If you've been paying attention, you've noticed that
libraries are a big issue in Ohio this week.
I am a librarian, an information professional, and I believe that all librarians have a specific civic responsibility to dispel rumors with facts, correct untruths with statistics, and always (of course) cite our sources.
This is why I am urging librarians to take up arms against ignorance and to participate in the comments of their local news sites. Not just on the library issue, but about everything. All the time.
A while back, I encouraged my friends and neighbors to
take the cleveland.com challenge. Since then, I've been told by many people that I'm fighting a losing battle. Here's what I've got to say about that.
When we flee to our own corners of the Internet, where we only talk to those people who think like us, we are doing something terrible that (particularly in Cleveland) we should do better to avoid -- i.e., we are committing a sin analagous to suburban flight. We are taking our intellectual tax base out to the edges, and leaving our core community to crumble.
You may say that trying to engage these people is a waste of time, that it makes us look foolish to even try. I disagree. Because when you participate in these discussions, your larger purpose is not to engage the "trolls," but to send a vital message to all of those people who read but DON'T comment, those people whose outlook is routinely poisoned by unalloyed ignorance and unconstructive negativity. The people who read and think, "there isn't a single reasonable person left in Cleveland. Everyone in Cleveland is ignorant. What an AWFUL place Cleveland is."
In terms of the suburban flight analogy, it's easy to see what's next on the agenda for these people.
The key to participating in these discussions, however, is that YOU have to be reasonable. And sometimes that's hard. You have to act professional, like you are at the reference desk. You would never shout at a patron (although we all want to shout at the patrons sometimes), so don't TYPE IN ALL CAPS, EVER. Don't fight with people. Don't put them down. Never act elitist, never say things like, "you would know that if you ever bothered to pick up a book."
You have to be succinct. Businesslike. Address specific points. Don't respond to insults. Don't take bait. Never, ever use the I-word ("idiot") or the S-word ("stupid.") Refute misconceptions and again, cite your sources. Disclose what is your opinion and what is fact, and most importantly:
claim your expertise. Use these moments as teachable moments, where you can show these people how to find out more information for themselves.
Because information, as we librarians know, is power, and I suspect a lot of the complainers feel pretty powerless.
