Carol Billings
Director of the Law Library
Law Library of Louisiana - New Orleans, LA
Would I Do It Again? Absolutely!
Law Library Journal Fall, 2001
I suppose it's inevitable when one attains senior status in her family or workplace to begin assessing what's really important. My husband and I are both only children, and during the year 2000 both of our widowed mothers died. We've spent many days sorting through what's left of several generations that went before us, understanding how much harder life was for them. Two close friends our age and younger were taken away by terrible illnesses, and another is now undergoing chemotherapy. Our friend struggling with cancer is a great e-mailer of both wicked jokes and profound personal revelations. A retired clergyman who remains actively involved in ministry at the notorious Angola State Prison, he has been deeply moved by the affection and support that "his buddies" confined there have showered upon him. Times like these make one realize how short and precious one's life is. We can't resist taking stock.
Recently I read that in a Library Journal survey conducted last year 44 percent of responding veteran librarians said that if they were graduating from college today, they would probably not enter the field of librarianship.1 The wider world-view and wisdom that come with age naturally cause us to speculate about how exciting it would have been to be a foreign correspondent, a museum director, or a famous chef. Women such as me whose parents had endured the Depression and the Second World War felt very fortunate if we could go to college and get a nice respectable job paying around $8000 in the mid-1960s. Practicality and security were high on our list of values, and risk-taking seemed almost irresponsible.
So here I am, possessor of an M.L.S. degree I earned thirty-five years ago and an employee of the same library since 1976. Do I have any major regrets about my professional life? Not really. Would I do what I did over again? Absolutely! I entered law librarianship more by accident than design when a librarian friend called, interrupting my four-year sojourn with my little daughter and Mr. Rogers, to report that her neighbor, the director of the state law library, was looking for a cataloger. I hadn't even known there was such an animal as a law librarian, and all of a sudden I was one. Consequently I feel extremely fortunate to have enjoyed a stimulating, fulfilling career populated with wonderful colleagues whom I respect tremendously. I love working for the public and advocating for their right of access to information. Had I known in the late '60s that I would end up in law librarianship, I would have certainly tried to go to law school. I regularly advise aspiring law librarians to take that route if they can manage it. But I know that people's family obligations, financial circumstances, and personal priorities often make it very difficult to do the ideal thing that will advance one's career the most.
I'm the first to admit that the satisfaction I feel about my career is largely attributable to the support and forbearance of my family, coworkers, professional colleagues, and friends, and any dissatisfaction to my inclination to spend a lot of time on things other than gaining greater professional expertise. My coworkers will verify—with a smile—that I am definitely not a techie. "Help, Cathy! I have a stupid computer question!" is heard all too frequently coming from my office. I probably should feel more guilty, but instead I've convinced myself that my strong points lie elsewhere. Writing and arguing are my things. Justifying requests for promotions and raises and explaining why our services are worth funding are responsibilities I take very seriously. If I hadn't become a librarian, journalism would have probably been my chosen field.
When I attended the program at the 2000 AALL Annual Meeting in Philadelphia that inspired this collection of essays,2 I was very impressed at the successful efforts a number of our colleagues had undertaken to revitalize their careers. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I don't feel I've added much that is new and exciting to my repertoire in recent years. "Just keepin' on" is probably a more accurate description of what I do. I have, however, become very conscious of the importance of leaving things in good shape for the next generation. One advantage of being around an institution for a long time is that you make relationships that help you affect how things work. If you've done a reasonable job, your colleagues and those who run the show learn to trust you and depend upon the work that your library does. You develop credibility and a certain amount of chutzpah that you can use to correct problems and get things done for your library. Every institution needs a few obnoxious old broads who aren't afraid to criticize something stupid when they see it.
Our profession is perpetually decrying the sorry state of our status and salaries. I blame a lot of those poor conditions on library administrators who haven't gotten up off their duffs and raised their voices on behalf of their staffs. Some of them are comfortable themselves and too insensitive to bother, and some are just plain wimps! I consider it a very important aspect of my job as an administrator and as a member of our profession to mentor younger colleagues and to draw attention to their skills and contributions. Working to get them the best possible compensation, benefits, and professional development opportunities not only helps those colleagues but the library as well. Their enthusiasm and creativity will keep our institution moving forward. We should take a hint from the court administration profession, which came along about fifty years after law librarianship but has managed to make itself highly valuable to the judges who determine its excellent salary levels. I've made a point of talking regularly with our court administrator responsible for human resources to find out the intricacies of the judicial branch pay plan and promotion process. Equipped with that information, I've sent up a number of trial balloons that have resulted in three important promotions and a good salary adjustment for library staff members.
Many of my long-time colleagues, especially those who have had occasion to visit New Orleans during the past two decades, are aware of the great granite and marble hulk in the middle of the French Quarter that will allegedly become the new home of the supreme court and our library in late 2002. Since about 1982, we have been told that we would be moving in a couple of years. During the ensuing years we have been through four governors (Edwards twice), sixteen supreme court justices, two teams of architects, and numerous threats by the state legislature to kill the project. The library's space has undergone so many changes that it has become difficult to keep track of what features we have left. I have vowed that I will not retire until the move is accomplished. So the next two years should be an exciting adventure filled with many opportunities to stand up for the library's rights.
In the meantime I manage to keep very busy with my life outside the library. My family, home, friends, and church-related volunteer work mean more to me than anything else and are the source of great satisfaction. For about ten years I've been involved in a program called Loaves and Fishes, carried on by eight Episcopal churches to provide meals for the homeless and needy. Once a month my church's team buys the ingredients, prepares a hot lunch, and serves it to about eighty very hearty eaters. At Thanksgiving and Christmas we distribute groceries, warm clothes, and toys for our clients, and in late summer we give out big bags of school supplies to public school kids who need them. Our volunteer team is diverse in age and race and includes men recovering from addictions. We've become dear friends. My church also participates in a program at Christmas for which we provide clothes and toys for the children of prisoners. Unquestionably those presents are the most important ones I buy. I can truly say that I think these two activities are among the most satisfying things I do.
The law library profession has been extremely good to me. Many of my dearest personal friends are law librarians whom I delight in seeing at meetings and each other's homes. In 1994 my husband and I were fortunate to attend our first meeting of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. Over the ensuing years we have made many friends among its members and have attended nearly all of their conferences. Unabashed Anglophiles—we have added Ireland and Scotland to our passion—we have been entertained in our friends' homes and have recently enjoyed hosting a favorite couple from London for Mardi Gras. This summer we'll see them in Ireland. Not so bad for an accidental law librarian!
1. Evan St. Lifer, The Boomer Brain Drain: The Last of a Generation? LIBR. J., May 1, 2000, at 38, 44.
2. Gateway to Career Renewal: Paths for the Experienced Librarian, program presented at 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries, Philadelphia (July 18, 2000) (audiotape available from Mobiltape Co.).
For More Information About Law Librarianship or the AALL Recruitment Committee, contact committee chair Sarah Mauldin.