I would like to commend Eliezer Wise for raising the issue of recruiting future Judaica librarians. While I am neither a Judaica librarian nor a member of AJL, I do think this is an important issue.
Unfortunately, however, I understand all too well when Mr. Wise states that "Many responses range from complete resignation to the dreary outlook to total apathy." Why do I say this? Two and half years ago there were a number of posts on ha-Safran complaining about the recent AJL dues increase (I think from $25 to $50), and the difficulty of paying such dues on the salary of a Judaica librarian. In response, I posted a message to ha-Safran in June 2001 suggesting that AJL consider increasing its fundraising efforts to help reduce the reliance on dues to cover operating expenses. In my message, I asked "Does AJL have a development/fundraising committee? If not, why not?" Two and a half years later, I just looked at the AJL website, and I counted 15 committees, but no committee which appears to devote even part of its time to raising funds from outside the AJL membership/community. Thus my skepticism that anything will result from Mr. Wise's post (I hope I am wrong to be skeptical!). I would like to make some suggestions regarding the recruitment issue. First, I think it is late to be targeting library school students to become Judaica librarians. A more proactive approach would be to recruit from among undergraduates majoring in Jewish studies, talking to students in their junior or senior years. I think the library profession generally does a poor job of publicizing career possibilities to undergraduates - perhaps this explains why relatively few of my library school classmates were recent college graduates, full-time students, or even in their 20s. Another possibility is to coordinate with the National Yiddish Book Center and make the Center's summer interns more aware of Judaica librarianship as a career option. I would also like to suggest that one of AJL's committees be charged with responsibilities for outreach and recruitment efforts. The Publicity or Scholarship Committees seem best related to these tasks. And I will raise once again the issue of fundraising. The Jewish community in America as a whole is quite successful. According to the website of the Jewish Funders Network, "the number of Jewish foundations has more than doubled in the past seven years to approximately $30 billion in assets." Clearly there is no shortage of funds out there. And there are Jewish cultural organizations that focus on books and archives that have been quite successful at raising funds. Why is it that AJL -still- does not have a committee dedicated in large part to fundraising? Fundraising could help in several areas related to recruitment and salaries. Money could be raised to: * help cover AJL operating expenses, thus reducing the need to have dues cover such costs * increase the funds available each year for convention travel stipends * cover part of the costs of the annual convention * pay for a brochure to inform students and others about Judaica librarianship careers * pay for a brochure for synagogue and school librarians to explain to library users what they do, and why supporting their library financially is important * create paid internships for undergraduate Jewish studies students to spend a summer or a semester assisting a Judaica librarian * pay for increased distribution of the AJL newsletter among Jewish studies students * increase the funds available for scholarships for library school students Whether my above suggestions have merit is another issue, but those are some of the ideas that came to my mind. As Judaica librarian salaries are set and paid for by the institutions which employ the librarians, other than suggesting the possibility of "named" librarian positions, I don't have any other ideas on the salary issue at the moment. Considering that much of this post has to do with suggestions about fundraising, some people may wonder if I will put my money where my mouth is and make a contribution to AJL. At this point, my answer is "not yet." I could make a contribution if I chose to, but quite frankly, if the AJL leadership/membership isn't going to make an effort to help themselves by fundraising outside the AJL community, why should I contribute? Or, as Mr. Wise quoted from Hillel in opening his message, "if I am not for myself, who will be for me." Should AJL form a committee or make an effort to raise money from outside the AJL community, as an individual who used to do fundraising research for a non-Jewish non-profit, I would be willing to contribute some of my time to suggest and research foundation and/or individual donor prospects. And I would then also consider making a small financial contribution. Before I close, I'd like to apologize to anyone who found the tone of my note too blunt or overly critical. But I think it is overdue for AJL to make an effort to raise money, and I hope my provocative comments will get AJL to embark on this path. I'll close with a different quote from Hillel: "If not now, when?" Ethan Starr Washington, DC ========================================================================== HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries Submissions for HaSafran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org/
