A post on the new NexGen Librarian Blog directed me to the following article:

Hanging Indents and the Reference Librarian: Offering Productivity Software in the Public Library - "This article explores ways to expand the public library's mission, and that of the reference librarian, to include offering word processing on public access computers. The author defines access to and the ability to use word processing software as a form of literacy and links this to the library's established role in promoting literacy. This article also provides anecdotal information about introducing this software at a public library system."

This student-written article draws its title from a provocative statement: ' "I did not go to library school to end up teaching people how to make hanging indents,? said one indignant librarian, as her library prepared to add productivity software to PACs.'

You'll probably not be surprised that I categorically oppose the subtext underlying this narrow view of librarianship, as does the author. Rachel Mendez explores the idea of library as learning center, in all its myriad manifestations. How obvious it seems.

Yet she aptly draws attention to the obstacles that we face internally in trying to pursue this common-sense (for me at least) objective. As Walt is well aware, I buy whole-heartedly into the mission of information literacy for all, but it is far from a common thread amongst librarians. Ms. Mendez's exploration of information literacy in the context of offering education in productivity software is interesting in and of itself. More significantly, it serves as a reminder of the larger organizational inertia that adds challenge to that pursuit.