Being a librarian is easy, right? You just sit at the desk and shush people who are noisy. That's all it takes, right? So why is Andrew wasting his time at graduate school?
In order to answer questions like this: "If a patron comes up to you and asks you for information on how to freebase cocaine, do you provide it?"
What would you do?
The unfortunate thing about this question is that however you answer, there are problems with your morals and ethics. If the answer is yes, you are clearly endangering the person you are providing this information to. Before, they did not know anything about freebasing cocaine -- now they do, and are possibly going to put their own life in danger. If the answer is no, you are in essence being a censor. You are not providing information when that is precisely what someone in your occupation is supposed to do -- provide information. You start sliding down the slippery slope. Now where do you draw the line? Books about marajiuana? Books about cigarettes and alcohol? Books about prescription drugs? What if this information is needed for important research? Are we, as providers of information, also called to be providers of guidelines for moral conduct?
Geez. This was the topic of my class session in Reference yesterday. This is not an easy job.
In other news:
- I have no class today. Four hours at the Chem Libe and choir rehearsal is it. Sweet.
- I'm teaching tomorrow. My boss at the Chem Libe has recruited me to do some bibliographic instruction sessions to some Intro to Biology labs. Whoo! So's I get to stand up in front of freshmen and talk about the library's website and Biological Abstracts, an indexing service. Send good thoughts my way (especially about the hardware I'll be using -- it's notoriously sketchy).
- A stupid sophomore sat down in front of me at lunch today. He had the audacity to be wearing a New York Yankees t-shirt. Business major. Yeesh.
Choir rehearsal is next. :) Peace.