The conversation seems to be steaming ahead rather than slowing down regarding speaker’s compensation at professional library conferences. And thanks to Technorati, I found that even non-library sites are picking this up and *gasp of not surprised* making fun of our profession. Again.
Something Steven Cohen wrote (same link as above) echoed what I have been thinking recently:
“…I wind up putting in 16 hour days, sometimes more, and I deserve to get paid for it. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but it is a job. Once we can get beyond that, the whole Jenny Levine situation seems a bit clearer.”
I also love being a librarian and it is a large part of who I am and how I approach life, but this is my job. J-O-B. At the end of the day, the list of things that are really important to me does not include my library, ALA, or what I have accomplished professionally and I will not be a Job for my profession, remaining faithful when obviously ignored. I think we should be compensated for our knowledge even if it is in some small way.
–Jane, do we want to be actual professionals or are we just pretending?