Why I Support EveryLibrary

In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation. 

- Great Law of the Iroquois

As an undergraduate taking environmental studies classes, the notion put forth by the Iroquois that all decisions should be made in consideration of how they will impact the community seven generations down the road was an idea that quickly influenced my ideology. I first came across it in terms of making sustainable choices, but I feel that it is an idea that can be applied to a lot of choices - especially political ones. I think that is where my frustration with Presidential Elections comes from. They always seem short sighted. National conversations appear to focus on why problems aren't fixed right away (it's going to take more than four years to bounce back from the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression) instead of the long term effects of political decisions made by our leaders (I often feel that a president's greatest power is in appointing Supreme Court Justices - who serve for life).

In the spirit of thinking of generations to come, this election season I am really throwing my support behind a brand new Political Action Committee called EveryLibrary.

Founded by John Chrastka, EveryLibrary is a national organization with the mission of building financial and tactical support to ensure that local library initiatives pass at the ballot box.

EveryLibrary will not fund any candidate for office at any level of government, nor will it work on Capitol Hill or at the State Capitols. It is focused exclusively on helping the local library secure the funding it needs when there is a tax or referendum on the local ballot. Here is a list of libraries that are currently on the ballot.

EveryLibrary will :

• Assist libraries in both the pre-filing and campaign stages of an initiative.
• Provide strategic consulting services, voter segmentation advice, and assistance in developing ballot language.
• Conduct feasibility studies and assist in setting up a local committee or PAC.
• Develop a fundraising strategy for a local committee or PAC.
• Train volunteers in voter education and get-out-the-vote techniques.

During the run of a campaign, EveryLibrary can:

• Continue technical and capacity-building consultancy.
• Provide direct financial support to the local committee or PAC in seed-stage or sustaining levels of support.
• Conduct direct voter education and get-out-the-vote efforts.

EveryLibrary is currently attempting to raise $50,000 by election day. This money will be used to: (A) Fundraise nationally to transfer "seed money" to local ballot committees and PACs; (B) Hire great campaign consultants to make sure we do voter outreach and education right; and (C) Fund full time staff to keep the PAC engine growing for future success.

In an attempt to meet this goal, John Chrastka has challenged each state to raise $1,000 by November 6th. 

I decided to volunteer to help Oregon raise money for EveryLibrary, because I believe that ensuring that libraries stay open and operation is a solid step towards creating a sustainable future for future generations. 

So now I am asking you to also step up, in consideration for future libraries users, and throw in $5 or $10 or however much you are willing to give towards this excellent cause by donating here: http://tinyurl.com/OR4ELPAC

Leading up to November 7th - I know that we are facing what seem like enormous decisions on local and national ballots. But I am putting my faith into EveryLibrary, and I hope that you will too. 

If you would like to read more about EveryLibrary or follow along with its progress, here is a list of links worth following:  

EveryLibrary Blog
EveryLibrary Twitter
EveryLibrary Tumblr
EveryLibrary Facebook
Oregon for EveryLibrary Twitter
Oregon for EveryLibrary Facebook
Library Journal article about EveryLibrary 
Hack Library School post about EveryLibrary  
American Libraries' Interview with John Chrastka

OHSU Library: Why are we here?

Although I am no longer working with the OHSU project, I am very honored that I was included in this project. Produced by User Experience Librarian Laura Zeigen and directed by Amy Fraizer, a student worker, this video is an excellent look into why librarians and library staff love their jobs:

Logro agridulce

For the past nine months I have had the great pleasure assisting with the creation of the Washington County Heritage Online digital collection. Funded by a LSTA grant, the collection brings together cultural organizations from across Washington County in the creation of a digital photograph collection. Specifically, I have been cataloging images donated by Centro Cultural, the county's foremost Latino community organization. Being trusted with their photographs was an honor, and I am very proud of this collection. Working with another volunteer, we have selected, digitized, restored and wrote metadata for about 900 images - all depicting Centro Cultural's contributions to Washington County.

Photographed by Francisco Rangel. Copyright held by Centro Cultural.

