Becoming an Expert on the Spot: Observations from a Library Reference Desk

Reference librarians must always be prepared to find any resource at their finger tips and match it to a request specific to an individual—with his or her own information needs. The personal aspect of an information need in a reference transaction makes reference work a category unto itself with its own best practices.

One of those best practices begins with how reference librarians educate themselves along their various career paths.   They are well served by a background in which they learned about as many subjects and topics as they possible could. You can never anticipate what kind of questions patrons will ask with 100% certainty, so it is more than merely valuable to know strange and obscure facts and jargon that would be irrelevant in other career fields. In reference work no knowledge is discounted because all knowledge can be potentially useful.

Librarians take advantage of this practice once they are in reference positions, as well. There is always something to learn from patrons' questions and librarians find out just the kind of obscure information that is valuable to store away for future reference transactions.  Librarians can provide consistent, quality service to patrons by combing the information they've learned through the years, the information they've learned from patron transactions, and training in their own collections.

Why Context Matters: Observations from a Library Reference Desk

When someone asks a question or seeks information about something, they are expressing a need that is unique to them and their situation. Thus, they best perceive the context for that need. However, there occurs a disconnect at this point in a reference transaction because communicating an information need is not as straightforward or easy to articulate as it sounds at first. There may be language, dialect, cultural, or other factors that create a situation where the message is not received as was intended by its deliverer.

It is for this very reason that the reference interview is so crucial. An interview gives a librarian a chance to capture as much of the context of a patron's information request as possible. This can be done by asking a mixture of targeted questions, open questions, and often times just letting the patron keep talking till they've found the right words that succinctly express their information need. The better a librarian understands the context of a question, the quicker and more comprehensively he or she can answer it.  When libraries take the time to understand their patrons in reference interviews, both the patrons and larger library community benefit from the highly effective level of communication that is the ultimate result.

Weeding is Necessary to Let a Library Grow

The topic of weeding materials in a library came up recently, but it posed more problems than solutions. Weeding must be done to keep the materials in your library current, useful, and accurate.  However, how one goes about weeding is by making very difficult decisions that not everyone is garunteed to agree with or support.

What do you do with an old almanac that has outdated and inaccurate information but is beloved by your patrons? If you decide to get rid of it, do you then sell it to someone who cherished it or destroy it so no one can claim you gave out "bad information?"  With fiction you don't have the problem of outdated information, but there may be books with predjudicial words because of the times they were written in. Do you trash those or keep them and hope they are taken in context by your patrons? 

All of the kinds of decisions above are made in an effort to let a collection grow into the most relevent, useful, and inspiring it can be. Like weeding gardens to let the best plants grow, libraries must remove select materials to let the really brilliant books shine in their collections.

Rare Books Show That We Are Rare Beings

I was privilaged today to look at an early folio of William Shakespeare, a very old, rare, and valuable book.  Why did I think it was so precious and why was I so excited to just look at it?  It is very old and we are lucky that it survived at all, but that is not the only reason (mountains are old but we don't get excited about those in the same way). It is a piece of history and represents other lost pieces of history, but that is not the only reason either. The real reason I, and so many others, were excited to simply stare at such a thing is because it is a piece of human history and by staring into it we felt closer to a past and understood more about who were (because of where we came from). I owe that realization to my experience with such a rare book and I am grateful.

"Ask What the Future Should Be"

There is one turn of phrase that struck me as intriguing lately.  That phrase is "ask what the future should be." I was immediately struck by it because it made the idea of innactive change seem lazy and irresponsible. The idea that we are letting change just happen to us instead of doing anything about it stirred me up. I started thinking about how I could actually make a difference in defining what libraries will mean to future generations. I can implement programs, create collections, and personally advise future library staff and patrons in a way that could turn small effective steps into a library revolution. This is a powerful and addictiing thought and I encourage everyone to try it.

Libraries as Knowledge Commons: A Reader's Response

The article “Youth and their Virtual Worlds: Research Findings and Implications for School Libraries” advocates a new path for school libraries in order to enhance their students’ learning in context with new technology. It focuses on school libraries as “knowledge commons” as opposed to mere “information places,” the main difference being that of the directionality of information (Todd, 2008). A library that is structured as an “information place” only provides information while a library that is a “knowledge commons” is a center from which knowledge is both given and re-presented in new and interesting forms. The very forms in which information is re-presented are the areas where new web 2.0 technologies intersect with the more traditional information gathering processes to create such a “knowledge commons.”

