Well, now you are definitely singing my song!
The library schools tend to be very small, with small faculties and small
student bodies, and without tremendous support from their parent
institutions. Moreover, they are divided into two groups: those that
have a significant concentration (possibly a separate degree) in information
science and those that don't. There are certainly some determined and
creative researchers among the faculties, but it's not a large community,
even across all the schools, and the existence of a community of people
among whom to discuss, argue, imagine, float ideas, encourage, compete, etc.
really would help in building a body of active researchers in the areas that
this group is interested in.
(And even within the profession at large, there is not a culture of research
and experimentation. There is instead a culture of service, and a culture
of day-to-day. The library schools could help in this regard by
inculcating their students and graduates with an understanding that
research, experimentation, investigation, thinking, etc. are essential parts
of their work. Personally, I'm not holding my breath.)
Some potential for useful and well-funded research emanating from library
schools would seem to lie in collaboration between for-profit entities (such
as OCLC, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, III) and academics.
Unfortunately, although you are singing my song (that is, the song that
bemoans the dearth of creative research EITHER on the frontiers of
librarianship OR within its heartland), I'm also one of those who sings in
the chorus in the background and only occasionally dares a solo.
Janet Swan Hill, Professor
Associate Director for Technical Services
University of Colorado Libraries, CB184
Boulder, CO 80309
janet.hill_at_colorado.edu
*****
Tradition is the handing-on of Fire, and not the worship of Ashes.
- Gustav Mahler
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ross Singer
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:15 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Three years of NGC4LIB - reflections?
I guess the question that comes up in my mind again and again to this
issue is, "where are the library schools in all this"?
If the graduate degree is so important to the profession (and lord
knows I know how important the degree is), where is the research and
the scholarship and the experimentation and the proofs-of-concept from
the academy that can be applied to the real world environments?
-Ross.
On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 7:57 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Ross,
>
> Once again I understand where you're coming from. For many years I worked
for an organization that provided an OPAC for a group of academic libraries
that ranged from very small private colleges all the way up to ARL
institutions. I know from that experience that "academic libraries" are not
a monolithic group. So maybe I should clarify what I said before...
>
> A lot of the active contributors to NGC4LIB seem (to me) to be affiliated
with research institutions, and probably are (or used to be, in my case)
academic librarians at research institutions. And I'm not sure there's a
consenus within that group.
>
> Bernie Sloan
>
> --- On Wed, 3/11/09, Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> From: Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Three years of NGC4LIB - reflections?
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 7:42 PM
>
> Well, to take the argument even further, couldn't it be that it still
> applies?
>
> I don't think that we're all our own unique little snowflakes (to crib
> a good quote from Jonathan Rochkind) like we tend to insist, but the
> granularity /may/ be finer than:
>
> Academic or Public or Special or K-12
>
> Does the huge public research university that serves 30K+ really have
> the same needs as a small liberal arts college?
>
> It may, I'm not sure.
>
> I guess the fundamental questions, that we can't seem to answer are:
>
> 1) What is a catalog?
> 2) Do we need it?
> 3) If yes, why?
>
> Maybe if we can reconcile why we need it, we can start addressing an
outcome.
>
> -Ross.
>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 6:59 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Ross Singer said:
>>
>> "Isn't it possible that this may be saying that different
> 'kinds' of libraries have different sorts of needs? Perhaps trying to
> speak as one voice is getting in the way of getting stuff done?"
>>
>> Yeah, I can see that point. But a lot of the active contributors to
> NGC4LIB seem (to me) to be affiliated with academic institutions, and
probably
> are (or used to be, in my case) academic librarians. And I'm not sure
> there's a consenus within that group.
>>
>> Bernie Sloan
>> Sora Associates
>> Bloomington, IN
>>
>> --- On Wed, 3/11/09, Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> From: Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Three years of NGC4LIB - reflections?
>> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
>> Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 9:40 AM
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 8:58 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>>> NGC4LIB listowner Eric Lease Morgan said:
>>>
>>> "Alas, I naively thought this list would enable us to come to
> some
>> sort of consensus about the way our library-related applications ought to
>> function or we might be able speak with a single voice to people who
> create such
>> things."
>>>
>>> You're not alone. I naively thought the same thing. Oh well...
>>
>> Isn't it possible that this may be saying that different
> "kinds" of libraries have different sorts of needs? Perhaps trying
> to speak as
>> one voice is getting in the way of getting stuff done?
>>
>> -Ross.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Thu Mar 12 2009 - 11:39:29 EDT