Karen M. Drabenstott
Associate Professor
School of Information
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1092 USA
Voice: (734) 763-3581
Fax: (734) 764-2475
karen.drabenstott@umich.edu
Many thanks to our members for conducting a lively new topics discussion. I've found two volunteers for a discussion on the "future of the book" for March or April of 1999 and I'm negotiating with another volunteer who is interested in discussing instructional development in academic libraries. If other topics come to mind over the next few weeks, please message me directly (karen.drabenstott@umich.edu).
We will hold another open topics discussion during the holiday season in late December and early January.
Please welcome Martin J. Cohen who will be leading our next discussion on "Tools for Librarians." Martin is head of Instructional Media Services and Library Computing at Saint Mary's College of California. He received the MLIS from the University of California at Berkeley and has degrees in comparative literature, general humanities, and cybernetic systems from UC Berkeley and from California State Universities. Martin studied the history and sociology of tools with Ivan Illich and has taught courses in technology and society. His current interests include the evolution of hybrid (digital and print) libraries, the changing functions of academic libraries, and the dialog of values and technologies. He believes that libraries are essential tools for learning and conviviality that refuse to dominate -- although they sometimes over-awe the people who use them.
Please welcome guest editor Martin J. Cohen and join the conversation.
Martin Cohen
Academic Resources Technologies
Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga CA 94575
Voice: (925) 631-4229
Fax: (925) 376-6097
mcohen@stmarys-ca.edu
Every profession has an armamentarium of tools used in the practice of its work. The armamentarium consists of tools specific to the profession -- designed especially for the work of the profession, and specific to its needs. The tools may be fabricated by members of the profession, or made for it by tool designers on the instructions of representatives of the profession.
It may be useful to consider what the armamentarium of the library profession consists of, how well it serves us, and what tools we would like to see that are currently not available.
We would discount tools used by library professionals which are also generally used by the public. The Internet and World Wide Web are used by everyone, as are word processing and database management software.
Similarly, we would discount tools created by librarians for the use of the general public: these may constitute evidence of professional service, but they ought not be considered part of the armamentarium of librarians themselves. Online public access catalogs (OPACs), and periodicals indexes which are created by librarians or purchased by libraries chiefly for use by non-librarians would not constitute the armamentarium, even where librarians use them with more skill than do non-librarians.
One criterion for tools that we would include might be that while they are more or less familiar to most librarians, they little known and almost never used by non-librarians. Think of the tools which were entirely, or nearly entirely, new to you when you encountered them in library school.
First among these would be the great national union catalogs now incorporated in such bibliographic utilities as RLIN and OCLC, and the software interfaces to them which are used by catalogers.
Cutter tables, AACR2, and the Library of Congress Subject Headings are (in U.S. libraries at least) librarians tools, as are USMARC and the manuals and online utilities which support its use.
While the OPAC portion of an Integrated Library System (ILS) is not a librarian's tool, at least portions of the modules which help perform Circulation, Cataloging, and other "behind the scenes" functions of a library are. I say "portions" because many of the functions in ILS software are intended to be used by clerical workers, temporary workers and student assistants. We would want to identify which ILS functions are tools for professionals.
What is their intent? Are they effective in enhancing the work of librarians? Are they primarily labor-saving devices? Do they complement the professional skills of librarians, or attempt to substitute for these skills? Do they improve the performance or efficiency of librarians, or do they automate, disintermediate, or de-skill the tasks that librarians perform? Do they seek to make librarians more effective, or to displace the work of librarians?
Are they well-designed? Do they "lie well in the hand," becoming an extender of the skills of the person using them? Or are they impediments requiring that the person shape her work around the demands of the tool?
Each year the Users Group of the ILS used by my library solicits suggestions for "enhancements" to the programming of the software. Approached in the right light, the consideration of these enhancement requests could be seen as professionals requesting fabrication of an improved tool by a professional tool designer. Usually, however, all sorts of modifications are lumped into a single list and the result is more like suggestions from a consumers' focus group than a set of professional recommendations.