Now that the project is over, it is a little sad for this experience to come to an end. I really enjoyed working in the Pacific University Archives. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to see a project through from start to finish. And I hate to admit it, but I am also going to miss the two hour (one way) bus/train/bus ride out to Forest Grove. It was a wonderful opportunity for contemplation and reading. I think I read more books since starting this gig than I did while working a Borders Bookstore.

Although my time with this collection has come to an end, I know there are many more organizations who are ready and willing to contribute more photographs to this collection, and I am really excited to see watch this collection grow.

Protecting the commons

Photo credit: _PaulS_ via flickr

Before becoming a librarian, I earned a BA degree in environmental sociology - studying the interaction of social and ecological systems. During that time I was influenced by the idea of the commons - specifically the tragedy of the commons. This is the theory that natural resources shared by a community need to be properly managed and protected.  The classic example is a communal pasture where herds of animals graze. If each herdsman decides to add more animals to their stock, soon the pasture will not be able to support any life form. While many writers and theorists have discussed the commons in regards to environmental thought, the concept was made famous in Garrett Hardin's '"The Tragedy of the Commons," published in the December 1968 edition of Science. Hardin open the article building off Wiesner and York's discussion of the nuclear arms race, quoting them as saying "It is our considered professional judgement that this dilemma has no technical solution." Hardin took the further and looks at the tragedy of the commons as having no technical solution but requiring a fundamental extension in morality.

An example of a successfully managed commons is the Maine lobster industry. Maine lobster-men know that they must follow loosely-regulated restrictions in order to secure the future of their industry. If they over harvest, there will be no more lobsters. That's why, in the face of technological innovations, they have been using the same harvesting methods for close to 125 years.

What does environmental theory, the nuclear arms race and Maine lobster have to do with libraries?  As open space and natural resources are the commons to environmental theory, access to information through libraries (both physical or digital) are the commons to library science. I believe that the management of ebooks will be the libraries industry "tragedy of the commons."

There is a battle being raged, between publishers and libraries over access of electronic content: dealing with the licensing, access and distribution of electronic information - and ebooks seem to be the latest vanguard of this fight.  I will admit, a lot of what is happening is over my head, having never had to deal directly with library acquisitions or collection development policy. But what it seems to boil down to is the publishing industry protecting its profit margins while librarians protect the right of their patrons to access information.

Hardin stated that "a technical solution may be defined as one that requires a change only in the techniques of the natural [or communication] sciences, demanding little or nothing in the way of change in human values of morality."  Digital rights management has been part of the publishing industry as a technological solution to control content - which is handy for fighting piracy, but when applied to libraries can limit access of information. It seems that the argument on side of the publishers is that they are trying to protect authors and copyright holders. But we need to remember that copyright was founded as a balancing act - to not only promote incentives for authors and creators to share their ideas, but also to allow for the general public access to their ideas to build upon them.

And just like Wiesner, York and Hardin concluded, I do not believe that there will be a technical solution, but we need to bring about a look at our morality in dealing with freedom to read. Do we value open and private access to information? As a democratic nation whose foundations include the creation of modern libraries, I would like the think that we do - we just might have to make others see that, too. 

As I still try and learn about the logistics and strategies of this fight - I do know that librarians need to stick together and raise their voices. It is through collected action that gains can be made. Look at the fight in academia over the controversies of scholarly communication and the rising costs of journal titles. The collected action of librarians and faculty to boycott these journals is starting to make an impact.

As we work to combine our voices, we should look to leaders in this fight. This is who I am currently following:

K.G. Schneider had an excellent recent post on her blog, Free Range Librarian. Keeping with the environmental theme, she describes this as a problem with "reading ecology."

Andy Woodworth has been a constant voice in the discussion of eBooks in the library setting through his blog, Agnostic, Maybe.

Sarah Houghton, the Librarian in Black, has also been very vocal in speaking up for readers rights - and even has a YouTube channel where she uploaded a video discussing her views of how Amazon treat library patrons.

