Okay, it's a fancy name. "Maintenance engineers" clean up buildings but get paid more than "janitors." (Yet, in hotels, "maids" are still "maids." Go figure!)
Librarians are one of the oldest professions on earth, certainly the oldest MENTAL profession; before writing, we were the information sources of our families, clans and societies. After, we become the file cabinet supervisors -- and more, of course.
Add numbers, and especially Dewey's contribution to organization of the non-fictional segment of our arcane filing system, and we became alphabetical mathemeticians. This became especially evident when users discovered certain built in errors to Dewey's system. Our job descriptions changed, our titles did not.
Over time, lawyers who graduated from college with a Bachelor of Law and Letters evolved into a graduate with a JJD degree...fortunately for most of them, about the only thing that changed was their billings increased. Their titles didn't, and a cursoury glance tells me not much changed in their course of study either. (I may be seeing things from a "California" or "USA" standpoint. Email me direct on this.)
Doctors have likewise improved their skills, from the days of cutting hair to, today, making very fine incisions beyond the surface of that scalp...of course, their income has also risen, to the level governments and insurance companies allow.
But Librarians, equally important in today's world, suffer from a lack of understanding and salesmanship. A recent forum at Free Pint disclosed the general futility of upgrading a Librarian!
Over a year ago I needed a title to fit a circumstance whereby I would help people learn how to find things for themselves. Yes, insiders call these "teaching librarians" among other less polite terms. I finally realized, and coined the phrase, PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE SPECIALIST. It makes for a gaudy, cumbersome but elegant signature:
Edward W. Stollery II, PRS
Or, of course you can put your name in front of the letters, and then spell out the terms below your name.
Do we dare? Frankly, why not? Let's consider a less applicable term
"Search Engine Organizer" -- which became
"Search Engine Marketer."
(In reality, the person is a WEB PAGE IMPROVER.)
========================
PART TWO.
Now that we have an improved name, we need an improved organization which can in turn bestow that name on us. For this purpose, I propose we "form" an organization: IAPRS, which is the INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE SPECIALISTS.
Membership is restricted to paid or unpaid Librarians, with or without "Information Studies" degrees, etc. -- but limited to those who want to demonstrate their name / job title is MORE than "Marian the librarian." (Okay, I stole that from the Music Man.)
I further propose that Free Pinters be automatic members, with zero dues, no membership cards, etc. -- and that William and Simon and administration in general merely add the three words to their already extended vocabularies about what to call us. (Politely.)
PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE SPECIALISTS
Edw. Stollery
Okay, it's a fancy name. "Maintenance engineers" clean up buildings but get paid more than "janitors." (Yet, ...
Edward,
Great idea!
You can definitely include me in membership to this new organisation. There's little enough for Librarians in Hong Kong.
Regards
Jane
Intelligent Professional Resource Specialist.
Information Resource Specialist.
Professional Information Resource Specialist.
Consider the last line; you have your own PEER group, even as ...
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