As Steve wrote in this week's lecture, the advent of the Internet has affected school librarians (really all librarians) in a huge way. Whereas students used to have to go to either their school or public librarian to find out HOW to find the information to answer various questions, now finding information is easy... it's sorting out the good from the bad -- or the authoritative from the non-trustworthy that is the trick. (Although this article presents a very interesting counterpoint -- essentially arguing that internet access at libraries has revitalized libraries)
Essentially, much of the perceived power of the librarian is gone. People don't seem to need us as much as they once did. They may not be finding the very highest quality information on their own, but they are able to figure out what the tallest building is, what the largest country is and so on without ever stepping foot in a physical library. This means we are losing many of our potential points of contact with our patrons. In order to make up for this, we have to think of ways to get our students in the library to see us. Hopefully, if we work at a school where the teachers are open to teaming up with the TL, the students will be seeing us when their class is working on research projects. Otherwise, we need to find other ways to get them in the door. I wonder if this is why so many public libraries have things like "Dance Dance Revolution" contests for teens -- just to get them in the space?
All this makes me think of the academic library setting. When I first entered the LIS program, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be an academic or school librarian. After working for about 4 months in a clerical position at an academic library, I had little desire to remain in that setting. From my view, the academic librarians are very involved in making sure that students & faculty have access to online library resources (for instance they deal with copyright issues, create online course packets, find the best databases, make sure there is access to e-journals, create digital libraries of student work, etc.). The thing I didn't personally like about this is that the work of the academic librarians mostly seems to go on behind closed doors with relatively little interaction with patrons. I can see how in that kind of setting, the physical space of the library may be deemed to be not necessary, and librarians could be relegated to offices somewhere just making sure the library website works. One of the reasons I am attracted to school librarianship is that there is still a high level of interaction between librarians and their patrons in the school library.
To answer Steve's question about whether bricks & mortar libraries will persist -- my opinion is that at least school libraries (where research skills will continue to need to be taught, regardless of the medium, and where at least the younger kids will continue to want to get physical books) and public libraries will last. I am less sure about the bricks & mortar academic library. What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Natalie,
I agree with you about school libraries--they seem to have a more secure future (at least in the near future) so long as TLs continue to make them relevant and necessary to the curriculum. I am strongly considering taking an additional class--I can't remember which one it is--but it is Scott Nicholson's class on internet searching. If we are pro internet searchers as librarians in any setting, we will continue to have an edge over the internet. I hope that I can provide this expertise to my students, and at the same time, promote the use of traditional materials as well.
It's hard to say about academic libraries because I haven't worked in one, and my experiences in using them haven't left me particularly enamored. I know that I will be aiming at elementary children, because I want to "hook 'em while they're young." If we can do that, we have a better chance at sustaining the bricks and mortar library, at least through the next generation.
I guess we should also consider that at some point in the future, bricks and mortar libraries may not be relevant to user needs.
What becomes of the librarian then?
Maybe we will run library museums when that happens :)
The question of whether or not academic libraries will survive makes me wonder about about the areas of scholarship that require researchers to have access to non digitized text/materials that libraries hold. I wonder if there will come a point when everything new is digitized (and online journal subscriptions become affordable for libraries) and the "old" stuff will be relegated to understaffed research libraries only at big universities.
I feel that as long as TLs stay current on developing technology and are not afraid to introduce new technologies to students, LMCs will survive into the future. Academic libraries on the other hand I think will not necessarily go away altogether, but may shrink in physical size while growing in digital accessibility. It does seem that librarians in the academic (university level) setting are being used less and are being viewed as less relevant given the growth of accessing resources through online databases. In order to save money in the future I think it is very plausible that funding for staffing and physical facilities of academic libraries will decrease whereas digitization of resources and online availability will increase.
Post a Comment