This is an ongoing debate, and I would love for you to share your thoughts. How do you think libraries should handle the ebook situation? Who have you heard speak up to publishers in the name of freedom to read? What will the future look like? Let us know in the comments below and let's keep this conversation going...

References:
J. B. Wiesner and H. F. York, Sci. Amer. 1964; 211 (No. 4): 27
G. Hardin, Science 1968 Dec 13; 162 (5364):1243-8

MLK, Osama and a global game of telephone

On May 2nd, the day after Osama was assassinated, I saw this quote on the Facebook wall of a good friend:

I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. MLK Jr.

I liked it. It matched the sentiment I was feeling, so I shared it. A lot of other people did, too. A lot of other people.

Apparently, the first line of the quote went viral on twitter. The only problem was that the first line of the quote wasn't Martin Luther Kings words. The rest of the quote is from MLK's book Strength to Love but that first line seemed to have gotten picked up and passed along as part of the quote.

There is a lot to be said about this situation. About citing your sources, about inspiration, even about appropriate reactions to global events.

What I find most interesting about this (semi)fake quote is how social media highlights one of the most basic rules of information science: The most trusted source for information is someone you already know. Those of us who saw the quote on a friend's Facebook wall or in a twitter feed trusted that person. I know I didn't think to confirm the validity of the quote, and obviously neither did others. This is a prime example of how Facebook, and social media as a whole, has become such a major player in the past five years. In the digital age, it's a way of building networks with those we already know and trust.

I think that this is an important reminder for librarians, especially in terms of the customer service that we offer our library users. Not that we have to be on Facebook (which I feel anyways) but that it is important to be seen as active and prominent members of our community. Whether it be a college campus, a corporate office or even just a local community, the days of hiding in the library are over. Our patrons need to know who we are.

David Shumaker has been doing some great research into the concept on embedded librarianship - worth checking out.

To see the original Facebook post the caused the misquote to go viral, click here.

Photo Credit: Minnesota Historical Society

#libchat

Due to a cold that is making its way around the library and coworkers on spring break, I had the privilege of six uninterrupted hours at the circulation desk..

...It actually wasn't that bad. I was able to get a lot of school work done, and I had an hour and a half dedicated to the second weekly libchat on twitter, which helped the time fly by.

Started by Natalie Binder (@nataliebinder), wh0 offers an excellent explanation on her blog, Libchat is like a live mini-discussion with people who are interested in libraries and information management. But it is a discussion where location and geography doesn't matter.

It works like this like this: Folks tweet their questions to Natalie ahead of time. During the chat, every 20 minutes or so she shares a question. The rest is a pretty organic experience - like any other normal conversation -with people from all over sharing their answers, ideas and insights. And it's pretty fascinating to watch what happens.

However, it certainly isn't a perfect medium for having a conversation. What is most frustrating is the fact that it is twitter, and you only have 140 characters. So it is a little awkward and it can be hard to offer an answer when there are some pretty big questions raised. For Example:


Really? Where to begin...

Thankfully there were some great answers, such as @ValentineLuLu's:

And @overgeeked's:

Which leads us to the benefits of libchat. It was great to see all of the different topics raised in such a short amount of time. The quickness of the format got your mind churning about all of the different issues that libraries are having to deal with. It was also awesome having so many library students in attendance: we're already thinking about a multitude of issues from our different classes, libchat was an additional exercise to keep those ideas freshly flowing.

Along with the different ideas, it was great to see some themes emerge as well. Natalie asked:



Participants answer's revolved around user centered missions such as customer service and information access. Questions like this helped support my belief that no matter how much the industry evolves, our missions and core values will prevail. After all, Ranganathan developed the five laws of library science in the middle of the 20th century, and they are still relevant today.

I'm pretty excited about the potential libchat holds. It is an amazing way for the library community to connect, no matter where members are located. And it is going be to a great way for us to discuss the current issues and support each other as we weather the changes that keep us on our toes (was it a coincidence that the Harper Collins debate popped up in both this week and last week's chat? Of course not).

