Monday, October 7, 2013

Defining ourselves within the profession

I just read A. Nelson, J. Irwin. "Defining What We Do -- All Over Again": Occupational Identity, Technological Change, and the Librarian/Internet-Search Relationship. Academy of Management Journal, ScienceDaily, 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Sep. 2013 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130807134506.htm
In the article, Nelson talks about how librarians and information professionals are redefining themselves as searchers of information particularly in terms of "who we are" and "what we do". I'd like to expand on the two phrases from my point of view as a veteran librarian who has been teaching and working in the field for decades.

Librarians have always defined themselves as those who help others find information, and as a profession that disseminates information. It's important to recognize that we disseminate information. We help get that hidden 'knowledge' out into the hands of researchers, historians, students and teachers, financial planners, investors, and anyone else who wants to know something. To me, that's the key to the job and the profession. Using the internet to find information is great. The internet is now the key for doing research and it is the first step for finding information. 

There are other proprietary databases, print resources and indices that are not readily available on the internet. Libraries, archives, and information centers subscribe to these 'fee-based' resources that provide access to other materials not readily available to the general public. As a librarian, it is important to know about these resources and to be able to mine the indices and databases for requested information. Not everything has been digitized and made available online. Public records, corporate records, government records and documents are just some of the types of materials that exist in print form that may never be digitized. Or the indices may be available, but not the actual records. The researcher has to go to the sources to complete his or her project.

While the information on the web proliferates at an astounding rate, librarians and information scientists continue to help those who ask find what they seek. Our job and our field, while it evolves quickly, is rooted in the idea of helping our client base, our patrons, find information. If you keep that in mind, you'll succeed throughout your career in the mind-boggling and ever challenging field of library and information science.


Monday, September 23, 2013

What type of librarian do you want to be?

This Foundations course is designed to teach you about the profession and give you a taste for the types of work each type of library / archives / cultural institution entails. 

There are four major types of libraries; public, school, academic, and special. There are archives and record centers, historical societies and museums. Special collections and rare book libraries are usually part of academic libraries or museums. When you consider special libraries, those that focus on a specific topic or trade, there are information centers, corporate libraries, law libraries, research centers and think tanks, and more. 

Museums have both libraries and collections of objects including art, artifacts, animals, and minerals. Historical societies collect objects, printed materials, and records or manuscripts.

When we delve into the information science side of LIS, there are information centers, usability labs, knowledge management functions and skills, search and retrieval centers, organizations that deal with information, data, metadata, databases, and the accumulation, aggregation, and dissemination of data, big and small.

Within this broad and expanding field there are opportunities to work in tradition jobs, such as reference and cataloging, and non-traditional jobs like scholarly communications and first-year experience. New jobs crop up every day including digital curators and digital humanists, electronic records managers, and human computer interaction specialists. 

This ever growing list is just a taste of the professionals and niches out there for LIS students and practitioners. What should you specialize in? I've always felt that general knowledge is best, but over the years I've come to realize that students need strong technology and searching skills, the ability to approach a website or database and determine how to retrieve data using the available access points and limitations. Digital skills are essential these days, even for analog librarians and those who gravitate toward the printed book. 

Most of all it is important to explore the various fields and permutations of LIS and determine how your skill set resonates with the required or perceived skills for a practitioner. Explore the field, it is ever changing and challenging, yet holds many opportunities. 

Over the past year or so, I've been reading an interesting blog "Hack Library School." 
Library science students talk about their impressions of the field, provide advice for fellow students, and suggestions on viewing themselves in Hack Library School http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/   This blog should be read by professors of LIS and by practitioners who want to know what students are concerned about. The current post http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/things-to-consider-when-applying-to-library-school/   is particularly enlightening as is today's post (Sept 23, 2013) "Working, Volunteering, or Interning Before Library School" http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/working-volunteering-or-interning-before-library-school/#more-7885

What type of information professional do you want to be when you grow up?

