The Library Paraprofessional: Notes from the Underground Book

	Acknowledgments
	Introduction	1
Pt. I	The Psychological Texture of Today: The Plight of the Modern Library Paraprofessional	19
1	The Last 35 Years: Overview	20
2	Deprecation	34
3	"Professional" vs. "Nonprofessional": Getting the Picture Straight	47
4	"Nonlibrarian" Professionals in Libraries	53
Pt. II	Cycles in the History of American Library Workers	57
5	The Shifting Sands of Library Terminology	58
6	The Scene Is Set	61
7	Portrait of a Lady	63
8	Enter: "The Ideal Desk Assistant"	67
9	Promises, Promises...	77
10	"I Serve"	83
11	"Read, Read, Read, and Forever Read"	88
12	"The Cat Is Out of the Bag"	92
13	Nervous Breakdowns	100
14	A Few Voices of Reason	111
15	The "Dewey to Williamson" Period: Education for Librarianship in the Pioneering Years, 1887-1923	120
16	Slim Pickings: The 1920s to the 1960s	127
17	Things Heat Up: The Late 1960s and 1970s	146
18	Persistent Overlap	156
19	Paraprofessionals at the Reference Desk: A Trend of the 1980s, a Paradigm from the Nineteenth Century	162
20	Technology and the Paraprofessional	172
Pt. III	Sexism: Blueprint for Inequity, Then as Now	177
21	Women's Clubs: "Founding Mothers," the Earliest Paraprofessionals?	178
22	Shooting Ourselves in the Foot	181
23	Reproductive Curtailment	187
24	The "Weak" Woman	189
25	Inequity in Wages	191
26	How Others Shoot Us	195
Pt. IV	Changing Management	203
27	The "Bugaboo of Disloyalty"	204
28	Democratization of Management: "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished"	208
29	Job Dissatisfaction	225
Pt. V	Burnout: The Need for Protection	229
30	Repression of Criticism	230
31	Problem Patrons in Public Service	233
32	The Library Circus and the Library Mission	242
33	Sick Buildings, Sick Workers	250
34	Unionism and Support Staff	256
35	Contract Workers, Unbenefited Part-Time Workers, Volunteers, and Students	267
36	Paraprofessional Associations	270
Pt. VI	Why the MLS?	275
37	Library Schools Under Fire	276
38	LTA Programs and the Issue of Certification	295
39	Non-MLS-Holding Heads of Libraries	300
	Conclusion	303
App. A	Interview with a Grade-1 Library Clerk	307
App. B	Interview with a Paraprofessional Library Worker at a Four-Year University Library	312
	Bibliography	321
	Index	359