I would like to respond to some of the issues that have been raised
concerning the firing of the library staff at B&M in Chicago.
1. Perhaps B&M felt that their library staff could not lead them
into the global information age:
I think this is certainly a valid point of conjecture, but one of
the librarians that was fired is a former boss of mine and a good
friend. She told me frequently that the B&M staff was one of the
best she had ever worked with, and my friend is one of the
brightest systems/technical services librarians I have ever had the
pleasure to know. (I used to do technical support for an automated
library software package, so I have had a great deal of experience
with working with systems and technical services librarians.) I
have no doubt that the B&M library staff could have led the firm
into the global library age.
2. No members of the former B&M library staff have commented on the
dissolution of the library:
The very first Law-lib message that we saw concerning this issue
was posted by the former director of the B&M library, immediately
after she received notice of her being fired. The obvious reasons
for other staff members not posting their opinions are that they no
longer have access to the Internet because their accounts were
closed upon their dismissal (a fact that I learned from my friend),
and they are all probably hesitant to state over a public forum
their opinions concerning the matter.
3. Contract services can provide high-quality library services:
I am sure that these companies can provide very good service, as
long as someone in a position of authority who knows the needs of
the library users and the library collection maps out exactly what
is needed in the service contract. I have worked for a contract
service company, and we were not allowed to do anything other than
what was agreed upon in the contract. Sounds simple, but somebody
has to clean up the unfinished business. And we all know that
there is always unfinished business. As the B&M library director
was fired along with her staff, someone is going to have to walk
into that library not knowing much about it, and make very
important decisions worth a lot of money. I wish them luck, but I
expect that they will not meet with stellar success.
Donna Rosinski
Fordham University Law School
Cataloger
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