When discussing new topics, please keep in mind the objective of the Kellogg CRISTAL-ED LISTSERV:
To discover the knowledge and skills for a new academic program that is committed to producing leaders who will create, organize, manage, and apply new forms of libraries and information environments to meet human needs.With this objective in mind, we can discuss new content for a future-oriented program including core knowledge and specializations, methods of delivering the content (e.g., distance-independent learning, project-based learning), the need for undergraduate programs, recruiting students (e.g., recruiting methods, finding students from other than humanities and liberal arts undergraduate programs), future employment sites, and so on.
LISTSERV moderator Steve Wooldridge and I will be looking for volunteers to become guest moderators for discussions of interest to LISTSERV membership. Should you make compelling arguments for particular topics and receive reinforcement from LISTSERV members, Steve and I will call on you to become a guest moderator. As the guest moderator, you will introduce the topic and revitalize the topic when discussion wanes. Consider inviting experts of your own choosing to take part in the discussion. We are looking forward to hearing listserv membership responses regarding future discussion topics.
The objective of the program is to explore the various cultural conflicts that surround and infuse the issues with which the LIS educational establishment must grapple as we migrate to broader curricula, implement new methods of delivery, and seek to attract and serve new constituencies. Approaching the issues through the framework of cultural conflict can help to illuminate why we seem at times to be at odds with each other, with universities in which our schools are located, and with the profession we serve.
To explore these issues in depth, the Program Committee envisions a Conference in which the presentations at the general sessions and the SIGS are integrated to provide a focused learning experience. To that end we invite papers that address the following problem:
The community of library and information science education may be regarded as a culture defined by its own values, priorities, goals, and necessities, yet it must interact with and is profoundly influenced by other cultures. Conflicts exist between ourselves and these significant others, and in some cases these conflicts are characterized by something more fundamental than a difference in interests. In some cases these conflicts represent challenges to our cultural identity. In addition, the cultures with which we must interact often manifest fundamentally different values. Under these circumstances, library and information science education can become a battle ground on which the differences between these cultures are opposed. For example:
The prevailing academic culture of higher education expects behaviors and products of us that are different from those expected by our traditional constituency of library practice.
Students who are older, "non-traditional," working in libraries, and completing a degree on a part-time basis expect different behaviors and products of us than do full-time, on-campus students.
The increasingly diverse markets for our students represent cultures that no longer share a cohesive set of values and purposes, yet each expects behaviors and products of us that meet their needs.
New educational technologies invite the development of new modes of delivering LIS education that require behaviors and products of us that are different from those associated with traditional campus and classroom based modes of delivery, including broadening the reach of our programs and sharing our resources.
The increasing multi-cultural nature of society generates new and conflicting expectations of education at all levels and in all disciplines.
Library and information science education must find ways deal with the ambiguities created by its relations to these cultures, and it must do so in manner that preserves its own unique cultural identity. It must also be noted that asymmetries of power exist between these cultures. A temptation exists to make decisions on the basis of opportunism and expediency, and to sell our identity to highest bidder or the strongest voice.
What do we want in graduate education for the information professions? What is essential to our culture and our identity? Are there lines which cannot be crossed, or have we entered a postmodern era of improvisation? Need we all agree on the answers to these questions?
The first general session will articulate and explore the nature of cultural conflicts within and between social organizations and institutions. A scholar from outside the field of LIS education is being sought out to provide this overview of the general issue under consideration by the conference, and selected respondents from within LIS education are currently being identified.
For the two remaining general sessions, the ALISE Program Planning Committee invites proposals on the following themes:
The committee also invites proposals for presentations that address the general themes of the conference. These presentations should be 15 to 20 minutes in length. Depending on the response to this call, these presentations will be grouped according to theme and scheduled in sessions advertised as of interest to all conference participants. This is an admittedly experimental effort. The committee's goal is to encourage more widespread participation at the conference by members of the library and information science education community.
The Program Committee encourages the SIG conveners to focus the particular topic of their SIG on general theme of the conference.