The article continues to explain that the use of web 2.0 technologies is the key to both school librarians’ and students’ efforts to engage in an “information to knowledge experience” that will improve students’ overall capabilities to discover, decipher, and employ information (Todd, 2008). It cites some examples of projects that can be both instructive and creative, such as blogs about literature and group wikis that compile the research of students and teachers on a subject. The most intriguing thing about these projects is that they do not have to remain merely a local classroom or school endeavor; because of the widespread availability and use of such web 2.0 tools as “facebook” and various kinds of blogs (written, video, etc...), these kinds of projects are capable of becoming highly enriching multi-school efforts to learn from each other and not just the books on the shelves. It is projects of this nature—ones that allow students to actively participate in their learning process and tap into their creativity—that are characteristic of a “knowledge commons.” More importantly, it is projects of this nature that will ultimately equip students with the critical skills to analyze, manipulate, and recreate knowledge in the ways that will be required of them in the future.

By suggesting that learning take place in such an open and engaging environment as a “knowledge commons,” the article is advocating a specific kind of learning that uses individual and group experiences to make knowledge gained through those experiences more relevant to the students themselves. The article emphasizes the process of constructing original representations of information in order to foster a student’s “personal knowledge and understanding of the curriculum” (Todd, 2008). The underlying concept behind such a process is that students who use information along with acquired skills to create something absorb more of that information and hone those skills as a part of their learning experience. Additionally, the article encourages school librarians to assist students in using technology to find creative outlets to share their ideas and insights. It refers to a study that illustrates how children and teens are already using the content published in social networks to spark conversation that is meaningful to them. School librarians could use those same networks to begin conversations that show students how relevant they are to their own education. Then, students can realize that they empower themselves by making the knowledge that has generally been forced upon them (and will be forced upon them in the future) into their own unique understanding.

The main concern of the article is the transformation of school libraries into spaces where knowledge is shared and created as a conscious, collaborative effort by school librarians and students together. It proposes that this is a crucial step in the effort to “rethink, re-imagine, and recreate a dynamic learning environment” (Todd, 2008). Presumably, learning in such an environment would nurture students into becoming more interested, focused, and knowledgeable about themselves and the larger world. Thus, school libraries that follow the example of a “knowledge commons” can begin to improve the interactions of people and information, one student at a time.

Todd, Ross J. (2008). Youth and their Virtual Worlds Networked Worlds: Research Findings and Implications for School Libraries. School Libraries Worldwide 14(2), 19-34.

Seeking More Than Just Information: Reflections on Chapter Fifteen of The Portable MLIS

I am the first one to admit that research can be dull and tedious, but despite my initial resistance to the research process I have learned to respect it for the insights that it brings to light that would otherwise still be undiscovered. Additionally, I am not completely unchanged by my own past research projects; in fact, I have learned a lot about myself and my endurance to connect and communicate knowledge in unique ways.

The key word to me about the research process is communication. The chapter points out that “the researcher’s job is not really complete until he or she has communicated the results” (Powell, 2008, pp.176). It goes further to say that a “profession cannot benefit from such research unless its members are able and willing to critically read” that research (Powell, 2008, pp. 177). The above quotes suggest that research, like communication, is a two way process between the researcher and his or her reader. Furthermore, they suggest that the interaction between the two is the key ingredient to creating new research processes. Simply put, research begets research—perhaps that is why there is so very much of it out there in the world.

When most people think of research, they think of unearthing already discovered knowledge, but the truth is that the impact of research is more important than just unearthing something that already exists. In actuality, researchers who create new knowledge are the ones making the most impact on future research and our lives today. The chapter states that such newly created knowledge “produce[s] better insights” into current practices that can be improved (Powell, 2008, pp. 176). Thus, knowledge creation is a noble act that builds on the past to improve the present and predict the future.

Whether or not research unearths old information or new, it is a fact that research is necessary. Some may see it as a necessary evil (I did in high school), but even if every step along the way is a struggle, the result of any research is worth it—productive or not. We learn something from every question we try to answer, especially whether or not that question even can be answered. Most significantly, we learn about our curiosity as individuals and as a culture and how that nature can serve us in the future for which we must prepare.

Powell, Ron. (2008). Research. In Ken Haycook & Brooke E. Sheldon (Eds.) The Portable MLIS: Insights from the experts. (pp. 168-178). Westport: Libraries Unlimited.