lfa

This article by Steven Bell from Inside Higher Ed suggests that we don’t have enough controversy in the library science field to keep it vital. In part he says,

“What seems to define many other disciplines is the discourse that occurs. When academics challenge each other’s thoughts their understanding of the issues evolves, and as a result the entire profession’s body of knowledge moves to a higher plane of discovery. Instead library science is the Rodney Dangerfield of the social sciences; it gets no respect. Lack of discourse is not the sole reason, but it points to the profession’s lack of interest in engaging each other in discourse. It’s just easier to agree – or better yet share no thoughts at all.”

We could all passively agree by not reading and/or responding, or…

Presentation on redefining libraries from last week’s British Columbia Library Association Conference.

Crowley, Bill. (2007)”Don’t let Google and the Pennypinchers Get You Down: Defending (or Redefining) Libraries and Librarianship in the Age of Technology.” In Proceedings Beyond 20/20 Envisioning the Future: 2007 British Columbia Library Conference, Burnaby (Canada).

Abstract: What are libraries really about? If libraries and librarians cannot compete with information technology giants like Google, how can they remain relevant to their communities of users? Crowley explores ways to understand how the general public and students view libraries. Bluntly stated, there is no longer any way that librarians and trustees can convince residents of local communities and members of college and university campuses that libraries are their primary information source. Given this reality, Crowley introduces the concept of lifecycle librarianship, offering a useful way of considering library roles and securing the necessary human and financial resources to carry them through. This presentation will encourage realistic and original thinking about the future of libraries and professional librarianship by redefining their primary roles from information suppliers to education providers and self-learning facilitators.

Here’s his definition of “library science or librarianship:

As a field, library science or librarianship is concerned with understanding and advancing learning throughout the human lifecycle, with a particular emphasis on the processes of reading and other forms of communicating story, information, and meaning through library and library-related contexts. The emphasis on human learning, content, and meaning distinguishes library science from the newer field of information science. (Bill Crowley, October 6, 2006)

Here I have to let you in on a little secret. If you are employed with a public, school, or academic library—and really believe that you are an information specialist and not a librarian—you are either engaging in wishful thinking or you have been successfully brainwashed by your ALA-accredited program.

The study described combines empirical and qualitative data from more than 2,250 researchers and 300 librarians. While the data reports on libraries in the UK, there’s a lot that’s interesting.

From the summary:

This study was designed to provide an up-to-date and forward-looking view of how researchers interact with academic libraries in the UK. Harnessing empirical data and qualitative insights from over 2250 researchers and 300 librarians, the RIN and CURL hope that the results will be useful in informing the debate about the future development of academic libraries and the services they provide to researchers.

http://www.rin.ac.uk/researchers-use-libraries

Last month, when I was in Prague, I gave a talk at the Institute of Information Science and Librarianship at Charles University.  One of my former students there asked that I write up the presentation for Ikaros, an electronic Czech journal of information science.  The article is now posted at http://www.ikaros.cz/node/4046. It concerns the impact of LC’s decision to stop creating series authority records on libraries such as ours and implications for the future role of LC.