Week 13: Real Experiences in the Library

Since there weren't any readings or videos this week, I'm going to share a story of what happened a few days ago at work in the library.  I was helping a member, and she made the comment, "I am so impressed with all that this library is doing!  I used to think I didn't need the library because of the internet, but you guys are proving me wrong!"

So basically she's just one of those people you want to hug.

So we start talking, and I'm telling her about the Fab Lab, and how we have sewing machines and sewing classes.  She brings up the fact that she's an interior decorator, and loves pillows, but they're so expensive to buy.  She would love to know how to sew them, because it must not be too hard, and it would be a lot cheaper than buying them.  

As she's saying this, the director of the library came up, and was listening in, so we all got talking, and we got the woman's contact info, and are possibly starting a pillow sewing class.  The woman even came up with a name for it, "Pillow Talk."  Cute, huh?

So it just goes to show that the library really does have a lot to offer, and that listening to the members of the community can bring about some great ideas.

Week 12: Communities

This week I really enjoyed learning about the deficit model.  I think it's something that not only librarians should consider, but all professions would benefit from using an advocacy approach rather than a remediation approach.

When we did our surveys for 605 last week, there was a lot of talk about how many of the people that we interviewed don't use libraries to their full extent.  I think this is largely in part to "satisficing".  Why go all the way to the library when you can find it on the internet, right?

This is where marketing comes into play.  I am a strong believer that libraries need more marketing, and it's something most of them are not very good at.  If we can show the community all of the things the library can do for them, and how they can "maximize effect and minimize cost" through our service, then we are doing are jobs correctly.

Week 10: Library as Platform

Well, hello there!

I really like the idea of this week's topic: the library as a platform.  People can use the library to link to other people and other people's resources, that they can use the library website to link to their own website, or even have a section of the library's website as their own.  The library could have a calendar of events for not only the events hosted by the library, but other local organizations.

I feel like this is the Utopian view of the library.  In reality, are people going to actually do this?

I did a survey last week for another class, and in class we discussed people's views of a library.  I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of people who don't use the library to the full extent.  In fact, most people don't.  People don't realize all that the library can do.  So if some librarians at a local library decided to start making their library a platform, and wanted to link people and organizations to the library, it's going to take more work than just setting up the technical side of it.  They are going to have to go out into the community and get people interested.  They're going to have to talk to businesses and other organizations and share their plan.  Not only that, but they will need to get the community members as well.  The community members will have to realize the benefit of using the library to network and learn things, instead of the ease and convenience of the internet.  It would take a lot of work and a lot of convincing.

I'm not saying it's not possible, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't try, but I'm saying we're going to have to change people's perspectives on the library to make this happen, and it's not an easy task.

Week 7: Why Libraries?

I thoroughly enjoyed watching these videos on the justifications for having libraries in our communities.  These reasons are major factors when considering the future of libraries, and I believe provide a very positive outlook on the future of libraries.

During the last video, Symbol of Community Aspirations, when it was discussed that cities built structures to "show off" and show how important they are, I immediately thought of my home, in Salt Lake City, where a new library was recently built.  Then, the video showed several pictures of libraries built for urban revitalization, and I thought, "Hey, that one looks like Salt Lake City!"  And then Dave actually said, "Salt Lake City," so I got very excited.  But it's definitely true what he said, that this library was built as a statement, to show that Salt Lake City values information and education. 

Not only does it exemplify the concept of a symbol of community aspirations, but it also fits into the vision of new librarianship.  The SLC library houses an art gallery of local artists, librarians wear "No Shh!" buttons, they have a cafe, concerts, public meeting space, and talks by authors.  When this library was built, it wasn't meant to be just a place where people can come check out materials, but to be the new information and gathering spot of the community.  

The library director mentioned how there wasn't a spot in SLC that people could gather, and that was their goal.  She also stated, "It's a mistake not to be responsive to the new generation and how they communicate.  Our idea is that it's not just about books, but all the arts. Our job is to stimulate the mind, ears and eyes."

To me, it's clear that this library has certain aspects of new librarianship under control and have implemented them into this city's library.

Week 6: Librarians

I'm going to be honest here.

Before I came to grad school, when people asked me, "You need a graduate degree to help people find where a book is on a shelf?"  I first got annoyed and mad, because of their ignorance.  But I also didn't have a good answer to give them.

Reading this thread, I finally have some answers (as well as some ideas for the video assignment, lest we forget).

The quote at the beginning of the chapter says:

"We cannot have good libraries until we first have good librarians - properly educated, professionally recognized, and fairly rewarded." - Herbert S. White

In other words, you cannot stick any random person into a library and expect the library to run smoothly.  Librarians need to be educated.  Also, as pointed out in the chapter, people automatically think of the skills we do.  When thinking of librarianship as an accumulation of skills, it doesn't really make sense that they go to graduate school for that.  You can just learn skills on a job, right?  Thinking of it in terms of why we do things changes the big picture.

