To be honest, I was a subscriber of the "Reference is Dead" theory before I took the reference course this semester. Part of the reasons may be that I was not a person who would ask any question to any librarian in person in a library. Moreover, at least in China (and maybe partly in the US), the low usage of reference service in libraries is a fact.
It's very interesting that in last week's #libchat discussion on Twitter, a question "Is reference dead?" was raised up. I believe saying anything is dead is hard, because "being dead" has many possible meanings, which must be defined before it makes any sense. For example, when we say "print books are dead", do we mean printed books are obsolete (which is certain not the case), or will be totally obsolete, or will be largely obsolete, or all the print books are or will be somehow destroyed literally? (And in this case, neither of the possible explanations may not be accurate enough, which is another story though.) And in the "reference is dead" case, too, there may be different definitions of this expression, from no one is using reference, to reference is not longer sustainable for libraries, to reference is not relevant to the members, etc.
But what was really interesting about the #libchat discussion last week is that, it showed how different libraries are or could be in everything. The reference services can be either very popular (so popular that marketing is not even necessary at all), or seasonal, or totally obsolete and then was cancelled. The diversity between different kinds of libraries and individual libraries, which comes from the combination of the different ways the communities and the librarians perceive the libraries and services the libraries offer, is another difficulty for such statements about something being dead.
What makes thing even harder to be predicted is the larger landscape, which I dare not dig deeper in this post. But just like Keri said, "Ready reference is pretty much dead", certainly, because of Google and other social media platforms. However, after taking this course, I do realize that there are some values in the library reference service, regardless of the larger landscape and the future of library reference.
Maybe the biggest value of library reference work that I failed to realize is its representation of the human side of the library. Technology can be too cold and intimidating to library members. In order to be a community center, the human side of the library cannot be more emphasized. After all, not everyone is becoming a Cyborg.
Still another value that is represented in the library reference work is librarians' information expertise. We have the abilities to find, evaluate and use information effectively, we have the vision to use these abilities to help other people and improve the world in a proper way. That's why we are the supermen/superwomen in the information world. That's something we can and should be proud of ourselves. That is our identity no matter we are doing what work in what environment, library reference being alive or dead, libraries being alive or dead. That's why Dave Lankes said "An empty room with a librarian is a library."
I really love the final assignment of this course to do a pathfinder of the topic we are interested in. I kind of regret that I chose a topic that is too academic, "historical anthropology", because it seems that non-academic topic may be more helpful and relevant to the world. As a library student, this assignment reminds me that being a librarian means combining the information skills with the interests I have and share all these products to everyone. Pathfinder is one and only one of the means to do that. But that, being a librarian, is awesome!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
How Libraries Respond to Hurricane #Sandy or the #Election: A List from #IST511
This is a summary of the 511 class in November 13th. In the class, the different assignment groups talked about what they found for the assignment of "How Libraries respond to Hurricane Sandy or the Election". Below are the list talked about in the class:
Kudos to all the classmates in 511!
Hurricane Sandy:
- Offering power, heat and Internet
- One awesome example is the Princeton Public Library in NJ. People uploaded videos to Youtube; or read this report from School Library Journal.
- Offering entertainment
- Little Free Library after Hurricane Sandy
- For example, this report on BoingBoing talks about a FLF in NJ.
- Collaborating with FEMA to offer assistance to the victims
- For example, in Queens Public Library or Cape May County Library
- Offering storytime
- A really awesome example is from Queens Public Library
- Donating food
- Bookmobile
- An example comes from Brooklyn Public Library who offered bookmobiles to the affected area.
Election:
- Library card as voting ID
- For example, in Memphis, TN
- Having panels on voting issues
- An example is the Towson branch of the Baltimore County Public Library
- As a part of the "Searching for Democracy: A Public Conversation about the Constitution" Project in San Diego Public Library, local author Mark E. Smith talked about why we need to stop voting
- Pathfinder
- Political Cartoon
- Library of Congress' political cartoon exhibition
- Mock election
- One really serious example is the mock election conducted by The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Kudos to all the classmates in 511!
Saturday, November 10, 2012
What I learnt from #NYLA12 (part I)
Due to a number of reasons, I failed to publish my interviews during the conference.
Below is a piece of interview (in two parts) I conducted on Friday morning, in which some of my fellow students, including Mia Breitkopf, Kusturie Moodley and Nick Berry, talked about what they learnt from the "eBooks and Beyond" panel given by George Needham. The central topic of their discussion is about a point during the presentation that whether US LIS education should come back to the 4-year bachelor model, which was adopted many years ago, based on Ken Haycock and Brooke Sheldon's The Portable MLIS.