Proposals should provide a working title for the presentation and abstract of no more than 250 words. Joint proposals will be considered. The committee recognizes that the many of the issues raised by the themes of the conference possess multiple aspects which two or more participants may wish to explore. Each aspect of a joint proposal should be given a separate title and be accompanied by a separate abstract. The deadline for proposals is May 15, 1995. The deadline for the submission of final papers is December 1, 1995. Proposals for presentations should be submitted by (date) to:
Dr. June Lester
ALISE Program Planning Committee Chair
School of Library and Information Studies University of Oklahoma
401 W. Brooks, Room 120
Norman, OK, 73019
Would the topic of certification be of sufficient interest for discussion here? This topic returns periodically in discussions. Its relation to CRISTAL-ED can be:
Among the many that come to mind, the nature of employment opportunities in NON-LIBRARY settings for MLIS degree holders ranks of prime importance, IMHO. After all, much of the content of the various proposed curriculums (ae) should be strongly influenced by the type of skills/knowledge required in positions that would be available to graduates of LIS programs. So, I would suggest a discussion thread about the actual job opportunities that have been actually available to our graduates outside of libraries in what Nick Moore (U.K), called the "emerging information market."
In Canada, my research partner Dr. Richard Apostle and I have studied this question and have published several articles on our findings in the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Studies. Perhaps there are others associated with the present CRISTAL-ED discussion who have done similar studies and would like to share their findings.
I am particularly interested, though, in #2...continuing education programs in SLISs [that should surprise no one!] I have evolved into holding very strong opinions on the critical need for higher education in general, and professional schools in particular, to demonstrate a portion of their accountability by supporting students throughout their professional work lives. In the past, colleges and universities have educated, graduated, and then mailed invitations to join alumni associations -- who maintained all further contact with the graduates, often asking for annual contributions! In this rapidly changing world, continuing professional education is no longer a 'maybe' activity [if it ever was] but rather an absolute essential to maintaining professional competence. Various speakers and writers attach a 3-5 year shelf life to a degree, depending upon discipline. If higher education is to demonstrate true accountability in a meaningful way, this ongoing support through the work life is what I would view as a new mission and mandate. I will be delivering a paper at IFLA in August on this topic.
I look forward to comments on this -- or any other aspect of the certification topic.
I'd really like to be involved in a blue-sky discussion about what the high-tech library of the future would look like. Maybe I should say, what would you design if you could do whatever you wanted? No limits. No whining about budget, disk space, bandwidth, or administrative support. Pretend the law of gravity was repealed, what do you think the library that takes maximum advantage of existing, near-future, or imagined technology would look like?
My reason for posing this exercise is that much of the argument that libraries will be relevant in the future depends on the notion that electronic media won't completely replace print. (There is a more interesting trend to point to a role for librarians in the electronic world also.) I would like to see a discussion of imagined libraries in order to see if we can paint a positive picture of brave new libraries. I think this could be useful within the LIS context as an organization that needs to be preparing folks for the future.
Anyone game?
Perhaps I have gone beyond the level of suggestion to actual discussion. I do think this is an area for valid discussion. I don't know the technical aspects of being a guest moderator, but I would be willing to consider it.
How can anyone certify anything if there is no agreement as to what is being certified? I have been reading messages from your source that leads me to believe that "core" in library and Information science is an enigma!
I recall that much of my work with the ALA Minimum Qualifications for Librarians Task Force back in late '70s addressed certification issues. I don't think much has changed since then.
I would suggest that there is at any point in time a de facto agreement on core, however much we may hear about the differences. I'm not sure that the core is the area we need to test over, however. Actually I have to apologize here -- I made an impassioned plea some time ago to the notion that the area of database searching should be credentialed because it is the one area where most libraries tend to charge patrons. So far I owe a publication about work to date. That and similar areas where there is specialization, such as cataloging, reference, and so on would seem to be easiest to deal with, because it seems to me that there is a good chance people will be better at what they specialize in.
I would be interested in the findings of his plea. But I wonder if searching databases won't become easier when Z39.50 standard is used. In the databases I've used I've found they have some serious differences. Some seem to complicate searching so it is a real chore. And if one could use their catalog's method of forming the search statements it seems productivity would increase.
I am currently taking a database searching class through Emporia State University. The teacher is Cathy Perley, a medical librarian from Iowa. She is fantastic because she teaches how to evaluate and reformulate the search question. The test she uses, though printed over 10 years ago, is excellent in THINKING strategies. I thought one just looked for a couple of words with and, or, not. But understanding that searching is a communication with the database and how its constructed is vital. I've just begun to scratch the surface of the thoughts this has brought to my mind. I think sometimes having EASY to find needs is a disadvantage and I appreciate the teacher pushing us beyond obvious.