Let me suggest a couple:
In my career I have shifted from being a reference librarian with interest in computing to being a systems librarian who also serves on the Reference Desk. While doing reference, I cannot help the remote user as I do one who is present at the Reference Desk: showing them how to search and working with them as they practice. Frequently, both on- and off-desk, I am asked by students and faculty for help in using the databases the library offers. I can distribute a fact-sheet. If they are on campus and call me on the telephone while they are trying to use their networked workstation, I can usually talk them through the process. But it is an inefficient process. At present, I cannot show them how to do it unless they come in to the library. Nor can I provide effective real-time help to the student or faculty member who is dialing in from off campus or using another Internet Service Provider.
As noted above, some of the most effective productivity tools for librarians are the multi-library bibliographic databases which enable nearly all cataloging departments to take bibliographic copy from others. As a consequence, most collections librarians need to do very little original cataloging. But most libraries have substantial collections which are uncatalogued, or have received only minimal cataloging. At the ACM Conference on digital libraries this summer, I saw demonstrations of prototype software for use by A/V media specialists, botanists, and literary scholars. Where are the tools that would improve the productivity of original cataloging in libraries and archives?
It may be that we rely too much on the market to mediate between tool development and tool application. That is, until something becomes a product on the market -- i.e., a package complete with brand identification, advertising, sales and service -- it is of little interest to practicing librarians. And then it is identified as an impenetrable "product" so that its identity as a tool for use is disguised. If that is so, then our discussion can be as effective in enumerating and critiquing the tools we now use as in suggesting new ones.
To begin our discussion, I ask for responses to the following questions:
What are our tools?
What makes them ours?
What is their intent?
How well are they designed?
What new or better tools do we need?
Diana Gonzalez Kirby, MA, MLS
Associate Professor and Librarian
Dante B. Fascell Division of Government Information and Special Formats
University of Miami Library
1300 Memorial Drive
Coral Gables, FL 33124
Voice: (305) 284-3155
Fax: (305) 284-3890
diana@miami.edu
The one tool that naturally comes to mind is the library Web site. It is the one tool that identifies our services, our professionals, and our umbrella organizations. Through the library Web site, patrons may search, access and download information.
More and more, librarians wishing to "advertise" special collections create Web sites that contain reference to or even full text and graphic images of previously uncataloged collections. One example among many is the library archives and special collections department. Often containing manuscript collections and photograph collections of local interest, an archivist working in a library may select images, such as vintage postcards or promotional literature, and mount them on the library Web site to raise awareness of these valuable resources.
A valuable resource for researchers everywhere, and an effective promotional tool for librarians, the Web site is among our most powerful and versatile instruments today. With time, it should become even more popular, as increasingly more people and more organizations gain access to the Internet.
Thus, one may wish to ask, what about the Internet? Can we also speak of it as an instrument in the librarian's toolbox?
Paul B. Wiener
Special Services Librarian
SUNY at Stony Brook
pwiener@ccmail.sunysb.edu
I have a moment here to welcome Martin and this odd topic. I confess to being a little puzzled by it: what can we DO with our findings? I've seen librarians countless times depend upon their tools to answer questions or solve problems when using their common sense or wisdom would have settled the matter more quickly. What to make of that? The example Martin gives from his own reference experience is not a promising beginning. It suggests that a tool might or should substitute for the actual presence of a body in the library, or for the prolonged time a telephone walkthrough could take. But why? Why try to do away with the presence or the time? Is it part of the obsession with "saving time" that obsesses the busy-minded of today? Does anyone know what we do with all the time we save? Is it a real problem? I don't happen to view banishing the body or real time as any great advancement in librarianship, fascinated as I am by technology and information. If all the plodding, tedious, patient work librarians have to do - and have proudly bragged about doing for decades -- is eliminated eventually, won't we become little more than tools operating tools?
Martin Cohen
Academic Resources Technologies
Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga CA 94575
Voice: (925) 631-4229
Fax: (925) 376-6097
mcohen@stmarys-ca.edu
I am glad for the prompt initial responses to this topic and hope for a fruitful discussion.
In response to Paul Wiener's comments, the specific example I gave was not taken at random. We do encourage students and faculty to come in to the library building. But many of them live and work at fairly great distances from campus and cannot do so frequently. We are charged with providing library services to these distant members of our clientele as well.
