SPOTLIGHT ON SLA MEMBERS: An Interview with Kaycee Hale, Executive Director, Resource & Research Center, The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

Information Outlook, March, 2000

The (not so) new kid on the block is the online information resources and the Internet. We have students who've had a computer in their homes before they were out of elementary school. Their expectations about nanosecond information delivery are very different than mine were at their ages. Our funding allocations, therefore, need much closer monitoring than ever before so that we can provide a variety of information access points for our users.

We, here at FIDM, are intent upon building career professionals. Our student body will be with us in pursuit of their educational goals from nine months to three years; however, the Resource & Research Center's intention is to create deep and strong roots within each student so that lifelong learning and the pursuit of relevant information will follow them throughout their professional careers. We want our clientele to leave our campuses with a right-brained attitude toward accomplishment and a left-brained bravado of creative vision. With that as a vision, our budget allocations must reflect a new information age focus.

On SLA...

How do you feel about the word "librarian"? Do you think SLA's name accurately reflects the membership?

What I feel about the word "librarian" is centered in what I feel about reality versus perception. The reality of a profession credentialed by post-graduate education and accredited by public service is noteworthy and distinguished. The perception of us by others outside the profession does not carry the same kind of recognition. The question, then becomes, are we "who we are and proud of it" or are we "who others perceive us to be" predicated on a word that does not necessarily carry societal status, prestige, and esteem.

If the word "librarian" is a stepping stone on a career path leading to the CIO or CEO of an institution or organization, then we're on the right access road. If, however, the word is a stumbling block to career advancement, then we had better reconsider what Max DePree said, "it's important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are."

As we move into the twenty-first century, our assessment of verbiage may just parallel the transformation of our resources and the related communications systems. The printed word remains our foundation; however, the primary delivery process or vehicle must be more inclusive.

I'm not as hung up on the word "librarian" as I am concerned about the job description of the position. Is a janitor more than a janitor when he becomes re-classified as a sanitation engineer? I think not! Is a librarian more than a librarian when we change the name? It's not as much in the name as it is in the individual responsibility we each should take to climb out of this "name calling/name changing" rut.

Someone once said, "there is no point in doing well that which should not be done at all". Close scrutiny of our individual day planners or computerized appointment books might provide us with a better insight into our professional future than merely the ongoing debate of "what am I going to be when I grow up".