Unsubscribe web4lib

I left a listserv, to use an incorrect, dying term. The idea that this unsettles me in 2008 is curious itself. I joined Web4Lib in 1995 or 1996. "The Web4Lib electronic discussion is for the discussion of issues relating to the creation, management, and support of library-based World-Wide Web servers, services, and applications." I never was a member of the prime audience. That's not true. The last time I was prime audience was when I was working on the digital collections at MFPOW around 1997-2001. I learned a lot from w4l then. The discussions were always interesting, and some of the best minds on the many related topics were there. They still are. In the last two years as a branch librarian, I'd let them pile up in my gmail. I'd drop in on threads when I saw familiar names, or really hot topics, or things that seemed really cogent for a branch librarian. That got less and less. I was far removed from that world.

I thought I'd still get some use from w4l when I was appointed to the web services committee at MPOW. One meeting, I attended one meeting. Kerbluie--four months disability. Now I am struggling to filter all the info I can. I've unsubscribed from almost all the email lists I've been on for years. Email just feels like some kind of trap, a way to waste time and energy I can't afford. So I am pulling the plugs. At one point, I considered these messages on w4l to come from personal friends. I even met some members in person, or saw them do presentations. It still feels they are friends that way in some cases. But really, I need to concentrate on the people who are right in front of me.

Now I worry I won't be as "in the know." Was I ever? I'm keeping some of the library press electronic subscriptions. I'm not sure if I'll dabble in some library blogs. It's so easy to over immerse, and very little relates directly to me helping the 45 year old who wants to get an email address right now, but doesn't know how to get from our home page to Google. Or the 40 year old scifi maniac who can't/won't learn to place his own reserves. No, he will have a list of six to eight tomorrow for me to do, and no listserv will help me.

All these years, I have loved web4lib, in that most abstract version of agape. I have not been an active participant ever, but I have followed countless links and arguments. Many of them taught me, or gave me food for thought, and I am grateful. Some gave me good laughs, or good sig files. Some exasperated or made me mad. But that's why it is such a human endeavor, and I have to be thankful for the chance to participate. Saying farewell on the list would seem like I am quit full of myself. I have been the teeniest piece of the fabric, but it is always wonderful to be part of something wondrous, something put together by the free will and labor of a group of people who want to share ideas. So farewell Roy, Thomas, Dan, Karen, Karen, Blake, Gerry, Walt, and all the countless other names that have graced all my various in boxes over the years. This may seem like navel-gazing, or inexplicable nostalgia, but I had to note my transition.

Paycheck to paycheck to pillar to post

Paycheck to Paycheck - Librarian

You know my favorite librarian joke? What's the difference between a librarian and a large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four. OK, it's an old joke, and one teen can eat a large pizza. But this graph from to Center on Housing Policy makes it clear that even two-librarian income families (working full time) can barely afford a house payment in most of the USA.

Note: "The annual income needed to qualify for a mortgage was calculated using the average prevailing interest rate, assumes a 10 percent downpayment (sic) and the use of private mortgage insurance, and includes principal, interest, taxes and insurance." I don't know about the entire country, but a less than 20% down payment here pretty much takes your offer off the table.

I know I often say that no one goes into librarianship for the money, fame, or glory. Seeking fame and glory probably would not be good character traits in a good front line librarian. (Another note: I am not saying anything at all here about library directors.) I am not grousing (this once) about the lack of year-end bonuses or over-time. I understand about most public librarians being salaried government employees, though I know many salaried government employees get both bonuses and over-time. But I digress.

I don't know much about the wage figures they use. The latest numbers online at the Bureau of Labor Statistics are:

Salaries of librarians vary according to the individual’s qualifications and the type, size, and location of the library. Librarians with primarily administrative duties often have greater earnings. Median annual earnings of librarians in May 2004 were $45,900. The middle 50 percent earned between $36,980 and $56,960. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $28,930, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $70,200. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of librarians in May 2004 were as follows:
Colleges, universities, and professional schools $47,830
Elementary and secondary schools 47,580
Local government 42,500
Other information services 40,000

The average annual salary for all librarians in the Federal Government in nonsupervisory, supervisory, and managerial positions was $74,630 in 2005.

About three in ten librarians are a member of a union or are covered under a union contract.

You may say, librarians should not live in the expensive metropolitan areas. Are the people there undeserving of public libraries? Oh, they should breed their own independently wealthy librarians! You may say that public librarians who want to live in expensive areas should just take a vow of poverty. I didn't know we took holy orders. I do know Episcopal priests get housing allowances synched to local markets. I know that some jurisdictions and programs give breaks to firefighters, police, and teachers. I have yet to hear of one for librarians.

I'm not poor. But I am experiencing some schadenfreude over the housing market. I don't want people to lose their homes due to foreclosure, but I would like to see housing prices "correct" to the point where I can afford something with two bedrooms. Of course, I think the Southern California market is going to go through the roof again in the wake of the fires. Good old supply and demand.

I feel terrible when I think of all the people I have encouraged to be public librarians. I still think it's a great job. I guess it's a great job if it's not the primary income in a household. I have little hope of this changing. ALA has rachetted up their PR and advocacy immensely in the last ten years. I think it has barely registered a ripple when it comes to impacting wages. I have to believe it is not because the work is not valued--the constant kudos are one of the great benefits.

Here I am, preaching to the choir, which won't change anything, either. But when I see these kinds of charts, I just have to mount my little hobbyhorse once again. In part, just to say "Look; I'm not crazy." But I have no answers.

On biblio, another note. I've started using GoodReads more for my lists of read and unread. No MARC records, but the other functionality is nice. Plus the friending thing is nice--I'm really enjoying MockTurtle's updates. I also put my mini-review of Ten Days in the Hills there. I think it will do for my shorter rants. Another experiment.