In answer to the question, "What can we do with our findings?" I would hope for two results:
Parenthetically, as a student of Ivan Illich, I am not unfamiliar with the radical critique of all professions and professionalism. But to introduce that aspect of the question explicitly would make this "odd topic" only that much more ambiguous.
As Diana Gonzalez Kirby suggests, the library Web site can be a highly effective means of advertising library collections and making them available to researchers, including those who never set foot in the library building. We would seek to identify the tools that librarians use to create Web sites and the methods of designing Web sites that make those created by librarians distinctive from those created by non-librarians.
Paul B. Wiener
Special Services Librarian
SUNY at Stony Brook
pwiener@ccmail.sunysb.edu
A few more specific responses:
"the library Web site. It is the one tool that identifies our services, our professionals, and our umbrella organizations."
The ONE tool? Are you sure you mean this or want to believe this? Do you mean we never had any identity before the Web?
"A valuable resource for researchers everywhere, and an effective promotional tool for librarians, the Web site is among our most powerful and versatile instruments today. With time, it should become even more popular, as increasingly more people and more organizations gain access to the Internet."
Yes, it's a valuable resource when it's used, known about, accessible -- just like many another. It is an instrument of POTENTIALLY great power. But many librarians don't know it well or use it or direct patrons to it and teach them how to use it or have home pages that are easy to navigate. And besides, it's a powerful tool for many other kinds of organizations as well. Studies show that use of the net/Web for informational/research purposes is about the lowest of all uses.
"Thus, one may wish to ask, what about the Internet? Can we also speak of it as an instrument in the librarian's toolbox?"
Yes, though I would also include the screwdriver, scanner, stapler, Scotch tape, the telephone, the barcode and the No Eating sign. Although librarians are among the most informed and adept users of the Internet around, basic instruction in using the net, which should begin in grade school, is bound to decrease the need for librarians.
Martin Cohen
Academic Resources Technologies
Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga CA 94575
Voice: (925) 631-4229
Fax: (925) 376-6097
mcohen@stmarys-ca.edu
We might postulate that an essential professional task of librarians is to design and create tools for the use of information seekers for other library patrons, and for library staff (students, paraprofessionals). In this light, I am impressed by the comments made by Diana Gonzalez Kirby to the effect that librarian-constructed Web sites are important tools for librarians both to communicate information about libraries and to provide access to library collections and services.
How do the Web sites created by librarians differ from those made by non-librarians? Are the tools for creating Web sites (the "tools to make tools") are well adapted to librarians' needs.
One characteristic of many library Web sites is attention to overall organization of the site, and frequently the conscious use of a hierarchy of Web pages as a means of making navigation easier. While this principle of good organization is not unique to library Web pages, it follows from many decades of library practice in organizing large masses of documents. There is nothing inherent in HTML which provides special affordances toward organization (on the contrary). Neither do many of the more common Web page editors help the user organize their Web site.
While it is possible to hand-craft Web sites, this is a time-consuming task. Rapid prototyping is an important method for creating superior design, and effective Web sites need to be maintained and constantly updated. Both of these tasks can make heavy calls on librarians' time. Are there Web editors which do provide a bias in favor of good organization? Or which offer, e.g., templates for organization which could make the work of librarians in constructing Web sites more efficient?
Martin Cohen
Academic Resources Technologies
Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga CA 94575
Voice: (925) 631-4229
Fax: (925) 376-6097
mcohen@stmarys-ca.edu
I'm sorry that it will be difficult or impossible to participate in the discussion as our campus E-mail service is suffering a denial of service attack and will be (I am told) unavailable the rest of this week.
I would be sorry to leave paul wiener's response as the final word in the exchange. His fixed agenda that libraries and librarians are (or shortly will be) unneeded and will disappear soon is an idea that has been floated in many discussions. However, it seems to me out of place in a discussion of the tools that librarians use in their work. Librarians exist today. They are being graduated from professional schools. They are being hired by libraries (and other organizations) which, so far, have not gone out of existence. A discussion of what tools they might use to do their work better would seem not to require a defense.
Robert W. Bauchspies, Jr.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States
Research Library and Information Services
811 Vermont Ave., NW, Rm. 966
Washington, DC 20571
Voice: (202) 565-3982
robert.bauchspies@exim.gov
While I would consider the idea of a librarian's "toolbox" plausible, I would suggest a shift of focus. A wise man once said that "those who build their careers on current technology, build them on sand," and as with the Internet, the card catalog and the cave with shelves, utility remains, albeit that they become superseded by something else via cost/benefit leveraging, innovation, and discovery.
