Guess I have to differ with Gretchen and several other respondents. I suspect it very much depends on the user and upon the library and their experience with it. Certainly folks of the pre-computer and on-line service era probably would put the library up higher in the seeking process than would post on-line folks. Second, I would suggest that students might not have the best formed info-search prioritiesand skills . We all used the old " Readers Guide" not because it was so great, but because it was the only thing around. One of the things we can consider virtually a law of info seeking is that people will use the handiest tool they know of, almost independent of its past value, here enter tools like google and Wikepedi etc. If we based lib. instruction and cataloging upon the real skills of the info needy, instead of upon the needs of those with ready access and scholars, libraries might well rank a little higher as infor. sources. Third, our experience at FSU and other places with flourishing info commons would suggest, that if you build it, they will come and if you help them "good", they will come back again and again. So perhaps where libraries stand, depends upon what kind of library you really are, who you are really aiming to serve. As an old codger in a public library once asked me, "What kind of library is this? When I asked what he meant? The still ringing in my ears, reply was, " is this the kind of library that if you want to know a little bit they will help you, but if you want to know a lot, you have to find it yourself?" What kind of library is yours
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010 9:34 pm
Subject: Re: Where do libraries fit in the "information-seeking food chain"? (fwd)
To:
[log in to unmask]> 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
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired
> ˆUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA
>
[log in to unmask]> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/
> jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html
> SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> >
> > Scott Barker
> > Information School
> > University of Washington
> >
> š>
> > 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
