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Sorry, I'm late to the party

Caffeinated Librarian — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:48:50 -0500

Sorry, I'm late to the party as always.

I would be wary of all these made up titles if I were you. I remember when the school system my mom worked for changed all the titles for their librarians from "librarian" to "media specialist." My mom was more than a little ticked for a couple of reasons, first because her degree was in library science (not media anything). Second because librarians have always dealt with a variety of media so the system's stated reason of "recognizing the broad range of skills of our staff by giving them a more accurate name" was so much bunk (either that or it showed a true ignorance of what librarians traditionally do).

The title of media specialist hasn't brought any great bonuses to the renamed staff in the 20-some years of its application. The title hasn't lead to larger salaries or increased the staff's respect in the schools. If anything, Media Specialist jobs are seen less as careers requiring professionals with masters degrees and more as the computer-lab-minding, DVD-loaning, overdue-fee-collecting jobs that any stiff could do. Which is stupid and wrong, but there you go.

Names may not matter for roses, but they do for careers. I wouldn't be so ready to throw off traditional titles like "journalist" unless you're willing spend as much time clarifying what you do and who you are, as you spend actually spend doing the thing that caused you to love what you do in the first place.

The Caffeinated Librarian [Blogger]

Forever a lowly journalist

Eve Tahmincioglu — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:07:45 -0500

No matter how long I blog I will forever be a journalist first.
I know, I'm so old school.

Blognoscenti, hah

Denise — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:42:25 -0500

I love it.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Hmm, so many hats!

Lovebabz — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:01:11 -0500

Well, this is the age of creating new words, new jobs, new careers that did not exist. I get your point about naming yourself. Tiltles are so defining for people--we can't live without them. However, I think the jury is still out on the final definitions for all of us crafting this new frontier of blogging. I for one will wait and see what shakes out in the final analysis...if there is such a thing. For now I am a blogher. Tomorrow is new and perhaps some other new name will present itself.

Love,
Babz
www.lovebabz.blogspot.com
my journal. my life.

hmmm

Mata H — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:00:49 -0500

I now will think of myself as a member of the Blognoscenti.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool

Not to nitpick

Bridget Magnus — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:40:12 -0500

Some of your examples involve different licenses, different schooling, and/or different job requirements. A barber and a stylist have very different licensing requirements; a teacher works in a classroom but a learning specialist deals with the outlier cases in a smaller room; a cardiologist spends several years in educational programs beyond what it took for him to become a "mere" doctor. Trust me on this, you can't just hang a sign that says "cardiologist" outside your family practice clinic.

As for myself, I guess I'll make sure I present myself as a Research AnalYST with a website rather than a blogger......