My question for this list serve is "How can this be measured/credentialed?" Most questions are relatively easy, or dependent on the database. But this instructor is giving tools beyond what I've seen practiced.
Many thanks for your hard work thinking about new topics. Let's continue this discussion of new topics for another working week while I recruit volunteer moderators and schedule new topics.
Way back in the late '70's the (then new) Machine Assisted Reference Section of ALA looked at the issue of defining both a "good search" and a "good searcher" -- without too much success. Carol Tenopir, et. al, have also done some work on this, again with very little apparent consensus. This is not much different from what we have found in trying to define a "good reference librarian" or even "a successful reference transaction." It would appear that one of the very few measures we seem to agree upon is that the end user of the information should be satisfied. But, that really doesn't appear to be enough.
Many years ago, Aristotle concluded that the best way to define "good" was to examine the life of the "reasonably prudent person," and then do what they did. Perhaps some attempt at defining the 'reasonably good searcher" would provide some criteria? "Peer review" has been used, with some success, in fields as disparate as academe and the military.
Just for discussion -- how about a credentialling test, which includes both information retrieval theory, and a few easy and difficult actual searches. This would be permitted after a person had some specified minimum of experience. How has a similar system worked for the Medical Library Association?
Forwarded message
Thank you again to all who responded to my request for advice on becoming a health science librarian.
So many people asked to get a copy of the suggestions that I decided to share the digest with the entire List and not send individual messages as I had first planned.
The original message from February 1995 read:
What course or type of course would you recommend to a library school student who is planning on specializing in Health Science Librarianship? For example, what type of coursework or practicum do you wish you had done when you were in school that would have better prepared you for your job (something in the sciences, management, collection development etc.)?
A summary of the suggestions received is listed below:
A. TAKE A COURSE OR COURSES DEALING WITH:
-- administration/management
B. SPECIAL COURSEWORK
-- library traineeship
C. BECOME FAMILIAR WITH
-- computer operations
D. GENERAL INFORMATION
-- volunteer or intern in hospital library
In addition, for my last article, I reviewed the program review criteria from 15 institutions (and am now reviewing more for a paper to be given at the AAHE Assessment Forum). Only one linked the library to the program review process as part of the learning process, 2 mentioned the library only as a support service, and the rest never mentioned the worked once. I have been advocating the need for linkage between the library and program review of academic departments as a central way of getting the library more involved in the academic process. Moreover, my most recent article suggests that the library needs to move from a service center to one of the core learning sites of the institution of the future and that libraries have a key learning role.
In any event, I hope these can be future topics, as well as the role of librarians on accrediting teams moving toward the future rather than working to build library budgets.
Let me know how or if I can share these materials and ideas.
Finally, since I joined only yesterday, how can I get the discussions about the library and the core curriculum from earlier on this LISTSERV? I am part of a national project looking at how information literacy is included in college curricula.
Thanks for you help.
Comments?
>Is organization even necessary
It might be necessary, but is it possible?
And if one moves beyond these two philosophies (that libraries should have non traditional materials, and that libraries should embrace information as a whole rather than type), then you also move into a new form of information interpretation for users. Traditionally, bibliographic instruction has taken the form of how to use resources, the different sources and locating tools, and the like. But if you embrace non-traditional information, then the interpretation also must change to encompass evaluating the information and explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of each information type. This will include bias that may not be obvious from the content, what information you can expect to find in a given source and why you may not find other information. There is also the need for overlay of information evaluation to cover different sources (e.g. city directories to telephone books to business directories to membership lists to minutes of organizations to insurance maps, etc.).
I realize that I'm saying this awkwardly, but I think traditional library training has emphasized the knowledge of information tools and how to use them, whereas the moving into non-traditional information sources adds the need for knowledge of HOW and WHAT has gone into the information tool. For example, you can explain Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and how to use it, but you may not know that it excludes certain types of journals or why. To use a non-traditional information source, you may need to know HOW it was done and WHY. For example, this cemetery listing that arrived on diskette and titled "XXX County Cemeteries" is great but perhaps it does not include any African-American cemeteries for which you might have to direct the user to another non-traditional source such as an unpublished typescript manuscript compiled by someone else.