Also, one of the major focuses of our profession is information organization, and as pointed out in the chapter, there are an infinite number of ways to organize and classify the world.  Learning just one system for organization isn't enough.  We need to understand organization at a deeper level than just cataloging.  This is something that one needs to be educated about.  I can't say it any better than how it was said in the book:  "By having a richer understanding of information seeking as a concept and the underlying cognitive function, and not simply as a set of technologies and technique... you will do your job better."

So, to all of you who asked me why I was spending thousands of dollars to help someone find a book on the shelf, sure anyone can find a book on a shelf.  But I'd like you to tell me all about authority control, metadata record provenance, and development of taxonomies and ontologies.  And on top of that, understand and contextualize the deeper concept of information seeking and organization. 

And that's only a part of the job. 

Week 5: Improve Society

I related a lot with this thread, and I think it is all due to my teaching background.  

The first thing that really stuck out to me was the fact that as librarians, we value learning.  My whole life I grew up thinking I was going to be a teacher.  Teachers were my heroes, and I could think of no better profession.  But pretty soon after I had my own classroom, I was unhappy with my career.  I couldn't understand it.  I love learning.  I love school.  (I know, I'm a nerd.  Deal with it.)  So why in the world would I dislike teaching others?

But it wasn't the fact that I disliked teaching.  I love teaching.  I love imparting knowledge to others.  I love the moment when the light bulb clicks, and the concept you were teaching makes sense.  It was the school system that I couldn't handle.  It was the environment I was constantly forced to face that I disliked so much.  So in this program, whenever it is brought up that we facilitate learning, I LOVE it!  I love the fact that I still get to teach, but in a different setting.

I also love the fact that by becoming a librarian, I am becoming a life long learner.  I love going to school, and if it was possible, I'd become a professional student.  But since that's not possible, I guess this is the next best step.

I also completely agree with the fact from the Atlas that says, "the best decisions and the best knowledge come from working in the richest information environment possible."  In my undergrad, we were constantly being taught that we needed "literacy rich" classrooms.  That we needed books of all genres and reading levels, that we needed computer and technology resources, that we needed signs and posters encouraging learning and discovering, and all of these needed to be accessible for the students.  And I think that can be brought right back to the library.

When it comes to improving society, I believe that librarianship and teaching go hand in hand.

And what can I say?  That makes me happy.

Week 4: Communities

(I just realized that my post titles are technically a week behind.  This is our 5th week of class, but our 4th week of blog responses.  So I'm keeping it the way it is.  Just so you know that I'm aware.)

Okay, this week was all about communities and how we can better include our communities in the library and make them a part of our library.  What I thought was interesting was that the focus wasn't on getting the community to come to the library, but the librarian needs to be a vital part of the community.  They need to be in the field, participating in the events that the community believes to be important.  I think this is fantastic advice.  The quote at the beginning of the thread is as follows, "One of the things I learned in library school is that when people have an information need, they'll always ask people they know before they ask a librarian.  The trick is making sure that librarians are some of the people they know." -Jessamyn West.

So by becoming involved in the community, you are essentially doing just that, letting the community get to know you, so you will be the one they come to when they have questions.

Before coming to New York, I had volunteered at a local public library.  As I was reading the thread, I kept thinking of this library, and how this library seemed to have a lot of concepts down when it comes to the community.  This library, I feel, was community centered.  They knew their community and the needs of the community.  There were a lot of stay at home moms who had young children (this was Utah, after all) and one of their main focuses was on story-time.  I was lucky enough to volunteer during their story time hours, and it was hugely successful.  They always had a huge turn-out, and one librarian that I talked to told me that she had many parents come up to her and thank her for the program, saying that they used story time as thir child's preschool. 

I also worked in the back of the library in the area of the story time faculty, and overheard many of their conversations when it came to planning and implementing the program.  They had story times for different age groups, but they were constantly discussing what the different age groups needed, and if it was even needed to have an older aged story time.  They were assessing and evaluating what they were doing so they could fit the community's needs.

Week 3: Facilitation

I first want to say that I got a job at the Fayetteville Free Library, and had my first day yesterday.  I'm super excited to get to finally work in a library (I've only had a small amount of volunteer experience in one, other than that, my knowledge about libraries consists of where the Young Adult section of the library is).  And surprisingly enough, just from my one day of working there, I can already relate it to the thread on Facilitation. Yay for real world experience!

