet, so please forgive if this has already been said.

I was at one time the MLA Liaison to the JC. It was 2001-2002, during the time they were revising IM standards. I was on the JC committee that worked on those standards, and so have some insight as to what went on. The JC has what are called outcomes-based standards. That means that they describe what they want to have happen (the outcome) but they do not prescribe one specific method to reach that goal. This is a structure that has been used by many other organizations-especially those in the business of accreditation-as well. It respects differing circumstances and size of institution, and it rewards creative solutions. It is not "one size fits all."

With only a few exceptions, JC does not mandate that certain things be done by a person with specific credentials or characteristics. They don't specify whether given operations are done in house or contracted out. Librarians were up in arms that there was no longer a requirement for a MLS-prepared librarian. Other groups were equally angry that credentialed people in their professions were not mandated. But, to ask JC to do that would be to ask them to change their entire philosophy of standards. They are not about to do that for us, or for any of the other groups that have tried to make it happen.

So, in brief, there is no chance that there will be a requirement for a professional librarian, except in the extremely unlikely case that the JC throws out all their standards and starts fresh with a clean slate and a whole new approach. I don't like this anymore than any of you do, but this is the political reality. We need to stop barking up this particular tree, and look elsewhere.

--Jeannine

Solving your problems. Saving your time.

Jeannine Cyr Gluck, MLS, AHIP
Director of the Library
Eastern Connecticut Health Network
71 Haynes St. Manchester, CT 06040
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860-647-6853


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