I.M.JOHNSON@RGU.AC.UK
Why not take at a look at broader horizons? Everything I have seen on this discussion over the last few months suggests that the focus of debate is still much what it was 20 years ago. Apart from some mention of quaintly-named courses in "book arts," I have seen nothing which suggests that anyone is thinking about the implications for professional education of the convergence between information studies and communication studies (publishing, broadcasting, etc). Do we really want to continue to look inwards, or are we going to examine how we can meet the needs of those industries for professionals who have a broad understanding of the issues and technologies which lie behind the production of the same intellectual product in many different formats, and its distribution through a variety of channels?
If you look at what is being taught in the communications/media field, they are moving in the direction of LIS education now as rapidly as the computer science courses. Do we really want them to have to re-invent the wheel, and perhaps come up with a square one? Or do we want to ensure that we influence the developments in this field by making our special contribution to it. The only way we can do that is by seizing the initiative.
Just teaching people to run libraries better is not going to do that. The challenge lies in ensuring that we can do both. I hope we shall read some views on that over the next few weeks.
Home Discussion
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 13:25:36 EDT
From: Nancy Start
To: Multiple recipients of list MEDLIB-L
Subject: Summary: "Advice" replies
Message from Nancy Cunningham:
-- medical terminology
-- biology & the psychology of women
-- basic anatomy
-- computer/automation
-- computer applications in the library
-- medical reference
-- database searching techniques
-- basic biology
-- medical/health science librarianship
-- bibliographic skills
-- learning theory for adults (adult education)
-- medical bibliographies
-- special library management & marketing
-- health science resources
-- information storage & retrieval
-- information creation & organization
-- science/technical reference
-- history & development of medical thought
-- history of health & medicine
-- diet & nutrition in health and disease
-- government documents
-- theory of bibliography, cataloging
-- classification & organization of knowledge
-- survey of medical diseases (get the big picture)
-- drug information
-- research methods (to satisfy AHIP criteria)
-- bibliographic instruction
-- indexing and abstracting
-- writing & public relations
-- student assistantship
-- direct study, direct field work
-- do a research project, submit for publication
-- internship/practicum in medical library
-- training offered by regional NLM staff
-- teach, become a teaching assistant
-- learn to teach effectively
-- independent studies
-- quantifying your work
-- developing benchmarks
-- NLM classification
-- fundamentals of Medlars
-- literature of health administration
-- nursing & allied health
-- patient & consumer health information sources
-- administrative as well as clinical resources
-- technical services functions: ILL, acquisitions
-- MESH, Medline searching
-- practical aspects of management, budget construction, management of funds received, statistical records, needs assessment
-- database searching, concept of controlled vocabulary
-- medical "jargon"
-- several forms of access to Medline
-- word processing, spreadsheets, telecommunications
-- database operating systems, e-mail
-- MLA core curriculum
- - MLA criteria used to certify in the AHIP
-- Platform for Change: The Educational Policy Statement of the MLA
-- Detlefsen, E.G., Library Trends. 42 (Fall 1993): 342-64
-- "The Handbook of Medical Library Practice"
-- Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, Oct. 1993
-- someplace where you can get a real feel for being a researcher, cataloger, photocopier, manager
-- do as many electives in the health sciences as your program allows
-- read MLA publications, chapter & section newsletters
-- get teaching experience
-- choose topics related to the medical sciences for your papers/assignments
-- attend national, state, regional or local meetings of medical librarians, visit the exhibits
-- read all the professional medical librarian journals to stay current in the field
Nancy A. Cunningham
State University of New York at Buffalo
NAC@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Paul M. Gherman
Karen asks for additional topics for our discussion. For some time we have advocated that we move "beyond bibliography" to the text itself. We have gone "beyond ownership" as well and now claim information as within our purview no matter where it may reside. But the question remains to be settled whether our profession should go "beyond traditional packaged information" to other forms of information which are not textural. Does the responsibility of librarianship extend to images, multimedia, data files for example which do not easily fit into the traditional information packages or categories we are use to. Will our current structures for organizing information suffice for these new formats, or do we leave these areas for others to organize. Is organization even necessary in the age of computer retrieval?
Director of Libraries
Olin and Chalmers Library
Kenyon College
Gamibier, OH 43022
Voice: (614) 427-5186
Fax: (614) 427-2272
ghermanp@kenyon.edu
Ralph A. Wolff
rwolff@ella.mills.edu
Ideas for Future Topics
I have just heard about and joined the LISTSERV and am excited about your project. I am the associate executive director of the accrediting commission for California, Hawaii and Guam (WASC). I have written several articles on the library of the future and how libraries can maximize the role in the accrediting process. The most recent piece I have prepared will be published soon in a New Directions in Higher Education volume edited by Beverly Lynch at UCLA on information technology. I would love to share these materials for reactions and feedback and to explore the role of the library in the accrediting procdess.
