Yes, this is why librarians are so important: they have AND teach these skills

Op-ed: Old-school job skills you won’t find on Google

When we did in-depth phone interviews with 23 U.S. employers at Microsoft, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, KPMG, the FBI, the Smithsonian and other organizations, we found that bright new hires dazzle interviewers with their digital skills.

Once they were on the job, however, it became apparent that today’s graduates lacked essential low-tech, traditional research skills like popping into a co-worker’s office for help in interpreting results or scouring printed reports that were sitting on a shelf.

Employers were dismayed to find that most of these college hires were tethered to their computers. They rarely went beyond a Google search and the first page of results looking for “the” answer to a workplace problem

Thanks to Vanessa Irvin Morris for sharing.

A hard dose of reality

When I was young, we were told that education and hard work pays off and with both you can achieve the American dream. I learned a long time ago (within a month after graduating with my MSLS, when I started selling bagels for a living) that what I was told was simply not true. And I think it will be far harder for today's college students and recently grads. In short, whereas I've always contended that we Gen Xers got a bad rap and card hand compared to the Boomers, the Millennials are getting the shaft.

25 college majors with the highest unemployment rates

This is the same list I wrote about awhile ago, but with a full 25 on the list. Library science is number 4, at 15% unemployment. And of course, considering you really need a master's level degree in library science to get a job, that means more outlay.

There is also 25 college majors with lowest unemployment rates to look at.

I am very against smoking (and I'm from a tobacco state), but...

I think this is wrong.

Hospitals Shift Smoking Bans to Smoker Ban

and as the article states, this is why:

One concern voiced by groups like the National Workrights Institute is that such policies are a slippery slope — that if they prove successful in driving down health care costs, employers might be emboldened to crack down on other behavior by their workers, like drinking alcohol, eating fast food and participating in risky hobbies like motorcycle riding. The head of the Cleveland Clinic was both praised and criticized when he mused in an interview two years ago that, were it not illegal, he would expand the hospital policy to refuse employment to obese people.

“There is nothing unique about smoking,” said Lewis Maltby, president of the Workrights Institute, who has lobbied vigorously against the practice. “The number of things that we all do privately that have negative impact on our health is endless. If it’s not smoking, it’s beer. If it’s not beer, it’s cheeseburgers. And what about your sex life?”

Smoking (and dipping, which is even more disgusting in my book) are filthy habits. Smoking produces carcinogens in the air and aggravates asthma. (I am very sensitive to cigarette smoke, and would almost certainly not date a smoker, because this is my preference.) But, I also realise it's a powerful addiction, that people often must try to quit many times before they succeed. And even then, it's tempting. My mother quit for six years before starting back again, for example.

That being said, although I am very much in favour of bans on smoking in public and don't think people should smoke around their children, refusing to hire people, firing people for tobacco use, and testing employees for nicotine goes too far. It is a drug, yes, but a legal one. Unlike illegal drugs and other legal ones such as alcohol and prescription drugs, it's not going to cause potentially deadly accidents that will affect others, impair judgment, or incite violence.

Some companies even ban nicotine patches, something people use to try to kick the habit. How is that productive? What if a person smokes for 30 years, then quits a couple of months before being hired? Isn't their health also in jeopardy?

Where do you draw the line in terms of trying to keep down health costs? What about obesity? Diabetes? Multiple sclerosis? High blood pressure? Depression? Does that mean only svelte young people with no health problems or medications deserve to work? Do the rest of us just go on disability or welfare and strain the system further? Shouldn't those be reserved for people who really need it, rather than people willing and capable of working?

It's a complex issue that seems to make a certain amount of sense, at least in a pecuniary way, but really is a slippery slope, and I agree that discrimination of this type should not be allowed.

Tackling poverty and environmental issues

Meeting India's tree planting guru

An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar.

His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.

Evidence of Mr Raju's success could clearly be seen on 30 August, when he organised 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony.

In doing so the agriculture graduate from Bangalore has provided "sustainable employment" to people living below the poverty line in Bihar.

An update

Remember Brenda Biesterfeld, the library aide who was supposedly fired for tipping police to a paedophile looking at pornographic images of children in the library? This is the Tulare County (California) Library's side:

'Ms. Biesterfeld received an evaluation following three months of her employment and received an overall rating of 5 on a scale of 10. Goals for improvement included the proper completion of the cash report, proper documentation of the collection of fines, the importance of seeking clarification of policies and procedures, developing clerical skills, working on assigned tasks and keeping her supervisors informed of all problems and community complaints. Ms. Biesterfeld failed to improve...'

'Regarding the specific incident... Ms. Biesterfeld did not tell her supervisors that the patron was accessing child pornography, and thereafter she neglected to notify anyone in management of the events which transpired, including the suspect's arrest until after they had occurred and failed to advise that the library's computer had been seized... There were additional performance deficiencies and policy violations that were discovered which led to her release.'

Thanks to Birdie from LISNews for the quotes and links.

Stories discussing the updated details of the firing can be seen at KMPH and the Fresno Bee.

Although it sounds like there was just cause for her termination, what she did in tipping off the police was still the right thing to do.

But she did the right thing

Sometimes you can't just sit back and catalogue or classify...sometimes you have to take action. One librarian did--and lost her job over it.

California Librarian Fired for Reporting Man Viewing Child Porn

Lindsay Librarian Fired for Reporting Man Viewing Child Porn

The supervisor told her to make a note on the man’s library account and tell him to stop looking at the pictures. Biesterfeld felt that the authorities needed to be alerted, so she called the police anyway. When police did get involved, they found thousands of images of child pornography. 39-year-old Donnie Chrisler was arrested, and a day and a half later; Biesterfeld was out of a job.

There's a time when our desire to protect the privacy of our patrons has to submit to the greater good. And whilst that greater good is sometimes hard to define, I think most of us agree that protecting children from exploitation and possible abuse is more important that anyone's anonymity as a library patron surfing the net.