I really hope that these chats continue, they certainly seem to be picking up steam. Right now they are scheduled for Wednesday evenings at 8pm eastern time (5pm here on the west coast), and I hope to see you at the next one...

we've gone global...

Not long ago, I posted about a fund-raising campaign that my cohort was conducting, raising funds for graduation: The 2011 Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest Calendar. So far we've made a couple of hundred dollars, so it's been a success (don't worry, there are still plenty of months left to fill with beautiful ink and intelligent young librarians, so you should buy yours today!). One of my favorite parts of this project has been watching where on the internet it's been popping up.

For example, it was featured on two of my favorite blogs: The Swiss Army Librarian and Needles and Sins. An overarching goal of the project (other than making us money) was ensuring that it was accepted in both the library community and the tattoo community, and seeing that calendar on these two blogs confirmed our success.

I think my favorite spot we discovered the calendar being promoted (and certainly the most surprising) was Bibliothecaris in blog, Dutch librarian/writer Laurent Meese's blog:


They always tell you to be careful what you put out on the internet, because you never know where it might end up. Logically, this makes sense, but it is still surprising when it happens to you. Thankfully, this sort of surprise was super positive, proof that our calendar now has a global reach (I just hope that folks across the pond are purchasing our calendar)!

I wanted to confirm the language this blog was written in and read what was actually said about the calendar. So I hoped over to Google Translate, and it was pretty easy to copy and paste the text. He is what Mr. Meese had to say:

Tattooed librarians, it is not an oxymoron. The students of Emporia State Master of Library and Information Science give a remarkable calendar for charity, namely himself. They should, has recently paid for their graduation and thus to generate some income. The calendar shows no traditional librarians pads with a bun but trendy birds with tattoos and piercings. DiVenti photographer Lisa took this funny pictures of the prospective librarians in the Pacific Northwest College of Art Library. The calendar costs 25 U.S. dollars. Last year there was a similar project with the Texas Library Association and their 2010 calendar "The TattooedLadies of TLA . A new fad is born, so it seems.

...Trendy birds with tattoos and piercings, indeed! Obviously not the best translation, but enough the get the feel. Thank you, Mr. Meese, for helping us with our cause (ourselves) and spreading the gospel of tattooed librarians!

PS: If anyone knows of any great plugins for FireFox that offer great translating features, please share!

sharing equals caring

Why is it that when I want to make an omelette, my eggs get scrambled and when I want to make a scramble, my eggs turn into an omelette? Not that this is either here nor there, but I am finding there are two things in my life that are turning me to Buddhism: Public transportation and cooking eggs.

Anyways, onto librarianship! Here are three articles I've read online in the past week that I thought were fascinating and wanted to share.

First up: Bookstore on the ropes. Here is a story about an independent bookstore that is going out of business. I know, I know: sad. But I think the owner has come up with a great analogy for the trifecta of threats (poor economy, eBooks and online shopping) that is bringing down independent booksellers: A perfect storm. I hate that bookstores are closing, but I like a good analogy.

Next up: Patrons clear the shelves. Here is a story of a British library that was on the chopping block (much like the bookstore in my first story), and the patrons were so concerned that the library is going to close that they checked out ALL the books in the library. I feel ambivalent about this story. On the one hand - I love the direct action that the patrons took to send a strong message to the library power holders and decision makers. On the other hand, part of me thinks that it sucks that there is nothing on the shelves. I know it is obviously a temporary action, but I feel if any patron walks into a library, they should be able to check out a book, even if it is not the book they are looking for. This action also makes me wonder what librarians (and myself) can do to make sure that an action this extreme is not needed, and the value of a library is always understood.

This last one is interesting, and got stuck in my mind after a recent conversation. I was having a drink with friends after class, and a recent acquaintance - who apparently is a devout devil's advocate just learned that we were library students - wanted us to defend our profession in the age of google. We did our best in dealing with a tired argument, but I wish that I had his email address to share this article with him: Humans vs. automated search: Why people power is cool again. This article discusses some issues that the infamous google algorithm has - mainly that spam and "content farms" can really effect the results of google searches - and how people influenced searches can really insure that good information can float to the top among a lot of the crap that is out there.

