"Dirty Little Lie" Revealed

I want to add an addendum to my last post regarding the duties of university educators in regard to RT/TR books. I noted that educators need to be aware of all the books available so that they can make wise selections of textbooks and I had mentioned that educators needed to remind students to build their personal libraries.

What I failed to mention is the responsibility educators have to make sure their university libraries hold a wide collection of RT/TR books.

You would assume that most universities would have an adequate collection of RT/TR books in their libraries. But one of the “dirty little lies” of our profession is that universities have complete collections of RT/TR books in their libraries – WHEN IN FACT THE COLLECTIONS ARE NOT AT ALL ADEQUATE.

I made 18 accreditation visits to universities across the nation. I personally examined the library holdings at every institution. Almost all the libraries at these universities had inadequate collections of RT/TR books! And I mean to tell you the collections were EXTREMELY INADEQUATE.

My guess is that even today the libraries of most universities with RT/TR professional preparation programs do not have comprehensive collections of RT/TR books. In my view this is a tragedy.

If you are a university faculty member, please review your collection to see exactly what it contains. Then follow-up by seeing the library orders the books needed to fill in the gaps. If you are a practitioner on an advisory committee for a university TR program, ask for a listing of all RT/TR books held in the library. Go over it and request that books be purchased to be sure there exists a comprehensive collection.

Whatever your role, please see to it that students and faculty have access to a complete collection of RT/TR books. And shame on those schools that do not provide the resources needed to support their students and faculty. Those institutions are failing themselves, their students and faculty, and our entire profession.