LIS 450 Reading Reactions

Name:
Location: Madison, Wisconsin, United States

A library science student with a bit too much time on her hands.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Readings for 2 October 2006

"Hegemony's handmaid: The Library and information studies curriculum from a class perspective," by Christine Pawley

Pawley's entreaty to librarians to be aware of the decision between maintaining class values and ditching them to help spread information is, I think, especially important. She does address this second choice as a "risk", but I'm not sure if she speaks about this as much as I would like. If we risk the status of libraries and librarians, we may end up losing so much that we can't serve anyone, and information ends up completely in the hands of private information brokers, going to those who can afford to pay for their services. This is more of a balancing act than Pawley portrays it as.

“Teaching at the Desk: Toward a Reference Pedagogy” by James K. Elmborg

I found Elmborg's concepts of using reference as a teaching position fascinating. I agree with his point that librarians tend to talk over the heads of students who come to them for help. This is done because: the librarian has expertise, and doesn't realize she's talking over her patron's head; it's easier to do than to engage the patron in an actual teaching process that goes two ways; and she wants to maintain job security by being an irreplacable source of scarce information. Education can help the first issue. Motivation can help with the second. The third just isn't true; if a student has been truly helped, he'll come back again and again with different questions -- this will result in better work, too, and makes the librarian look better, because she's proved her range of knowledge.

"Toward a user-centered information service," by Ruth C. T. Morris

I found Morris' discussion of expertise at the end particularly interesting. Again, I think this is the crux of the problem of resistance to building a user-centered library. Librarians are experts at information-gathering; they thus cannot talk to the information-seekers in an easy way. Patrons have a hard time comprehending what a librarian says a lot of the time, and then don't get true help. It is not just expert patrons who create a communication problem; it cuts both ways, and the more aware librarians are of this issue, the easier it will be to help anyone. They can't be afraid of dumbing things down. Nor can they fear asking patrons to dumb things down. the lowest common denominator is, most of the time, the best way to get a point across.

“Mom and Me: A Difference in Information Values,” by Wayne Wiegand

Wiegand's idea of personal information economies is interesting. It's a good point that people are going to value some information -- and sources of information -- more than others; a good librarian will take this into consideration and shape answers accordingly (with a mind to perhaps stretching the person's comfort zone a bit, as well). This involves active listening and creative thinking. It sounds to me, after reading the other articles, that these are perhaps non-standard concepts for reference. I think it would be good if there was a further discussion on this -- how to cultivate these techniques during the reference interview. That would be helpful.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Readings for September 25, 2006

Information as Thing by Michael Buckland

I am fascinated by the idea of physical objects being sources of information. I never thought of it that way, but of course they are. There wouldn't be much to generate the "narrower" sense of information if we, as a species, were unable to gather this environmental or phenomenal information. I think this ties in with the idea of events as information; most non-textual informative objects tell not only of themselves, but also of a larger occurrence (e.g., a uniform tells us about a battle and a shooting as well as being a physical object made of cotton and metal).

The Power to Name: Representation in Library Catalogs by Hope Olson

An online catalog does not have to be linear! One can be provided with a web-like map of related topics for browsing, rather than a straight list, for browsing. That's why Flash has become such a popular piece of software.
Also, the whole idea of self-expression and voice could easily (in my naive view) be represented in the LCSH. Couldn't they call the heading "Self-expression"? They could then attach whatever suppressed group -- African-Americans, women, whoever (perhaps even white men). As the author discusses, the main reason for a lack of classification (or insensitive and inflexible classification) must be something in the overall culture, rather than an inability to come up with a good term.
Also, users creating links for others? Potentially useful and potentially a highjacking situation!

Scan This Book! by Kevin Kelly

Would this project truly offer every book to every person? We have a technological gap already; putting everything on the Web for free doesn't mean everyone can read it. Plus, the copyright issues! I think there are some very valid points for living authors, at least, to object to this, and they shouldn't have to "opt out" after the fact. The onus is on Google to find them and get their permission.
It also seems morally dubious to be selling e-copies of books back to the libraries that let you copy the books in the first place; shouldn't they be gratis for the lending institution?
And the linking! Yet again, by having an open way to allow anyone to link indiscriminately allows for highjacking. What if someone links Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing to an obscene magazine's website? There would have to be quite a bit of volunteer monitoring to keep that from being a problem. And what do you do for punishment? Revoke someone's linking abilities? What's to prevent them from just getting a new user name, or whatever? I do like the idea of both this and tags, but I think some serious consideration has to be done on how this would be implemented. Some of the linking seems excessive, as well. A rule of reference is to provide enough information to the patron, but not to overwhelm him with too much. There's something to be said for keeping reading private, too -- we have moved from an ancient history of orality and community reading to the personal reading we have today.
Also, the reason for the orphaned books phenomenon is that publishers want a frontlist that will churn out money, and they thus ignore the quality of the backlist. They don't cultivate solid performers; they go for the currently sensational.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

18 September 2006 Reading (finished)
  • Chapter Twelve:
    • I can't believe that there are people who think service jobs don't require computer literacy. How do they think administrative assistants get typing and scheduling done? How do they think mechanics figure out where the parts they need are? Everyone working today, I would argue, has to have some sort of computer literacy in order to perform their job functions. That's why technological gaps are so problematic; it leaves the future workforce in a state of imbalance -- a situation where "equal opportunity" doesn't mean a whole lot.