When I was first offered a job at the library, I was talking with the executive director, and she was telling me about monthly one-on-one meetings they had at the library with her and each of the staff.  This is time to talk about ideas the staff has in a SAFE ENVIRONMENT (anyone catching on to where I'm going with this?).  They also have meetings that include all of the staff that anyone can attend and everyone is expected to participate.  She talked about how many of their best ideas came from the part-time staff going to graduate school, because they are new to the field, bringing with them new ideas.  I haven't had the opportunity to go to one of these meetings yet, as I just started, but from what I've gathered, this library knows how to create a safe environment among the staff and librarians.  This helps the library move forward towards new librarianship, and also helps the staff feel like they are an essential part of the library.  And I'd like to take a guess that they know how to apply that to members of the library as well. 

The other part of the thread that really stuck out to me was the section on knowledge.  I was an elementary school teacher before coming to Syracuse, and I've had my fair share of classes on literacy and instruction.  But it was been really interesting to view literacy from a librarian perspective.  I actually really loved what it said about literacy in the book.  "If we look at literacy as empowerment, literally to gain power, then we have a different take on literacy altogether." 

Woah!  I loved that.  Literacy is about accessing and using information.  Facilitation is about empowering the community so they can be successful.   It makes so much sense, and it makes me more excited about the prospect of becoming a librarian.

Week 2: Knowledge

"Knowledge is uniquely human."
-David Lankes

I loved this quote from the videos this week.  Previously, I haven't given much consideration to what knowledge really is.  When I thought of knowledge, I thought of teachers, and books, and school.  I didn't give thought to the fact that knowledge isn't contained in artifacts, that it's something we create through conversation.

But that fact makes a lot of sense when you think of how knowledge is created.  Of course it isn't contained in an object.  An artifact can't hand out knowledge, but it is what each individual brings to it that makes it significant.

I also really appreciated the idea that was presented of being in the learning business, not the informing business.  Our jobs as future librarians is NOT to simply give the patrons a piece of paper with all of the information they need on it and be done.  We teach people how to find the information they need through... say it with me... CONVERSATION!

The final point I wanted to touch on has to do with this quote in The Atlas of New Librarianship, "If your community needs a workshop, build a workshop, not a collection of books about building workshops." I have to say, that I love this quote, but part of it is hard for me to come to terms with.  You see, I love books, and this picture is basically how I feel about life.

  I believe that you can find almost any information you need from books, and that's where my passion is.  But this quote makes so much sense.  Books can only do so much.  They can only inform people so much, and it's up to the person reading it to turn that information into knowledge and apply it.  But our jobs as librarians, in the learning business, is to facilitate knowledge, not just information.  We want to encourage people, and give them the tools, to create knowledge.  So yes, we can have books all about workshops and show people every last detail of how to build a workshop, but isn't it much more effective to have a workshop that the community is available to use?  It makes so much sense!

So, I'm going to leave you guys with one last quote (what can I say?  I love quotes.) that I think sums up my feelings of what I learned in this chapter: "When you change your thinking from artifacts and items to conversations and knowledge, new possibilities open up."

Week 1: Mission

First of all, I actually enjoyed reading this textbook, which I can’t say has ever happened before. I’m interested in the ideas, so that’s probably a good sign that I made the appropriate decision in going to grad school. 

 That aside, let’s get down to the analysis of what I read, shall we? Before I came to Syracuse University, I would get the same two questions all of the time when I told someone I was going into Library and Information Science. The first: “You need a graduate degree to be a librarian?” and “What is the job market like? Will you even be able to get a job as a librarian?” (Okay, I guess that was technically 3 questions, but the second two can merge as one.) These people had a narrow-minded view of what libraries and librarians are. They pictured old ladies with their hair in a bun and thick glasses with a chain around their neck telling people to be quiet. As I was reading this thread, I wanted to share the idea of new librarianship with all of these people. I loved the part of The Atlas of New Librarianship that read “If you seek to define the world view of librarians by the functions they do, you will run into all sorts of problems” (18). Because it’s true! If you view librarianship solely as sitting in an old building full of old books and uses the dewey decimal system, it’s much more frightening thinking about a future focused on technology than if you view librarianship as facilitating the community and improving society through various means. 

 For my undergraduate degree, I decided to go into elementary education. With that degree you are certified to do one thing: teach. Sure, I could have gotten a little innovative and figured out how to apply my skills in other professions, but I was trained to be a 1st through 6th grade teacher in a public school. I found that teaching wasn’t the career path I wanted to take, and so it was on to grad school. When I found out about this degree, I basically fell in love. And the more I learned about it, the more I loved it. Because it’s not just a one directional career path. There are SO MANY different directions you can take, and it’s so open to interpretation. So when you think about the future of librarianship, it’s not concerning at all. It’s full of possibility. And that’s what makes this career so exciting: the fact that our mission as librarians is to improve society, and there are so many ways of achieving that goal.