Monday, September 16, 2013

Two libraries - preserved and preserving our heritage


As we consider the history of libraries, we recognize that many from the ancient world do not survive. In fact, many collections of tablets, stone, and papyrus materials are records that document legal and administrative matters, such as the collections at Ebla, Tel El Amarna, and even the Linear B tablets found in Knossos and Mycenae. There are several wonderful books about the discovery of these collections and the decipherment of their records. The most recent is by Margolit Fox The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Codewhich describes the discover of Linear B tablets and their decipherment by Alice Kober and Michael Ventris. These tablets contain annual inventories of goods shipped and received at administrative centers in the ancient world (1800-1400 BCE).

We have all heard about the Library at Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Soter and expanded by rulers in Egypt, burned by Julius Caesar, expanded by Marc Antony and Cleopatra, burned, expanded, and finally destroyed so that there are no scrolls or codices, merely archaeological ruins buried under the modern city in Egypt. One library that survives and is still being recovered is that at Herculaneum 
The city was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE spewing lava and ash over Pompeii and Herculaneum. Today, using refracted light and much patience, scrolls uncovered in the late 1700s are being digitized and preserved. The National Geographic video describes how the papyrus scrolls are unrolled and read today. http://youtu.be/rQBgoLZZjHM

Down through the ages, libraries have come and gone, some surviving and still in use like the Vatican Library that we discussed, others disappearing, known only through comments in the literature, letters, and historical references. Many of the national libraries today are working separately and jointly to preserve the historical record. The Smithsonian Libraries is one example. Again a very nice marketing video talks about the vast collections at the institution. http://youtu.be/bi75-k-7hrE

How does your library document its history? What does it collect that documents and preserves the history of your community?

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Alternative Careers with a library degree

There are lots of jobs and careers out there for librarians and information scientists. Researchers and writers are just some of the traditional positions graduates seek.  Today I read the blog for Amanda Brenan, graduate of Rutgers, who calls herself a Meme Librarian and haunts forgotten places and files on the web.  If you want to know what others with MLIS degrees are doing, check out her blog http://biblioboard.tumblr.com/post/60750440586/when-i-began-library-school-in-2009-i-had-no-idea

As to my career, I've been a researcher, a consultant, a librarian and historian at large, and most of all a teacher. Somehow with all these positions and vocations, I use my degree every single day.

What non-traditional positions are you looking at?

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Exploring symbols

I was thinking about the first week of Foundations of Library & Information Science, where we explored the Ampersand symbol, its meaning, origin, and definition., as we discussed the need to look up symbols, terms, and concepts for library patrons even if we know the answer. On one of the listservs I frequent, there is a posting for an article in the current New Yorker (Sept 6, 2013) about Hashtags, Manicules, and more. The article written by Keith Houston is entitled "Ancient Roots of Punctuation" http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/09/origins-of-hashtag-manicule-diple-pilcrow-ampersand-explained.html
 The article explores the origins of various symbols, including the number sign which can be used as an abbreviation for Pound, or lb. As with Ampersand, I was amazed that I use this symbol frequently and had no idea of its origins. If you are intrigued with the article, you might look at his book Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks

What did you learn today?

Monday, August 26, 2013

A fresh look at Libraries

Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions are changing before our eyes. In some cases they are merging into single institutions with multiple operations separated by function and format. In other cases, these institutions are merging all staff and functions into a single dynamic organization that offers its resources to the public. 
This semester we will explore how do these institutions work; where they came from and where they are going; and most importantly, where you fit in.

Here's a taste of what's to come. The Digital Public Library, as described by NPR on August 19, 2013 http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/08/19/213498478/combining-the-nations-digitized-libraries-all-in-one-place  

So follow me into the exciting world of cultural institutions where nothing stays the same. A solid intuitive grasp of how information works, how people seek information, and where the information resides is key for success. I'll help you start along that path.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

All about libraries, again

Well, the summer semester just ended and I'm taking a break before I start to blog about library and information science, all over again.  It's been a great year for blogging and for learning all about libraries.


I'll be talking about libraries, archives, information science, and all those related fields. Where does the field come from? What do practitioners do? and more so. So get ready.

Here are some photos of libraries I visited last fall.  The one to the right is in Brooklyn Heights, NYC.
The one to below is one of the beautiful stone lions at NYPL.
 






Look for more posts in August.