18 September 2006 Reading (still continued)

  • Chapter Eight:
    • The idea of a virtual community for a classroom is fascinating. I can definitely see that, with the ability to create an online persona and personal space, the students can escape from real life. Also the ability to “page” one another can create and reinforce ties to others that the student may not or cannot pursue in real life. It fosters social skills; it also helps with communication – especially the expression of the self through description and creation. The restriction to a physical place can cause a tight-knit community to develop where there were just so many separate groups (classes, retired people, and researchers), each isolated in their own locations.
    • This book does show its age, though. The concept of talking to several people at once is not unique – not after AIM took off!
    • I think it’s a good point about the wonders of a creative process like Pueblo. The school with the “electronic worksheets” is removing all the good an electronic program can offer. Sure, the kids are working and getting some experience with computers, but how much quality is there in their experience? Especially when it stifles creativity; all of those children are going to end up with the same result. That’s not creating valuable experiences for those students – and it also teaches them to accept the default and to look for the pat answer, rather than exploring their own paths and learning to do what they imagine.
  • Chapter Ten:
    • If I understand, the use of technology ecologically means that it is being used for a good purpose in the setting it is being used in. Well, yeah! If the technology use is gratuitous, or actually harmful, I would expect that it wouldn’t last long in any program.
    • I think the point about titles influencing choice is a good one. An art class is going to be less intimidating to those un-tech-savvy students than a technology class would be. And girls are going to be drawn to it, unlike a technology class (apparently). As the authors say, embedding technical training in another activity can bring in students who would normally be hesitant to try it. Avoiding placing technology as a focus allows it to help without taking over, maybe.
  • Chapter Eleven:
    • I found it interesting that anesthesiologists and nurses didn’t trust the equipment being installed. I wonder if there was a history of “bad blood” that influenced this. I also wonder if, to assuage fears of malpractice, the tapes could be erased automatically after the surgery is finished. It’s good that, at least after the fact, they had privacy meetings and did brainstorm with people who weren’t consulted. This, to me, is an example of a situation where the bad that’s going to come from technology being implemented isn’t immediately obvious, and thus people just have to go ahead and implement it and see if there’s going to be a problem.

18 September 2006 Reading (continued)

  • Chapter Five:
    • There's a huge difference between a video of actions undertaken in public and the use of your DNA by your insurance company. The video is of things that other people could potentially see anyway. The DNA (and whatever medical information it contains) is invisible to everyone unless they collect it and analyze it. I don't think there's a straight corollary here. And I also think everyone has the right to health care, but that's neither here nor there.
    • With regards to the news and the lack of true caring: I'm not sure that's true. Places like Bosnia get organizations like the U.N. involved and continually engaged because of media interest. The media, despite whatever their motives may be, inspire people who do exhibit true caring. Places like Rwanda may not have gotten attention, that's true, and as to why some places get a connection and others don't, I can't answer. Perhaps it's racism, or a case of the media already being in the area, or what they can gauge as audience familiarity. But I think well-covered disasters tend to get viewer support, at least. Look at the difference between the Pacific tsunami of 2004 and the earthquake in the same area about a year later. The earthquake got a lot less coverage, and thus a lot less in monetary aid.
  • Chapter Six:
    • I would say that the idea of a team approach is a solution that tends to be feminine. Thus, I would expect the Library and Information Science field to be hugely involbed in team-building and consensus-reaching.
    • Why would girls not use computer-based tools as readily as boys? I can't think it's a matter of access (although I could be, and probably am, wrong). If anything, it's possibly a matter of choice by girls to select other activities besides those involving computers. As to whether this is a natural occurrence, or something that is pushed by society at large, I don't know (although I suspect it's mostly a societal push). But I don't think there's an official sanction on girls using technology; they just have to stand up and start using it.
    • I agree with the idea of paying attention in regards to the use of email in a school. One idea that came to me was: why not send out paper and electronic copies? That way the people who want one over the other are both happy, and it can't take too much time to attach a Word or PDF file to an email sent out to a listserv.
  • Chapter Seven:
    • Librarians do so much for patrons! It's unbelievable, and should be made better-known to patrons, so that their opinions on the library can be accurate. This is well-demonstrated in the demise of Apple's corporate library, which occurred because the higher-ups didn't see the value in either the library or in the librarians who staffed it. That's a shame, because this chapter showed how valuable the library was to the company's workers.
    • In a smaller library, I can see how one would remember the repeat customers. Does this also happen in a large library? Is it feasible for a librarian in a large library to keep a file on "frequent fliers," or to perform repeated searches for them without prompting?
    • Librarians are indeed a smart guide to staff in a corporation -- I think this is so clever! People have a need for proprietary information, and the librarians can take their knowledge of what research others are doing and can put them together. This is a new aspect of librarianship to me, and I think it's fantastic!