In closing - my quiver for the blog is currently empty, and school is really kicking in. I hope to continue with regularly scheduled postings - at least once a week or so. But please don't be surprised if posts are a bit more space out than that. Thanks again to all my readers!!

sunday morning infographic

I've mentioned in a previous post how much I love DIY culture, and even though I am not necessarily crafty, I believe that there is a strong correlation between it and librarianship.

Recently, I saw this post that made me think about this intersection again: 10 Things You Already Own to Wrangle and Label Cords. The post shares some pretty awesome ways to keep the multiple cords (that seem unfortunately necessary in this day and age) manageable, using common objects - from toilet paper tubes to action figures.

I'm always thinking of creative ways to organize information online, it's great to see creative ways to organize objects in real life.

Because it's Sunday morning, and I don't want to start my homework, and I'm a super dork, I processed my thoughts about librarianship and DIY culture into a Venn Diagram (which you should click on to get a better look at):


Putting together this infographic was a really interesting process. I found it way easier to think of common elements rather than unique elements. Granted, the fact that librarianship is a profession and DIY culture is (mostly) a hobby is a major difference. But once I started to really think about it - I was surprised at how much these two concepts overlap. For example:

Misunderstood: Most people think that libraries only deal with books and that crafters are crazy ladies who scrapbook. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Fetishized: The general public loves the concept of the sexy librarian. DIY culture is being co-opted as a marketing strategy to sell products.

Sustainable: reusing and recycling and self-reliance are major tenants of DIY culture. Libraries are at the heart of communities and community centeredness leads to stronger ecological values.

This post was a lot of fun. I have a recent obsession with infographics, and I'm always looking for an excuse to make my own. Writing this post makes me think if there are any other hobbies/professions/concepts that would be fun to fit into a Venn Diagram...

A big thanks to Serenity (and the magic of Gchat) for letting me bounce some ridiculous ideas off of her...

A perfect example of community centeredness...

I should be working on my research proposal that is due in a week, but had to share this quick post with all of you:

My local public library, Multnomah County Library, just announced via Facebook their new ecoroof.

I'm kind of geeking out over it.

I think this is a perfect example of what a library is: a center of community.

Let me break this down a bit.

Yes, a library is a center of information sharing, and for the most part this means checking out books and accessing the internet. But in 21st century, sharing information means so much more. In an age where ecological consciousness is so important, a library has the potential of being a leader and an example of sustainability, and the ecoroof is an amazing example of sustainable living.

The benefits of the new roof include:

- Reducing rainwater runoff into an already stressed sewer system
- Reducing energy costs
- Increasing vegetation and wildlife habitat
- Reducing air pollution
- Filtering the air
- Improving fish habitat, again by absorbing the water before it enters the sewer system.

Because community members (individuals, families, school groups, etc.) can tour and learn about the roof, the ecoroof is an example of information as a thing. You could log on to websites or check out books about ecoroofs, and you can actually experience it.

This is also an example of community colaboration. The roof was designed and monitored by employees of the City of Portland and a Portland State University Professor. The roof was funded by community organizations including various environmental offices from the City of Portland and the Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc. By involving members of the community from outside the library to support, create and maintain the project, more stakeholders are involved, thus creating opportunities to disseminate the information even further into the community!

I give Multnomah County Library two big thumbs up for their new ecoroof, and I can't wait for my summer term to be over so I can get up there and check it out for myself!

When information is not appreciated

At the start of the term, I read a fascinating article: Information as Thing by Michael K. Buckland (from the Journal of the American Society for Information Science, June 1991).

In the article, Buckland refutes the notion that information can only be present in traditional formats - print, video, etc. He helps us see that any object can be a piece of information. For example, how would we know about Dinosaurs if we never found their fossils? This doesn't seem like a radical idea - why else do we have museums but to study objects? Although, there are some folks who disagree. They say two agents need to exchange information in order for it to be information. Which makes sense. But I think one of those agents can be an "inanimate" object.

