Metadata as Language: Reflections on Chapter Eleven of The Portable MLIS

As a brief student of linguistics and a long-time student of literature, I am fascinated by the ways in which we use language for everything from everyday endeavors to intellectual pursuits. Amazingly, language captures the practical need to communicate and the spiritual need to inspire. It does all this by representing sounds (phones/ phonemes) with symbols (letters/ words) and combining them to be more meaningful than they ever could be by themselves. As a library science student, I cannot help but notice the impact that language has on designing databases and successful searches. Its influence is both subtle and direct; quite plainly this chapter states that “how you store it determines how you retrieve it,” yet it also makes distinctions about how the language of metadata (data that describes data) is indexed and thus how it can be used to retrieve in specific information (Weedman, 2008, p. 115-117).

The chapter cites a Nobel prize winning scientist, Herb Simon, and his eloquent analysis of how information professionals create a “preferred state” or solution out of an “existing state of affairs” or problem (Weedman, 2008, p. 112). Language itself is a kind of “preferred state” created out of the need to communicate and later the need to persuade and inspire those around us. Language, like libraries, is also a unique signal that a society has reached a certain level of sophistication—one that must be reached before libraries are possible.  Therefore, it makes sense that libraries developed systems that classified documents based on the language of metadata to solve basic search needs that evolved.

The chapter uses the National Information Standards Institute or NISO’s definition of metadata, which is as follows: “structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource” (Weedman, 2008, p. 116). Where the language of metadata becomes so intricate and important is in the type of indexing done to make that language searchable. A database can index metadata about subject, title, author, and so on alphabetically in various ways, two of the most intriguing being those of controlled vocabulary and natural language. Using controlled language means that someone inputs common search words (a cataloguer) that someone else (a user) can enter to find desired information while using natural language means that every word, whether it is in the title or just one paragraph, is indexed and searched through in order to find that same desired information (Weedman, 2008, p. 116-117). The intriguing aspect of the above methods of indexing is that they both make the underlying assumption that “a short string of characters” is equivalent to a specific meaning—a concept that language inherently supports by the mere fact that we created it for that purpose (Weedman, 2008, p. 118).

A new method of using metadata has recently developed that shows another inherent aspect of language: that it is constantly evolving and never static. “Social tagging” is a practice where users make their own labels or controlled vocabulary words for information and generate a kind of improvised searching language for other users (Weedman, 2008, p. 117). The chapter refers to the possibility that such an improvised tagging and searching language could evolve into a “voluntary controlled vocabulary” (Weedman, 2008, p. 117). That it could be voluntary yet controlled is a fascinating notion that encompasses both change in the language overtime, yet promotes that change within a particular set of constructs—again a common linguistics pattern.

The language of metadata influences the creation of databases and search strategies through its subtle nuances and reveals the perpetual truths of language, in general, reflected in those databases and strategies. This is not a surprising discovery given that language is the original packaging for information, a currency that is inherently full of worth to us as human beings.

Weedman, Judith. (2008). Information Retrieval: Designing, Querying, and Evaluating Information Systems. In Ken Haycook & Brooke E. Sheldon (Eds.) The Portable MLIS: Insights from the experts. (pp.112-126). Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Collections are Complicated: Reflections on Chapter Nine of The Portable MLIS

In this chapter, Evens relates experiences and insights about information service collections that reflect experiences that I have personally had while working for various libraries. Some of his observations are common to library staff who are accustomed to assisting patrons, while others are glimpses into the world of a collection developer. Whether they be positive or negative, all are useful for budding librarians looking to someday create their own collections.

Evens first cites the common and satisfying experience of a patron’s gratitude for finding exactly what he or she needed, especially in cases where an individual did not think that something was possible to find or didn’t know the exact something that they were looking for (Evens, 2008, p. 88). As a library clerk, I have had this happen to me many times. One particular woman, a grade school teacher, comes up to my desk every few weeks with a new obscure topic she needs picture books about and we always find something she can use. Another seemingly common experience is the peculiar notion that some patrons cling to that “libraries equals books” and not places where information is the real currency (Evens, 2008, p. 90-91). It is not as frequent as it once was, however we still have people occasionally come into our library and critique us for giving into the computer fad, before asking where all the good books have all gone. A third and not so common notion that Evens raises is that all the materials a collection could amass are futile unless people use them (Evens, 2008, p. 95). Some would argue that they have intrinsic value as objects that contain knowledge, but I agree with Evens specifically because knowledge is a process of personal discovery and not a thing that can be stored (like a virus knowledge must be passed on or it goes dormant and dies of disuse).

