Libraries Are 31337 234
Many people may hold the image of a librarian as a shushing school marm who does little more than stamp and shelve books because that's all they've seen librarians do. Well think again - that's about as inaccurate as believing that Alan Greenspan is nothing more than a glorified bank teller. The job titles may change but the mission of the profession remains the same: organize information and help people find it. Libraries have been around a lot longer than the Internet, and even library technology can hold its own with the best out there. For example, Google's savvy results ranking was hardly the birth of citation analysis (next up: metadata - cough, cataloging, cough), and there are enormous library systems that also predate the Internet.
Although library geeks and technology nerds may have contrary images, in today's world the boundary between the career of the librarian and the information technologist is disappearing. Librarians today not only administer Web servers and dynamic databases to help manage large digital collections and thousands of electronic resources, they teach people how to use library systems. And just as enlightened computer engineers are advocates of noncommercial software and campaign for online rights, the library profession has a long history of staunchly defending freedom - from book burnings to the FBI's Library Awareness Program to the latest copyright battles and almost all other current issues in intellectual freedom.
Check out LISNews.com (recognize the format?) and some library blogs if you're interested in reading more about real librarians.
call em information broker (Score:5, Interesting)
librarians are old-fashioned only as long as they stick to storing information on paper instead of creating networked, digital libraries. the first will protect there jobs, probably, the latter is going to save us researchers/users/customers more and more time.
Agree in Houston - libraries going wireless (Score:5, Interesting)
Librarians (Score:4, Interesting)
As these special searching mechanisms are made into algorithms, I think librarians will become tenders of technology and book shelvers (unless that's automated as well), not the guides that they were years ago and, to some extent, are today. This situation kinda resembles the Kramnik/Fritz thing...
Librarians.. and the Afternow. (lil offtopic) (Score:5, Interesting)
www.theafternow.com [theafternow.com]
Give a listen, all the episodes are free and in MP3 format.
Re:what every library needs is... (Score:5, Interesting)
Almost, but not quite, like Project Gutenberg [ibiblio.org], in fact.
Your point about copyright is still valid, but Project Gutenberg is making the rest possible.
I worked on a project to digitise every book in the French National Library (EBPF, or Every P****** Book in France, as our overworked scanner operators used to call it. A worthwhile thing - not only did it allow multiple people to look at the same book simultaneously, but it also allowed rare books to be preserved - they weren't handled anymore, so they weren't damaged.
how many people actually visit libraries outside of schooling these days?
Quick question - are you a parent? If not, I can understand this question. If you are, then I'd be surprised if your kid didn't use the library in some form. I used to as a kid, and even though our daughter is currently only eight months' old, we go to the library and pick out baby books for her. This works well - she gets bored of things really quickly, so being able to return the books and pick new ones is a big bonus.
Cheers,
Ian
Libraries don't need to be "elite" (Score:5, Interesting)
Every dollar spent on technology is a dollar that doesn't go toward buying another book. It pained me to hear librarians who, when asked on a local radio show what they would do with $100,000, would spend it all on IT when their book collections are so modest.
Sharing the Internet with the public is a worthy goal, but for most avenues of knowledge, books and periodicals are still the way to go. When authors decide to spend the years it takes to create a great book, they publish it on paper so they can make money, not on the web. Librarians realize this and focus their efforts on creating collections of printed works that are carefully catalogued and chosen for their intellectual value.
Sharing local collections with the world is being undertaken by the Library of Congress in two separate projects. National works of art are at http://memory.loc.gov/ [loc.gov], and the LOC is helping other countries with putting their materials online at http://international.loc.gov/ [loc.gov].
I often... (Score:4, Interesting)
I also worked IT support for a large university for a while, and can further attest to the technical proficiency of librarians with the following: Not only were the professional librarians some of the easiest customers to work with they had difficulties, they rarely, if ever had the same problem twice, if the problem in question was something that could be resolved by simpl having watched and asked me about what I was doing. Made for easy library server maintenance. They wanted them down less than I did.
example of librarians' prowess (Score:2, Interesting)
Just Call it a LIBRARY, Please! (Score:5, Interesting)
Same went for other impressive efforts to rename things: PE -> LLW Life Long Wellness, Admissions Office -> Welcome Center, etc.
A true professional should know how to position themselves so the public can find them. Confusing, euphemistic titles are as bad as Political Correctness in my book. If anyone thinks otherwise, try running a bond issue on a ballot for something other than Library and see how many votes it nets you.
Re:Libraries don't need to be "elite" (Score:2, Interesting)
-aiabx
Michael Moore - Stupid White men (Score:4, Interesting)
Good book, worth a read - ISBN 0141011904
Re:what every library needs is... (Score:5, Interesting)
I visit the local libraries here in Calgary, AB all the time. We have great libraries with great programs and classes, computers for students and the less fortunate, an excellent selection of books (both old and new) - and I believe that there are even coffee shops attached to some of the newer ones (one I know of downtown, anyhow).
I was poor (by Canadian standards) growing up and if it hadn't been for libraries, I would not be in the line of work I am - there is no way I could have bought all the programming and computer books I took out on loan. Being able to access the Internet was also quite useful.
Now that I make a disproportionately large amount of money for my age (double income, no kids) my better half and I donate many of the books we buy every year to the local libraries (at least 50 this year). Before you bemoan the lack of books at your local library, why not donate some books?
And don't even get me started on the staff of your average retail bookstore. They are often the most unhelpful group of slackers I have ever met (at least in the three large bookstores I frequent).
I'll take staid, boring, authoritarian, and useful over useless and costly anyday.
In any case, a lot of people use libraries for things unrelated to school. Just because a hip, young, modern guy like you won't be caught dead in one doesn't mean the rest of us don't recognise the value of such an institution.
