Let me start with a quote from Hugh Hewitt’s Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World:

What made it all possible? What gave Luther the ability to succeed in his reform where others had failed? What allowed Calvin to shape the thought of every generation that followed him? Print. In 1449 Gutenberg amplified the human voice such that it could be heard around the world. He provided the means by which one person could communicate with the masses without the interference of the institutional structures of the day. At last individuals could speak, and none could silence them.

For the Mainstream Media, it is 1449 and 1517, at the same moment. (p.59)

Hewitt’s point is that we have embarked upon the next wave of transformation in the dissemination of information, and like the Reformations of the Sixteenth Century, this transformation provides a broader voice.

What, then, does this mean for libraries? If we are tasked with not only provision of access to information but also the preservation of that information, what are we to do with this new form? Clearly, anybody who can get online can read a blog. But if blogs are the new media, then what of their preservation? Whose, how often, and in what form should blogs be archived? And who should be tasked with it? In a hundred years will today’s blogs be accessible like the preserved media of a hundred years ago?

My second question concerns the cultural and societal change which is being sparked by this change in media. William Sonn in his Paradigms Lost: The Life and Deaths of the Printed Word argues that with each major historical shift in the manner and method of information dissemination there has been a consequent, and often quite significant, change in society. To quote him:

For every time the way media were produced changed in the past, politics shifted. So did economics. Migrations and emigrations followed; even mating habits changed sometimes. It is hard to trace how one particular tool–the telegraph, the radio, a device that made printing cheaper–directly led to one particular change; but all hell seemed to break loose when a new communications device superseded an old one, or even when the nitty-gritty manufacture and distribution of old media changed. (p. 7)

So where, then, are we going? And who will record the journey?

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A relatively recent study entitled Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester (.PDF) has the following to say concerning the Google generation and their approach to reference services at an academic library:

So self-service is the preeminent model and strategy of the information-seeking student. But when the student cannot satisfy his/her own needs and turns to real-life service providers, what happens? In their drawings of ideal library spaces, students sometimes group librarians with technical support staff and baristas at service desks (see Chapter 4). When they do not differentiate between different kinds of service providers, it is in part because they do not know the service providers, having experienced few person-to-person service relationships. If they have a need, they want it filled. If they want a need filled, they want to go to a font of all sorts of service, a sort of universal service point, a physical Google. In other words, they want Mommy. (p. 76)

HT: Nicole Engard, Metadata Librarian at Princeton University

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College students live on Facebook. Our seminary has a college. We want to provide reference and research services to our students where they are. We are now on Facebook. We are the SBTS Library Rats.

Coming soon – pushing library content into eCampus via RSS feeds.

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Michael Stephens, an Instructor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University, and the author of Tame the Web (one of my favorite LIS blogs), pointed out back in June the first academic library in South Carolina to be using Meebo for IM Reference.

Hmmm. Not to be outdone, in our continuing efforts to set the bar in academic theological librarianship (tongue-in-cheek), I give you our version: SBTS Research Help – Live.

Toot.

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… and I have so much I want to say. For now, though, my fellow bibliophages, take a tour of the most beautiful libraries to be found anywhere.

HT: Tony Kummer

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I never really aspired to librarianship as a child (who does?) probably because of perceptions such as these. Just for kicks I did a Google Books search on the phrase “librarians are like” and here are a few of the results. I actually found this somewhat discouraging — most of these statements were in library journals and indicate that we have something of an inferiority complex. If only the world understood us.