Evens also provides some professional insights into collection building and its complications that affect the experiences even basic staff have with a particular collection. Who has access to what can be a tricky issue, especially when it comes to the materials and resources to which a child should have access (Evens, 2008, p. 95). The library that I work for has changed its policies on what materials children can take out in the past year, expanding them to adult books but making the crucial choice to limit them from taking out any adult movies. Another issue professional collection developers have to constantly work around is that of which movements in literature and information to follow and which to ignore (Evens, 2008, p. 92). If a library purchases resources about one movement that turns out to be more of a fad, then that library is left with too many new resources that no one wants (Evens, 2008, p. 92). A great service my library has recently started using is from McNaughton, which lends us many copies of the latest best selling novels so that we do not have to purchase too many copies of the books that are currently popular but will only circulate a few copies in a few months. Lastly and most importantly, Evens recommends thorough and frequent “scanning” be done by all libraries (Evens, 2008, p. 93). My library is perhaps one of the most pertinent examples of what can happen when “scanning,” or assessing both the collection and the service community, is not done for a number of years. As a result, our overall collection is still in desperate need of weeding and updating, but we no longer have the kind of budget to achieve such a large-scale renovation quickly enough for all our patrons.

The above insights are all important to consider when creating or updating a collection. Moreover, they are all issues we as librarians will have to deal with in the future as more resources become available in more formats. We will all have some hard decisions to make in order to stay relevant to our communities and we must do our due diligence to make the right ones.

Evens, G. Edwards. (2008). Reflections on Creating Information Service Collections. In Ken Haycook & Brooke E. Sheldon (Eds.) The Portable MLIS: Insights from the experts. (pp.3-14). Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Libraries as Mirrors: Reflections on Chapter One of The Portable MLIS

Upon a first read, this chapter may primarily appear to be the summation of the history and underlying beliefs that have lead to the modern library. However, it also frames that history and those beliefs within the explicit and inseparable notion that “libraries are reflections of the societies in which they are embedded” (Rubin, 2008, p. 4). When viewed through such a lens, it is possible to link specific historical circumstances to the basic needs behind the conceptualization of libraries so that when we study the what of libraries we also understand the why. Understanding why libraries were created and how they evolved is a key factor for determining where libraries must turn to be relevant in the future. Thus, exploring libraries as mirrors of society is essential in order to discover the underlying needs on which to base libraries in the future.

The historical needs that have been met by libraries in the past are intriguing, ranging from the practical to the thought provoking. It is not surprising that one of the first libraries was an extension of the practical needs of a society, specifically that of ancient Sumeria. As it flourished into a trade center, the ancient Sumerians recognized the need to keep very organized trade and land records—a sign that they had evolved beyond a basic, survivalist existence (Rubin, 2008, p. 4). The ancient Egyptians created libraries for more inspirational reasons; they kept spiritual literature within the very temples that were so important to their lives and made their priests its keepers (Rubin, 2008, p. 4-5). Once again, this practice shows that the society had grown beyond mere surviving to a kind of religious scholarship. Perhaps the most intriguing library was the Alexandrian, the first academic library. If libraries are signs that a society has reached a higher level of sophistication, then the Alexandrian’s society—that of the Greek and Egyptian worlds after the conquests of Alexander the Great—was one of the more enlightened societies. Scholars from around the known world both contributed to its resources and studied from them, making the Alexandrian a learning commons unrivaled in its own time (Rubin, 2008, p. 5). Naturally, there are many more examples of past libraries, nevertheless they all mirrored the societies that they were born out of by fulfilling a need that arose in their society.

But what kind of mirrors should libraries be in our modern society and its future? The first question to ask is simple: what needs do we, as a society, have that can be fulfilled by libraries? We all have the same basic needs to survive, communicate, learn, and escape. Survival can be achieved without them, however libraries play a crucial role in our need to communicate, learn, and escape from our reality from time to time. To demonstrate a few examples work best: one can physically enter a library and immediately check their email messages, learn something new from any print resource in the building, and pick up a novel he or she can read to cart him or her off to a far away place. One can also use technology to find a library website, download an audio book to listen to as the world melts away, look up an article for research on an online database, and check the library’s events for the week. What is important about the kind of library above is that it creates a space, whether it be actual or virtual, where we can meet our own intellectual and spiritual needs as thinking and feeling beings. As long as libraries continue to provide such a unique environment in which to achieve this, and continually improve upon that environment with new technology and services, they will remain relevant.

Rubin, Richard E. (2008). Stepping Back and Looking Forward: Reflections on the Foundations of Libraries and Librarianship. In Ken Haycook & Brooke E. Sheldon (Eds.) The Portable MLIS: Insights from the experts. (pp.3-14). Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Introduction

Hereafter, posts to this blog will concern books, articles, and other literature about libraries and how to improve their services. This entry, however, serves as an introduction to my personal bias, vision and belief in libraries. I believe libraries are the quintessential meeting places where people of all shapes, sizes, and colors can find inspiration for their every whim, everyday projects, and their entire lives. My vision is for us, as a community of librarians and library users, to create spaces where everyone can access and share information and resources through the use of technology, print materials, social programs, and the hard work of many individuals. Naturally, my bias is my belief that such an ambitious goal is not only possible but that we are working towards it now. I find faith in such a thing because it is in our nature to communicate and share. Whether it be a joke, a favorite novel, or information that personally helped us, we will always impart what we know or have found out to someone else, and that someone will impart it to someone else, and the cycle will continue—and libraries will continue to be a part of that cycle.