The Detrimental Effect of Positive Thinking
As a requirement, I'm forced to submit the whims of the university system and
take a class in management. This all too noble profession seems intent on
placing a structure upon a system that increasingly functions well without one.
In other words, if a system is working well, then it must be due to some
overwhelmingly successful management structure adopted by the powers-that-be and
instilled upon the workers in an attempt to maintain some sort of working order.
Theories of this nature are all fine and good, and, for the most part, say a lot
about how the structure of business is run in our society. However, it should
come as no surprise that as we seem to be on the verge of breaking out of, or
sinking deeper into, a nationwide recession that society at large is incredibly
pessimistic about the future of the workplace and has little or no time to
contemplate the need for instill some sort of working structure onto the
businesses themselves. What matters most now are jobs and the ability to make
money. Worker satisfaction, although always important, seems to be of little
significance when it comes to a job market that is so depleted as to seem
totally anorexic in nature.
Seemingly, another requirement of the university system is that the majority of
those admitted are self deluded so much so as to be nearly incapable of
realizing that the world functions in a way that might, just might, not conform
to their rose-tinted views on what works and what doesn't. Everyone, or at
least 9 out of every 10, seems to believe that everything in the world is just
a-okay. The economy is great, people are great, and the world itself is just
great!!!! Life is so grand and dandy that it couldn't possibly throw any
obstacles in their way. Wake up, people! We are living in pretty dire straits
right now. The only reason that it doesn't seem to affect the isolated college
world is that's what colleges are for, insulation from reality. The real world
doesn't infringe upon the closed-mindedness of the university setting. Nothing
can penetrate its thick skin.
So, as I'm on the verge of tears in this dreary, regimented, government mandated
hazing, I'm forced to interact with these bright-eyed optimists about the need
to impose a perfect management scheme on the vaunted public institution, the
library. Now, in this writer's opinion, the library, or at least what I've been
able to observe with my own eyes, is one of the least efficiently run
institutions on the face of the earth. What could possibly lead me to this
derogatory statement? Well, let's just take a look at my own personal
observations on the matter. Libraries employ far too many people for the amount
of actual work that can be done, needs to be done, or could possibly be done.
Employees with the vacant stare of the mentally defective are hardly necessary
nor inspirational to the average patron or wannabe library worker. Materials
are purchased with the desire to provide the patrons with the most well-rounded
selection available. Well, sure, those are good intentions that any educational
institution should aspire to provide, but is it necessary to provide
everything? Hardly, no one in this torturous monstrosity seems to have
ever heard of the quite apply entitled "just in case" model of library
philosophy nor have they ever heard how terribly wrong this really is. It goes
like this, the library will buy just about anything, and the same can be said
for the notion of actually getting rid of materials, under the guise of having
it "just in case" patron X will waltz through the doors into the hallowed halls
and swoop down on the materials like the like eager beaver learner that we all
know is as fictitious as the legendary Bigfoot or g-spot. This goes without
saying that there are many, many things wrong with the library and how it's
operated and run. If it were a business, it surely would have succumbed to
government educed bankruptcy and went belly-up long ago. But it hasn't. This
speaks volumes towards the resiliency of the library and the actual value it
might provide. However, this touches on the notion as to why the
library is this way to begin with. Well, my dear reader, it has a little to do
with the notion that libraries provide a free service. They don't
charge money, so they must not require money, right? Surely, this bone-headed
notion is reserved for the deranged and those without any real idea as to how
reality works, the latter group seems to make up most of my classes.
So, after vocalizing my displeasure at the current state of the library, how was
I received? I was told I was making "generalizations." What's worse, sweeping
"generalizations" that are bounded in reality, or rose-tinted optimism that
borders on the insane?