Thanksgiving

Notwithstanding today’s earlier post and many other posts here about what is wrong in the world of information, I’d like to observe American Thanksgiving by noting that we have much to be thankful for. I think it’s right to say that our criticism of things that are happening in the information sphere tends to be based on a set of very high professional and ethical standards, and I think this is itself something to be thankful for. Think of how cynical we are NOT! Think of how much librarianship remains guided by a set of ideals. It can’t be said of many other areas of activity in society. If it weren’t for these living ideals, which I think shape what libraries are and what librarians do to a great extent, we would not be so self-critical within the information sphere. I think we can be thankful that librarianship as a profession exists, that libraries exist, and that we guide both according to a set of values and ideals that the contemporary world challenges us to maintain. I think we can be thankful for each other, for our predecessors, and also for the library users who keep us going.

Ok, I just had to say that. Back to some yummy noshing….