I would suggest that the tools of the librarian trade, profession, career... are cognitive -- such that a tool a librarian employs is the skill and knowledge built on prior learning and experience which in turn helps facilitate, resolve, expand, etc., an "information event." Such an event can be defined loosely as X seeking Y, where the librarian is centrally instrumental in the above (facilitation, resolution... blah, blah).
The key point then, and as a tie in to upcoming discussions, is that the tools of librarianship are in large measure, initiated with library school. That they present to the student new means of thinking about information and how and why people need, collect, discard and use it is the gist. I doubt many reflect over how they go about resolving an information need but perhaps this is increasing. Nevertheless, it drives my point home further, it is we who make it a practice and outright career, to construct environments and mechanisms with these very thoughts in mind.
So sharpen your tools. Flint for fire anyone?
Robert Ballard
rballard@bambi.acc.nccu.edu
Martin, I am sorry that your system will be down and you will have to sign off for the next few days. That happens to us and I am certain to many others as well. It is also a good reason why we librarians/information officers by any title need not worry about our jobs any time soon. On another LISTSERV this summer, after the systems librarian moved to another position, he was replaced by the IT department which then asked and received a charge back of twice his salary for "doing less with more." He asked if there was no one else concerned about this other than him. And how could his chancellor and library director have gone alone with this? These are our problems... a little reality check is greatly needed. The tools that technology provides only allow us to do our jobs better. And frankly, I do not see anyone in any profession who is more capable than are we in doing what we do...and certainly not with less. We don't wait for the "system to come back up" before we do our duty.
I sometimes think that Paul makes statements to stimulate discussion. If this is not true, correct me and tell me if you really believe that your library will not be in existence in 50 years and people will not be adequately trained by the LS and SI programs to do the job. The question then would be why is it assumed that they stand still and do not review their program and course offerings just as do other disciplines? If anyone thinks otherwise, I can assure them that this is not correct.
Martin Cohen
Academic Resources Technologies
Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga CA 94575
Voice: (925) 631-4229
Fax: (925) 376-6097
mcohen@stmarys-ca.edu
Discussion has been scanty on this topic, so there's not much to summarize. However, I can share some tentative conclusions:
The lack of general interest in professional tools among subscribers to this list confirms my sense that librarians have a weak sense of themselves as part of a profession engaged in performing tasks which rely on distinct expertise and requiring the use of well-designed tools for its exercise. While it might be argued that "tools for librarians" is too broad a topic for discussion, librarians seem willing and able to carry on extensive discussions about whether librarianship itself has a future, whether librarians should be accorded professional status, or whether libraries are likely to be needed in future. That said, the process of preparing for the discussion and responding to comments and questions sent to me privately has been instructive.
I remain convinced that consciousness among librarians of the tools that they use -- and that they do use a distinct set of tools -- can be an important means for fostering a sense of professional identity in their own eyes and among the general public. The classical images of professions are based on distinctive tools: the physician's stethoscope, the surgeon's scalpel or lancet, the mason's trowel and square, and even the barber's scissors. These are living symbols of the professions for the reason that they are not only images (like a white coat or a metal lunchbox) but real means of accomplishing the work done. Without them, effective professional practice becomes difficult or impossible.
Perhaps the most fruitful idea which arose during the discussion grew from Diane Kirby's question about Web sites created by librarians for the use of others. The idea that it is the task of librarians to create information-organizing and dissemination tools which are then used by students, scholars, and the general public builds on the idea that the primary professional activity of librarians is to create libraries. The library and all its apparatus for organizing texts, documents, and information-laden artifacts is best understood not so much as the locus of work for librarians but as the product of that work.
That being said, I think there is still much room for consideration of whether and how well librarians are served in the means at their disposal for doing this work. Those hard at work in creating digital libraries and hybrid libraries, as well as coping with a world in which the number and variety of information artifacts grow exponentially, while the budgets and staff for accommodating their organization and preservation do not, are all engaged in creating and refining tools for librarians.
You may join the discussion and look over the list of past and future topics.
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