Rethink and Rehire or Scholarship Suffers

To Whom It May Concern in The TC Administration:

I was shocked to hear of the dismissal of many of the Gottesman full-time reference librarians over the 2005-2006 winter holidays. I find it ironic that a research institution, such as TeachersЇ College, doesnЇt feel that they have a need for reference librarians, with as many invaluable articles, dissertations, and books that are written and published at TC.

Many of us spend countless hours in Gottesman doing classwork, working on our theses, and trying to come to grips with our dissertations. Even though much of the libraryЇs collection can be perused through the internet, many of us still have no clue about what is going on. I believe that there should have been a survey of library users to see how and what we look for in the library. There also should have also been a survey to see how comfortable we are with navigating the library's electronic resources. The reference librarians are an invaluable tool to us. I love Anka. She made me smile, even when I was disgusted with the amount of work I had to do. You cannot put a price on that, and many people LOVED her and the others. I hope that you will reconsider your decision. We feel the need for some resolution to this, because it affects our very lifeblood, our research.

The services that you, not only us, will miss:

- expert consultations about the reference material available to us.
- expert advice on helping us to form our research questions.
- expertise on the navigation of the vast amount of digital resources available to us.
- teaching us research skills
- answering our research queries virtually, when we are unable to get
library.
- updating the program collections with research articles relevant to our program of study
- PERSONAL INTERACTION
- knowledge of special and historical collections
- knowledge based acquisition decisions for new books and database subscriptions
- a steady knowledge base, as opposed to the high turnover part-time staff
- library classes and workshops/tours

- Supporters of the Rethink and Rehire or Scholarship Suffers
Jonathan Jungblut, Organizer