I agree with others - libraries are at the bottom of the "information-seeking food chain". They just aren't trusted information resources.

On Sun, 25 Apr 2010, Scott Barker wrote:

During the discussion Mike asked the students about their own information seeking behavior for these scenarios.  When asked if they sought information

This may be anecdoctal evidence, but I've run into a similar information-seeking practice for undergraduates - searching Google for whatever they wanted.  I've asked them to keep an information-seeking diary for two weeks, and turn in a two-page report of their information-seeking activities for the period.  Many reported using Google to find recipies for tuna noodle casserole. I reviewed their reports, and based the next lesson based on my analysis.

The next week, I turned them on to foodnetwork.com and epicurious.com, and our conversation blew their minds. The whole concept of information organized around a single concept - food and recipies- and being organized around ingrediants, methods, cuisines, seemed to be foreign to them. But they were enthusiastic - and the next report reflected finding cakes, cookies, casseroles and all kinds of recipies delighting friends and relatives alike.  And giving them a sense of personal empowerment. This is a start to understanding how information is organized around biology, astronomy, and the like. Or food.

I'd suggest using the students' own information seeking behaviours as a stepping off point for talking about and understanding information resources, and what these resources can do for them.

Based on that small and non-scientific sample, at least for a large number of our undergraduate students, libraries appear to be close to the bottom of the "information-seeking food chain".

  Libraries are indeed at the bottom of the "information seeking food chain."  The situation is bad enough for young people. They can't find the sex information that they need, and are driven to other resources, for example. Libraries don't tell them how to avoid STDs, and don't tell them who can.

   The situation is worse, far worse, for seniors, who seek info on Social Security, the national financial situation, their pensions, their retirement accounts, and the like. Libraries (in my experience) simply run from these issues. They themselves are untrained in these issues, and they have no earthly idea how to refer users to others trained in these issues. Again, they don't know how to refer folks to people who DO understand these issues.

  Libraries are indeed the last choice in the food chain. They are focused on books, and not on information that people need. The staff is not trained in community resources and how to access them.

 Even for a scenario such

as seeking information for a class research paper, libraries come up short by a mile for the vast majority of students compared to Google.

You can get them to write a "class research paper"??  I'm stunned. UTK students can barely come up with a two-page undocumented essay.  No footnotes, no readings.  How do you do that?  But that is the subject for another discussion.

Probably not a big surprise, but something to ponder!

Ë
We should indeed.

 --gw
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Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired ˆUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA [log in to unmask]
http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/
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SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html

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Scott Barker
Information School
University of Washington

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From: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laval Hunsucker
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2010 2:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Where do libraries fit in the "information-seeking food chain"?

†>

Bernie Sloan wrote :

Just a thought.

But a very good thought.

Yet isn't the problem (?) that it would, if honestly done, most likely pull the rug out from under the whole superstructure of professional identity, the whole self-image and pretension, that LIS ( and not least, LIS education ) has constructed for itself over the past fifty years or so ?

Therefore :  don't count on it happening, I'd say. ( Let's hope I'm wrong. )

And as far as better positioning is concerned -- isn't it a little late for that kind of undertaking to make much sense ?
 
- Laval Hunsucker
  Breukelen, Nederland


________________________________________
From: B.G. Sloan <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sat, April 24, 2010 12:24:25 AM
Subject: Where do libraries fit in the "information-seeking food chain"?
 
I think it would be really instructive if LIS students could take a course that showed where libraries and librarians fit into the overall "information-seeking food chain". Something that would give future librarians a realistic idea of how libraries are used (and not used) by people seeking information that they need. Something where students read research reports about how people really go about looking for the info they need, and then discuss how libraries might better position themselves in the "big picture".
 
It might help future librarians design better library systems if they could view the problem through a non-library-centric lens, and see the role of libraries within a broader context.
 
I'm thinking there are probably courses like this out there. If you teach a course like this I'd be interested in taking a look at your syllabus.
 
Thanks!
 
Bernie Sloan