This model is actually adopted by South Africa (where Kusturie comes from) and China. So you can hear Kusturie's description about how this model is implemented in her country from this interview.
Interview part I:
http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/16926253/LIS_education
Interview part II:
http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/16926254/LIS_Education_2
Below is a piece of interview (in two parts) I conducted on Friday morning, in which some of my fellow students, including Mia Breitkopf, Kusturie Moodley and Nick Berry, talked about what they learnt from the "eBooks and Beyond" panel given by George Needham. The central topic of their discussion is about a point during the presentation that whether US LIS education should come back to the 4-year bachelor model, which was adopted many years ago, based on Ken Haycock and Brooke Sheldon's The Portable MLIS.
This model is actually adopted by South Africa (where Kusturie comes from) and China. So you can hear Kusturie's description about how this model is implemented in her country from this interview.
Interview part I:
http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/16926253/LIS_education
Interview part II:
http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/16926254/LIS_Education_2
In the following post(s), I will talk about what I learnt from this conference.
Monday, November 5, 2012
My Plan for #NYLA12
NYLA (New York Library Association) 2012 Annual Conference's coming!
Below are the events/panels I may attend:
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
You can find the information of all the sessions at: http://www.nyla.org/images/nyla/2012%20Conference/NYLA_Conference_2012-Promo_Brochure.pdf. And the hashtag of the conference is #NYLA12.
Moreover, I will interview a number of participants to share with everyone what they learn so far. Hope those who cannot present can follow up the conference by this series of interview.
So, if you will attend the conference, talk to me there! If you cannot, follow me on Twitter or this blog.
Below are the events/panels I may attend:
Thursday
- 9:00 a.m. Money Matters: Financial Education for Public and Staff
- 9:00 a.m. Prison Libraries Supporting Education
- 4:00 p.m. Keynote
- 6:00 p.m. iSchool Reception at Mouzon House
Friday
- 8:00 a.m. SMART Membership Meeting & Flash Talks
- 8:00 a.m. Improv, Comedy, and Creativity at Work
- 9:30 a.m. Pecha Kucha Presentations
- 11:00 a.m. Bibliometric 101
- 2:15 p.m. Emerging Trends in Libraries
- 2:15 p.m. “Instant Printing”: The Espresso Book Machine
- 3:45 p.m. How iPads Changed the Library
Saturday
- 8:00 a.m. Design on a Dime
- 9:30 a.m. What’s Next eBooks Chapter and Verse
- 11:00 a.m. Special Libraries You Never Knew Existed
- 11:00 a.m. Mobile Websites for Dummies
You can find the information of all the sessions at: http://www.nyla.org/images/nyla/2012%20Conference/NYLA_Conference_2012-Promo_Brochure.pdf. And the hashtag of the conference is #NYLA12.
Moreover, I will interview a number of participants to share with everyone what they learn so far. Hope those who cannot present can follow up the conference by this series of interview.
So, if you will attend the conference, talk to me there! If you cannot, follow me on Twitter or this blog.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
What I Learnt from #IST605's Library Tour
One assignment in this semester's IST605 is that each of the students visit four libraries (they could be anywhere, but not imaginary) and write a review for each of the libraries. There is a limited scope of the reviews, but basically you can write anything about the "librariness" of the libraries.
You can read my writing online, however, I am not particularly proud of mine. One of the most important reasons is that, compared to my initial enthusiasm, I didn't have a lot of time to actually do the tours, especially given my obsession with routine to do the same thing every day.
However, even just chose a number of really easy targets, I still learnt something about US libraries. As I mentioned before, I had some imaginations of what libraries in the US were like when I was in China. For example, I always imagined US libraries were, highly professional, well-managed, quite noisy, more bookless, etc, most of which are just the opposite to what's happening in China. Well, after the library tours, I realize that something are real for sure, but something are just my imagination.
Maybe the deepest impression I have is that, the libraries are really not that "bookless"; all the libraries I have visited in the US are still somewhat book-centered. Like I mentioned before, I am not saying that book-centered libraries are not good, but I am disappointed to see there are so many books in the libraries, which occupy the spaces that can be used in a more meaningful way otherwise. So it makes me thinking that reinventing a library is never easy, but it is extremely interesting.
In last week's 605, Jill asked an interesting question, what would you include in your library if you were designing/redesigning it? There were a lot of reasonable questions. However, I was thinking that there were so many factors to consider that we can never give the answer so easily. Especially when a library is renovated, one has a whole infrastructure based on which the new library will be constructed. For example, it's almost impossible to change the stacks of Carnegie Library. So what would you do?