I was thinking about this concept recently when I was hiking through the Hoyt Arboretum in the West Hills of Portland. The arboretum, a garden of trees, seemed full of agents. Through simple observation, a plethora of information could be gathered from the trees. Such as how they effect the micro-climate (cooling temperature below the branches with warmer air above the branches), which effects the ecosystem (bugs swarming the warm air above the canopy create an excellent opportunity for various birds to feed, whose droppings help fertilize the soil creating a beneficial relationship between trees, bugs and birds).

Just by sitting and looking you can learn about the symbiotic relationships that exist in nature, which are important lessons to be learned if you want to be a constructive community member - both for your local community, and the various wider communities we are all participants in.

The arboretum, in essence, is a living library, a community space full of information. And like any public space, you can't keep the idiots out.

As I was walking along, I came across a beautiful old beech tree - it looked like a tree out of Middle Earth (it reminded me of a Mallorn Tree, to be exact, for fellow Tolkien ubër-geeks like myself). The trail wrapped around the tree, and as I approached to other side some jerk gouged, in huge letters, the word "GOD" into the side of the tree.

There's quite a lot going on with this specific word carved into this specific tree, so bear with me as I stand up on my soap box...

The nature lover inside of me knows how much danger this causes for the tree. By opening up the bark like that, the tree is now susceptible to a myriad of diseases and parasites. It is especially harmful in the arboretum, where this tree was planted specifically, like an artifact placed in a museum display, for the public to visit and observe.

As a humanist I'm even more annoyed with the person who did this. What was the point he was trying to make (in my mind, it's a him) by carving the word "GOD" into the tree? Was he saying nature is God? God created the tree? Is he an evangelical graffiti artist trying to spread "His" message? I'm guessing that he was just another portland-meth-tweeker who found his way into the woods and felt divinely inspired (through the crack pipe).

As a library student I'm super annoyed with whoever did this. It feels like someone walking into a library and drawing all over the pages of books, ruining the experience for future patrons.

However, the word "GOD" carved into the tree is a piece of information in and of itself - regardless of the message - just like any scrap of graffiti or vandalism is a piece of information. There is meaning behind it, whether we want to admit to it or not. At the very least, it tells us that people can selfish, moronic and destructive.

Unfortunately, unlike Wikipedia, we can't simple edit out this act of stupidity - it will be with us forever...

(FYI - The above picture was taken from the aforementioned hike through the arboretum. However it is not the vandalized tree, rather a specimen from the Creek Trail.)

I'm a crafty bitch, baby

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm traveling back east right now (writing this post in the Boston area), mostly to visit my nephew (who is a whopping three weeks old and the most amazing baby ever), but also to spend time with friends and family.

It was really great to catch up with my sister-in-law who, with one of her close friends, just started the blog Yankee Crafty Bitch. Go ahead, click the link, take a few minutes to check it out, and then hurry back.

Amazing, right?

Although I have never really finished a project myself, I'm kind of obsessed with the crafty, do-it-yourself (DIY) culture, which goes hand-in-hand with librarianship pretty seamlessly (pun intended).

Among the crafters and DIYers there is a pretty defiant attitude towards the general social acceptance (and apathy) of relying on an expert to: change your oil, clean your gutters, landscape your yard, decorate your house, etc. etc. etc. Why buy it in a store when you can make it/grow it/build it/fix it yourself?

Crafters and DIYers really embrace independence and are legit creative problem solvers. They celebrate thinking outside the box and are fearless in the face of a challenge. To them, there is nothing a little elbow grease can't fix.

I think these are all very important traits when it comes to being a librarian. There are quite a few challenges facing the library industry, and we will tackle them with the same perseverance and tenacity that a crafter will approach putting together a pair hand stitched reconstructed organic yoga pants.

Back to the blog....

I was impressed when a few weeks back it quietly appeared on Facebook. I knew my sister in law and her friends were a creative group of folks, but I was impressed as their projects (and their fans) started to pile up.

