‘LIBRARY SWEATSHOP’ PRO AND CON

“Library Sweatshop: A View From the Bottom” (Endpapers by Ron Kelley, May 20) touched me in an uncommon way. It is more than distressing to read such an eloquently angry diatribe against the necessary albeit routine duties performed by library staff; it is a dagger in the heart to those of us who value the intrinsic purpose of libraries and who are willing to spend our lives proving our dedication.

Problems involving morale in a rapidly changing technological profession are not the fault of the institution or the institution’s administration; these problems are an indication that not all technological advances are compatible with human physiology.

I suggest that Mr. Kelley stop psychoanalyzing library work-flow charts and begin to use his fine rhetorical skills to help people and computer screens come together more easily in the future.

JODY STEFANSSON

PASADENA