by Chris Bodenner
A reader writes:
One of my favorite things about the Daily Dish is that when a subject comes along where I know I disagree, but don't feel either the gumption to respond or don't have the advanced knowledge of the area required to say anything smart about it, I can just sit back, and trust that in a few days there will be a bevy of reader responses so informed they'll make me just grin down to my toes.
That's how I felt with your reader responses on tenure for librarians.
When I read that mean-spirited attack on all things librarian, I was pissed, in part because as a master's student myself, I have depended heavily on the specialized knowledge and expertise of the specific research librarians I have gotten to know here at my University. Having someone around in a well-paying job they are happy in — and who therefore can with a smile and a grin help you find the english translation of a tamil-language article on environmentalism in Buddhism — well, that's not something to yell about. The person attacking librarians sounded, if I may guess, like someone who had just gotten out of a really bad marriage with a librarian.
That aside, though, I don't really know about tenure. I guessed that librarians had to work hard to get it. I figured that there were reasons behind it. But I knew that if I just waited patiently, your brilliant readers would come through with a spirited, reasonable, and compassionate defense. And when they do, it's always a pleasure to have waited.
The Dish 