On Mon, 21 Feb 2011, Laval Hunsucker wrote:
> Islands ?
> Islands of meaning in the sea of information ?!
> Is that what we ( should ) want ?
> Can't we do better than that ?
> Shouldn't we do better than that ?
> Can we afford to do not better than that ?
**Yes We Can!** (trite but meaningful phrase)
How about: self-propelled ships of concentration and interrelation of
data sailing the vast sea of uncoordinated and seemingly adrift
information?
How do we do that? By asking and demonstrating (in various stimulating
and thought-provoking ways) the question: What do certain events have in
common and how might they be related to one according to existing tie-in
concepts?
I.e., we can be the agents of creation of harmony and sense out of chaos
by encouraging critical thinking and the interconnection of otherwise
fleeting bits of information that would typically go unrecognized as
related.
An example, at least for medical librarians, you may not be prepared for
(which is the whole concept behind the paragign of stimulation of
thinking):
How *might* the political situations in Wisconsin, Ohio, Egypt,
Bahrain, Libya, Tunisia and Alaska (and etc.) be related to one another
and to historical events of similar natures (particularly in the
20th century) and to specific elements of of "Hare Psychopathology
Checklist" (see Wikipedia)?
You may shy away from such activities as potnetially opinionated and thus
counterproductive to neutral dissemination of information. No constructive
challenge in that, is there?
The challenge to expand the meaningfulness of the role of librarianship
is to introduce methods of critical tninking to patrons (particularly
secondary and college students and the general public) by demonstrating
the need to analyze social data for interrelationships and avoid seeing
all situations as unique and static.
Cheers!
jgm
John G. Marr
Cataloger
CDS, UL
Univ. of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
jmarr_at_unm.edu
jmarr_at_flash.net
**There are only 2 kinds of thinking: "out of the box" and "outside
the box."
Opinions belong exclusively to the individuals expressing them, but
sharing is permitted.
Received on Wed Feb 23 2011 - 13:32:28 EST