18 September 2006 Reading

Information Ecologies
by Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day:
  • Chapter One:
    • The authors make a point of bringing up the hypothesis that everything about everyone will eventually be available online -- in fifty years or less. Is this really necessary or desirable? I know the authors think that it isn't, and I have to side with them. Who the heck needs to know that the guy down the street just got gas on his way to work? The sheer banality of most of the information that would be provided would, I think, cause this idea to be nipped in the bud.
  • Chapter Three:
    • Technique. Has efficiency ever been the sole dominant human value? Or is this just a postulate? Aesthetics, morality, quality, and other values are also right up there, and sometimes trump efficiency. For example, it would be more efficient, in terms of time and money, for me to go buy a scarf for my grandmother for her birthday. But the meaning and quality behind a personally-made scarf for her trumps whatever I may gain in time and finances.
    • Morality in regards to cloning: I agree that it may be morally dubious to clone humans. But does that mean that all research must stop? Couldn't cloning even be morally good in some situations? For example, cloning could help couples who are at risk of conceiving children with a genetic disorder have children by providing a fetus that is identical to one of the parents. Most technology, I think, has a beneficial side if used wisely; I do realize, however, that that's a big if.
    • I do think it's ridiculous to think that technologies don't display social values. Even the wheel was invented because we value being able to move things! I wonder, though, if the example of the H-bomb and Oppenheimer was more of a case of a man caught up with the research than an example of valuing the fruition of his research.
    • The authors state that they "do not mean to imply that change should be stopped, but rather that it should be expected and examined." Which is good, I think. However, it seems that in some cases, they expect the developers and implementers of technology to anticipate unforeseeable consequences. I realize that sometimes it is the case that the technology has caused foreseeable problems, but there are truthfully situations in which the technology has had side effects that did not and could not become apparent until after its implementation. I wonder how the authors would feel about moving ahead in a case like that; would they favor it, or would they prefer to stick to the old way?
  • Chapter Four:
    • I find the idea of teaching, the human-to-human element, particularly intriguing. Technology is only as valuable as it is useful. Teaching others to use a type of technology is a great way to spread technology, and for the teacher to learn more about the technology.

Monday, September 11, 2006

11 September 2006 Readings

Libraries
by C. Pawley:
I found the idea of using digital format as a solution to the space and conservation problems faced by libraries particularly interesting. The issue of technological obsolescence is a good one, but what also made me think about this topic is the issue of people who need the actual item in order to fulfill their research (e.g., they study Medieval illumination techniques and really need to see that 13th century Bible "in the flesh"). If we get too gung-ho on the whole digitization of documents, we will be dropping a service that is typically provided for those who most likely can't go somewhere else to meet their needs.

Libraries: Digital, Electronic and Hybrid by D. D. Rusch-Feja:
I like the idea of digital libraries. I like even more the point that a library is most likely not going to be completely online, but partially online while maintaining a physical collection as well. Thus, the point that librarians need to keep up on technology in order to meet the needs of the new type of libraries technology is making available. Thus, continuous training becomes necessary. Who pays for this? Employers? Or does the librarian have to pay for it himself/herself?

Tunnel Vision and Blind Spots: What the Past Tells Us About the Present; Reflections on the Twentieth-Century History of American Librarianship by Wayne A Wiegand:
(Personal comment: this was my favorite article out of the four we read.) I was very surprised that there is a lack of library history, especially considering that so much of the work done in libraries is to maintain items from the past. I guess we don't like to look at ourselves! I think Wiegand pointed this out when he started discussing the past -- with libraries focused on "improving" the reading population by selecting only certain items, for example. We have to get over the more unsavory aspects of our field and learn from them if we don't want to repeat the same mistakes. The current issue with access to pornographic materials on library computers strikes me as the same problem in a different time.

Information Science by Tefko Saracevic:
I found it interesting that there are information scientists who ignore the user. This just baffles me; what use is the information if it's not being used by someone? And what good does it do you if you can technically get information, but it's in a format that doesn't make sense and makes the information basically inaccessible? This puzzles me greatly.