Moreover, what the library will look like is highly dependent on what it looks like and how the community perceives the library at present. In short, one actually needs so much more information to make an informed decision. Even though I hope that I am not overstating the value of assessment, because sometimes, grabbing a random idea and try it is something worth trying.
The last impression I have during the tours is that libraries are having totally different policies in terms of noise.
On the one hand, Bird Library is the noisiest library I have ever visited. This is an especially strong cultural shock for someone coming from China, because there is a huge pressure for everyone not to speak nearly in all Chinese libraries. Libraries are supposed to be quiet there. As a result, it's interesting that the percentage of Chinese students in Bird Library's quiet zone is actually much higher than other areas. For myself, I am bothered by all the noises as a library member; however, I think it's good as a library student.
It's equally interesting to see all the signs in Onondaga County Public Library telling people not to make phone calls (or eat and drink) in the library. Actually I am more surprised to see cases like this than those mentioned above, especially when there are so many excellent examples of how libraries divide zones to separate people with different needs, like University of Houston Library. Bird Library does an decent job, but I don't think the policy is implemented well enough. Maybe it's impossible to stop people from talking in the quiet zone if you give them the right to talk in other areas in the library. So I am actually very interested to know more examples about the consequences of such policies.
Just like what Jill said in class, getting familiar with all the libraries is important for all librarians. Library tour should be an habit all librarians have.
Off the topic, Robert Dawson, a photographer, and his son, Walker, have been visiting public libraries across the US since 1994. Their blog is a must read if you want to know more about what libraries are like across the country.
You can read my writing online, however, I am not particularly proud of mine. One of the most important reasons is that, compared to my initial enthusiasm, I didn't have a lot of time to actually do the tours, especially given my obsession with routine to do the same thing every day.
However, even just chose a number of really easy targets, I still learnt something about US libraries. As I mentioned before, I had some imaginations of what libraries in the US were like when I was in China. For example, I always imagined US libraries were, highly professional, well-managed, quite noisy, more bookless, etc, most of which are just the opposite to what's happening in China. Well, after the library tours, I realize that something are real for sure, but something are just my imagination.
Maybe the deepest impression I have is that, the libraries are really not that "bookless"; all the libraries I have visited in the US are still somewhat book-centered. Like I mentioned before, I am not saying that book-centered libraries are not good, but I am disappointed to see there are so many books in the libraries, which occupy the spaces that can be used in a more meaningful way otherwise. So it makes me thinking that reinventing a library is never easy, but it is extremely interesting.
In last week's 605, Jill asked an interesting question, what would you include in your library if you were designing/redesigning it? There were a lot of reasonable questions. However, I was thinking that there were so many factors to consider that we can never give the answer so easily. Especially when a library is renovated, one has a whole infrastructure based on which the new library will be constructed. For example, it's almost impossible to change the stacks of Carnegie Library. So what would you do?
(FYI, this picture was not taken from the Carnegie Library in Syracuse University. Picture from: http://www.library.gatech.edu/gtbuildings/GTVA-222.htm)
Moreover, what the library will look like is highly dependent on what it looks like and how the community perceives the library at present. In short, one actually needs so much more information to make an informed decision. Even though I hope that I am not overstating the value of assessment, because sometimes, grabbing a random idea and try it is something worth trying.
The last impression I have during the tours is that libraries are having totally different policies in terms of noise.
On the one hand, Bird Library is the noisiest library I have ever visited. This is an especially strong cultural shock for someone coming from China, because there is a huge pressure for everyone not to speak nearly in all Chinese libraries. Libraries are supposed to be quiet there. As a result, it's interesting that the percentage of Chinese students in Bird Library's quiet zone is actually much higher than other areas. For myself, I am bothered by all the noises as a library member; however, I think it's good as a library student.
It's equally interesting to see all the signs in Onondaga County Public Library telling people not to make phone calls (or eat and drink) in the library. Actually I am more surprised to see cases like this than those mentioned above, especially when there are so many excellent examples of how libraries divide zones to separate people with different needs, like University of Houston Library. Bird Library does an decent job, but I don't think the policy is implemented well enough. Maybe it's impossible to stop people from talking in the quiet zone if you give them the right to talk in other areas in the library. So I am actually very interested to know more examples about the consequences of such policies.
Just like what Jill said in class, getting familiar with all the libraries is important for all librarians. Library tour should be an habit all librarians have.
Off the topic, Robert Dawson, a photographer, and his son, Walker, have been visiting public libraries across the US since 1994. Their blog is a must read if you want to know more about what libraries are like across the country.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)