Mr. Pezzanite,
I am about to graduate from the University of Washington MLIS program and will be working as a professional librarian very soon. I have also worked in libraries most of my working life. I have never worked in a library that was not understaffed and overworked with the many services that we provided to our local communities.
After reading about your company in the New York Times article "Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries" I found myself very disquieted. I was appalled by this quote in particular:
Tiny Feminist in My Head
"A lot of libraries are atrocious," Mr. Pezzanite said. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”
Your assertion that public library employees don't work hard to give the best service possible just dosen't coincide with any of my personal experience or that of other librarians I have spoken with. Statements of this sort degrade my work environment by continuing the myth that private industry can always do things more efficiently than government and by encouraging the communities I serve to expect more than I and my staff can possibly give of our time, energy and low salary. All the librarians I know do the work for the love of it not for the pay check or some cushy job with a pension. We often demand certain benefits in exchange for our hard work and taking the lowest pay of any master's degree field. But we are NOT lazy nor do we expect to simply show up for 35 years to hang out in a library and get a nice pension out of it.
You are sadly misinformed and I hope that your staff (who I am sure work quite hard) let you know just how repugnant such statements are.
Sincerely,
Tiny Feminist in My Head
MLIS Student
