I can thoroughly attest to the truthfulness of this statement! In my
dual role of Reference and Interlibrary Librarian, I must work
closely with faculty. I could rant for hours about the shoddy way
in which professors often treat librarians and other employees on
campus. Many faculty members forget that librarians are their
colleagues and, at many institutions, we have faculty status and rank.
Yet when they come to the library they expect us to drop whatever it is
we are in the middle of and do their bidding as if their work is
more important than ours. The worst trangression of faculty members
(IMHO) is when they interrupt me while I am helping a student with
a research question and expect me to help them instead! They somehow
feel that they are exempt from common courtesy and that their need
for information is more important than that of students who are
paying tuition and hence their salary. I feel that my job, first
and foremost, is to help students. In general, Reference assistance
is first come, first served and I don't care if you have a Ph.D. and
tenure or not.
> Again, this may reflect a self-selection effect: Shy, anxious, or
> obnoxious people may find it hard to get ahead in the outside world, but
> not so in academia!
Once again, I could rant about the obnoxious profs I have encountered,
but I am sure most of us on FoRK have spent enough time in the
hallowed halls of academe to know this and know it well.
For those of you out there still pursuing Ph.D.'s and other degrees,
remember this: Treat librarians like colleagues and not servants
who are there to do your bidding!
Do not come to us the day before your book is due to go to press
and ask us to help compile your bibliography because you were lazy
and/or absent-minded and forgot to get all the details when you
did your research.
Do not give us incorrect or incomplete citations and expect us to
find the item for you immediately.
Don't expect us to have something Fed Ex'ed to you from a far away
city on Interlibrary Loan because you need it immediately and
forgot to request it until the day before you leave for a conference.
*argh* such are the sins of educated people with Ph.D.'s
Diva (who has had a particularly bad week dealing with three
different obnoxious faculty members and really needed a chance
to vent).
"Do you *really* believe that disorganization and a lack of planning on
YOUR part should suddenly become a crisis situation for me?"
-- What I am in danger of saying
to the next faculty member
who walks into my office.