As we were hanging out in my Mom's house, cooing over the baby and enjoying some home cooked curry, we started talking about our respective blogs. We found ourselves sitting at a computer, bouncing between various websites, sharing tips and strategies. We discussed at great length the anxiety that the process of blogging creates; mostly due to the overwhelming information that is floating around out there and the self induced pressure to keep current with the myriad of social networking opportunities offered by the world wide web.

As I'm learning in library school, some of the most trusted sources of information will be the people that you already know, and it was great to discuss with someone else the process of creating a blog and the online community that goes with it.

I know that there are a ton of craft blogs out there and Yankee Crafty Bitch is still pretty new, but I guarantee that it is going to be one of the best, because I know that it has some amazing energy and talent backing it up. This is a blog that you are certainly going to want to keep an eye on.....

Think of the user.....

A few weeks into my second semester as a library student, I've been noticing a common phrase all of my instructors have been using.

"Think of the user."

When organizing information, we need to think of who wants to access it and what is the easiest way for them to find it. When manning the reference desk, we need to ascertain what the user is looking for and how are they are going to use it. Not to pass judgment, but to focus our search of the information to materials that will be most useful.

Not only does the expression come up in lectures and discussions, but also in assignments. We're developing a reference collection and we need to consider who is going to use it. What are their needs? What is their previous experience with similar material? Will this collection be useful?

We are developing annotated bibliographies on various subjects pertaining to the organization of information, and we need to think of who our audience is and what are the most pertinent resources we can highlight.

A successful and efficient library will always place its patron's needs at the center of its efforts.

In thinking about the importance of focusing on the user, I try and take the concept out of the realm of librarian. What if everyone, in any profession, constantly reminded themselves to "consider the user?"

What if the heads of big bankers asked themselves if high-risk loans where going to fully benefit their customers? Or if paying out huge bonuses to it's upper management would help out those whose housing were being foreclosed? Or politicians, when engaged in health-care reform debates, truly had their constituents at heart, rather than just promoting the advancement of their political party?

Consider this specific example:Just today, the Lancet reported that it was removing one of the most controversial studies it has published in recent years: the study that linked vaccinations to autism. Their reasoning? It turns out that the author was receiving large sums of money from a lawyer who was going after companies that produced the vaccinations.

While this certainly won't remove the controversy surrounding childhood vaccinations (I personally studied Thimerosal a little too much in college to fully take one side of the debate or the other), it certainly calls into question the intent of the author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Was he considering the user? Was he thinking about the outcome of this study and the affect it could have on the health of millions and millions of children. It certainly doesn't seem like he was.

After mulling over these thoughts, I'm going to try and make a personal pledge. As I go through my daily life, not only as a future librarian but as an active member of society, I'm going to try and always think about how my actions and interaction are going to affect others. I'm going to try and remember to ask myself, am I being helpful? Granted, I'll probably never be publishing major international scientific reports or run a bank, but even a little bit of helpfulness can go a long way....

What do you want to be when you grow up?

My goodness, what a scary question, leading to so much overwhelming pressure. A quarter century after the cord was cut and I’m just barley starting to figure out the answer to this question. When I was a kid it ranged from lobsterman to photographer to psychologist. Even in college, like most normal folks, I switched majors as often as I could until something finally felt like a fit. And even then, I majored in what I thought was fun to study, nothing I thought would actually take me anywhere in life. Then I graduated without the slightest clue as to what to do next. I figured I’d first learn how to stand on my own two feet and then worry about a career later (or at least for the economy to clean itself up).

Maybe this is why library school is going to be such a perfect fit for me – there are so many different things that I can do with this degree. And in the process of my studies, there is this wonderful, welcoming and eccentric community to help guide me along the way.

I haven’t even started my studies and I have already met a cast of characters who all contribute to the information industry in so many different ways. And they all seem so excited for me and so eager to offer advice and help. Even librarians I haven’t met, but have discovered their various blogs in my internet meanderings, have offered me great inspiration through their ramblings and tirades on the multitude of issues that they’re impassioned about. For lack of a better word, they all seem really neat, and I look forward to joining their ranks.

The financial aid has gone through, the text books have arrived, let’s get this game going…