One last thing you forgot - libraries are pretty much the last place you can find many examples of old information - old newspapers, out of print books, etc.
(This isn't a flame - I just think that you haven't been in a library for quite awhile or the libraries in your town are a bit behind the times - pretend I peppered this text with winky smiley's, k?)
I respectfully disagree! (Score:4, Interesting)
It is clear that just as computer geeks naturally select themselves as computer people, librarians do the same. They like books, research, and then tend to be very rigid in their outlook on work and life.
In addition to their natural tendancies, the American Library Association [ala.org] has not helped matters. It is controlled by a bunch of introspective, vision-less, and rigid nay-sayers. Go to the ALA web site and see what kinds of literature they are currently offering [ala.org]! See anything about how to design cataloging systems? See much about information management? nope. Then, beyond that, ALA's been very successful locking up big chunks of their corner of the world with locking up job descriptions to ALA accreditation which requires a visionless curriculum [ala.org].
I think it is hopeless until most current library managers a retired and a new crop that is not afraid of innovation and change come to the fore front.
So do I wish Librarians would come to the information party in a contemporary way? Absolutely! Alas I have very little hope that it will happen anytime in the near future.
-- Multics
P.S. at a recent conference I attended, one of the speakers argued "partner with a librarian!" (for research projects, not p0rn) Several of us talked with him after his presentation and said that we'd tried, but they were too far out-of-touch and he replied that his experience was clearly the exception.
Re:what every library needs is... (Score:5, Interesting)
As a casual reader of books, I appreciate when a book is at the library. If a book is not at the library, I can generally ask a library to hold it for me when it comes back. The value of a library is that it has a range of free books, not that it has every book you want every time you want it.
As a researcher, books are not so critical. Most information in books is old, and there is generally some redundancy among books, so one can generally come up with an appropriate book at a well stocked library. The real information for research is in journals, which are generally not allowed to circulate, and can be copied for a minimal fee.
So yes, digital books might make the library nicer, but not to the degree that you assert. The library is about freedom of information, and the freedom to acquire information, and it fulfills that duty quite well. Free books are a part of that mandate, and possible the most visible part of that mandate, but not important to the degree you assert.
The reason that people do not think of think of libraries in a positive light is because they take them for granted. People just assume that they have a right to free help to get the information they need, and then be protected when the government comes to interrogate a librarian about a patrons reading practices. By making such suggestion:
People in this community have only recently (in the last five to ten years) started to wake up and realize that technology is not a limiting factor anymore, the legal system is. Librarians probably knew this all along and have not been worried about becoming redundant.
you validate the concept that a library is nothing but a storage of books, and total ignore the underlying principle present in out modern libraries. You minimize the importance of a library and insult the degreed and highly trained proffesional necessary to make such institutions possible.
Every dev group should have a librarian (Score:5, Interesting)
It was the best investment I ever made. It didn't take long before virtually everyone's first stop with a question was the library/librarian. Reference material, competitive info, standards, you name it... the librarian knew how to take piles of information in whatever form and organize it, make it accessible, and make it far more usable to everyone.
If you have a dev group of more than 15-20, your dev group is wasting time and money by not having a professional librarian on the team. It's a job that's part administrivia, part science, and part art. I have yet to find any other discipline that blends those parts as effectively as library science.
(I have to admit I've always had a soft spot for librarians, probably because I spent so much time in libraries. I have also been extremely impressed by librarians understanding of applying technology for information management, and the very progressive ideas that came out of library sciences. That doesn't always translate to high tech libraries or systems, but that's more often than not a funding issue.)
Librarians fight to keep information free (Score:3, Interesting)
I've always respected librarians. They dedicate their lives to sharing information with people as freely as possible. I cheer the American Library Association [ala.org]protect individual's privacy and confidentiality, and fight against free limiting legislation like the Children's Internet Protection Act [ala.org], the DMCA (PDF) [copyright.gov], and the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 [harvard.edu]. They've been fighting to keep information free longer than the internet has been around. Democracy requires an educated citizenry, and libraries make it their mission to spread knowledge to everyone, regardless of race, social status, or wealth. Library's are a geek's best friend.
Re:librarians (Score:5, Interesting)
So you see, it's not that simple. If you're thinking of bringing a pile of damaged, marked up, dirty books to the library so you can feel like you've done some kind of public service, save yourself the trouble. We're already understaffed and underpaid, and we don't really have much in the way of spare time to sort through your garbage so you can feel like a champion of philanthropy. If you have good, clean, undamaged books, CDs, videos, DVDs, software (especially certification test materials--that stuff gets stolen so fast you wouldn't believe it), by all means, bring them in; we'll even send you a thank-you note. But don't act like it entitles you to dictate what becomes of them or like that one donation should exempt you from overdue fees for life.
-phatty 2x4
Library Science (Score:2, Interesting)
My first reaction to my daughter's decision on an MLS was "What? Why?" She had a shiny new BS in microbiology and has always been a computer freak; most of her friends are programmers/sysadmins. Once she entered the MLS program (at Rutgers) I realized just how technology-oriented the field has become. A number of her courses required the design of web sites as part the grade, and she worked as a TA teaching an undergrad course in web searching.
Still, some of today's older MLS students don't have a clue about the uses of technology. Worse, they don't want to know anything about it. The libraries in which they work aren't using any modern tools and don't have plans to use any. Sad, but true.
librarians and the revolution (Score:2, Interesting)
Go ask Michael Moore [michaelmoore.com] what he thinks of librarians. Not only are we anti-censorship champions, but according to him, we are also subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man [pohadka.com]. i'm not one to disagree.
and Neal Stephenson certainly had quite a different and powerful image in snowcrash.
love and peace,the librarian