Betsy McKenzie
Hello, from a former Visions subscriber. I would like to hear some discussion of the idea that original subject cataloging and making local enhancements of borrowed cataloging records is becoming MORE important as libraries automate. When I was in library school, most of the literature was foretelling the demise of cataloging among librarians outside of the Library of Congress. My own observations (NO, I am not a cataloger) actually lead me in the opposite direction. We all know the aphorism GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). As applied to automated library catalogs, this means that the quality of the cataloging and the depth and accuracy of the subject analysis will have an immediate effect on the likelihood of a particular book ever emerging from the stacks again. With the searchability of all (or at least, more) fields in the record, we have the capability to note that Professor X at our university wrote a chapter in Book Y. Thus, a student, the Rank and Tenure Committee, and Professor X now have the ability to find Book Y by searching under Professor X's name, BUT ONLY IF, there is a local note mentioning the connection.
Readers Services Librarian
St. Louis University
School of Law Library
3700 Lindell Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63108
(314) 658-2739
mckenziebm@SLUVCA.SLU.EDU
Miriam A Drake
Dean and Director of Libraries
Georgia Institute of Technology
miriam.drake@ibid.library.gatech.eduCataloging
I am replying to Paul's concerns about cataloging multimedia materials and Betsy's concerns about cataloging. I believe that cataloging and organization are more important now than they were before the electronic age. We have changed our emphasis in cataloging from physical description to intellectual content. This emphasis includes non-print materials such as CD-ROM, multimedia, video tapes, etc. The description of intellectual content works more effectively for people. It may be easier for us and our users because the searching software will search the entire record for hits. We are entering the tables of contents of selected monographs and conference proceedings in a note field. We are doing the same with the contents of CD-ROMs. This process is especially useful for someone looking for statistical data from a government CD. It saves a lot of looking and directs the person to the specific CD that will answer the question.
Oren Sreebny
Paul Gherman asks (among some other excellent questions):
Assistant Director
Computing & Communications
Client Services
University of Washington
BOX 355670
Seattle, WA 98105
Voice: (206) 543-5415
Fax: (206) 543-3909
oren@cac.washington.edu
>in the age of computer retrieval?
Kathy Nystrom
So far I've just been a lurker on this list, but very interested in the topics, especially as they pertain to cataloging instruction in library schools. I asked our acquisitions librarian for ideas she'd like to see explored further, and she came up with the following:
Manager of Cataloging
St. Louis Public Library
C1737011@slvaxa.umsl.edu
I haven't been monitoring this list for the whole time, and perhaps these topics have already been discussed -- or no one else sees a need. But as a very active and best-deal-for-my-library acquisitions librarian, she sees these as issues that aren't addressed adequately in many library school or continuing education forums.
Dean DeBolt
Although I am a Special Collections Librarian, most of my work comes from my training as an archivist. Our Special Collections was established as an information and research collection about West Florida (1559-present). To most librarians, our collections are "non-traditional" -- manuscripts, archives and records of people, organizations, families, broadsides, photographs, maps, pamphlets, aerial photographs, blueprints. Because of the focus of information on the region, we are beginning to receive CD disks, computer diskettes, and data in audiovisual and other formats. An inquirer on this list raised the topic of whether libraries should move into non-traditional formats such as data files. I would argue that the medium is not as important as the information. However it is one thing to embrace a philosophy that you are custodian (acquirer, cataloger, preserver, and access person) of information and quite another to convince traditional librarians and resource allocators of the importance and application of this concept. If I receive something that looks like a book, traditional librarians will question why it is here, but if I receive something this is obviously not a book, traditional librarians will relegate this to "Special" Collections. This is less of a personality quirk than it is the result of standard library school instruction of the past decades.
University Librarian
Special Collections and West Florida Archives
University of West Florida, Pensacola
DDEBOLT@UWF.BITNET
Ian M. Johnson
Head of School of Information and Media
The Robert Gordon University
352, King Street
ABERDEEN AB9 2TQ, Scotland, U.K.
Telephone: National 01224 262950
International + 44 1224 262950
Fax: National - 01224 262969
International + 44 1224 262969