• Most male librarians are like bulls in a china shop when it comes to the task of making a library look right. If local female talent isn’t available, … [Planning the College and University Library Building: A Book for Campus Planners and Architects - Page 93; by Ralph E. Ellsworth - 1960 - 102 pages;]
• But I forget myself; we librarians are like Kentucky whiskey—some are better than others, but there are no bad ones! … [Library Essays: Papers Related to the Work of Public Libraries - Page 239; by Arthur Elmore Bostwick - 1920 - 432 pages;]
• I believe librarians are like the unconquerable Chinese… [Illinois Libraries - Page 728; by Illinois State Library, Illinois Library Extension Commission, Illinois Library Association, Illinois State Library Library Extension Division - 1919;]
• “Librarians are like pre-war Army quarter-masters, .. [Whigmaleeries - Page 4; by Scottish School of Librarianship - 1962;]
• But first, we must get rid of some out-of-date ideas on what librarians are like: dry-as-dust, bluestockings, martinets, dragons even! … [The Assistant Librarian: Official Journal of the A.A.L. - Page 41; by Association of Assistant Librarians - 1997;]
• children’s librarians are like the cigarette smokers in the TV commercial in this … [The Reading Teacher - Page 179; by International Reading Association - 1951;]
• Librarians are like midwives. [Wisconsin Library Bulletin - Page 387; by Wisconsin. Free Library Commission, Wisconsin. Division for Library Services - 1984;]
• Librarians are like artists: the good ones, given time, develop individual styles that are recognizable. [Making Sure We Are True to Our Founders: The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1970-95 - Page 332; by Jeffrey Brandon Morris - Law - 1997.]
• A library is like a church, and we, the librarians are like priests and ministers… [RQ. - Page 28; by American Library Association Reference Services Division - 1960;]
• Librarians are like scientists in this respect: it is never safe to ask them questions about anything outside of their show-case. [The Bookman - Page 506 - 1912;]
• Reference librarians are like tourist guides in foreign countries. [This Business of Writing - Page 182; by Gregg Levoy - Language Arts & Disciplines - 1992 - 219 pages;]
• Instructional librarians are like combat nurses, often ignored until needed, but deeply appreciated when they materialize at the right place at the right time. [Training College Students in Information Literacy, 2006-07 - Page 11; by Primary Research Group - Computers - 2006 - 73 pages;]
• Librarians are like local politicians —they enhance their position by taking the best deal offered. [Publishers Weekly - Page 2608; by Publishers' Board of Trade (U.S.), Book Trade Association of Philadelphia, American Book Trade Union, Am. Book Trade Association, R.R. Bowker Company - 1873;]
• Librarians are like people in one respect at least. [The Catholic Library World - Page 68; by Catholic Library Association - 1929;]
• Librarians are like mothers. [The Educational Review - Page 235;]
• Librarians are like fishers in the sea. [The Library Quarterly - Page 220; by University of Chicago Graduate Library School - 1931;]
• We librarians are like the rest of the world. [Rice University Studies - Page 40; by Rice University - 1962;]
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher has said that librarians are like missionaries in their
  zeal. We have to be. We are an integral part in the shaping of mankind and … [Bulletin of the American Library Association - Page 886; by American Library Association - 1938;]

I can’t believe I’m one of them. God must indeed have a sense of humor since I am now, and love being, one of them. Though I must endure the stereotypes, I do get to invest in theology students preparing for ministry by teaching them how to do substantive research. I guess I can endure being compared to a “dry-as-dust, bluestockings, martinet.”

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I attended this conference in 2006, and would have given my left foot to go again this year. The powerpoint presentations from this year’s conference will have to suffice. You may get to them from here — just pick a day for a list of presentations.

ht: Library Instruction, Technology, and Ethics

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What, they can’t just use the attic? Or rent a POD? According to the BBC:

One of the world’s oldest libraries, at the Vatican, is to close for three years for rebuilding, in an unexpected blow to scholars around the world.

The decision to shut the library was made without warning.

After the library closes for its summer break in mid-July, it will not reopen until September 2010, the Vatican says.

Read the BBC article here. I wonder if this three year lack of access will be the setback to historical and theological research that many fear, or if it will effectually speed the inevitable digitalization of their historic collections (manuscripts, incanabula, etc…). If so, this temporary closure of their collections may have the result of increasing the collections’ accessibility to all of us.

In 2002, PC World reported that the Vatican Library began digitizing 1.6 million volumes “for general perusal” with the help of Hewlett-Packard. I have not seen an update on this project, but perhaps this closure will speed things along.

An incredible library, no doubt.

The Vatican Library
The Vatican Museums
The Vatican Secret Archives
Treasures of the National Library of Vatican City

HT: Clerical Whispers

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Ahhh. About time.

RSS feeds and alerts in an academic serials database.

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The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL – a division of the ALA, of which I am not a big fan) Research Committee unveiled the top ten assumptions for the future of academic libraries during ACRL National Conference on Saturday March 31, 2007. You can listen to the podcast here.

Top ten assumptions for the future of academic and research libraries:

1. There will be an increased emphasis on digitizing collections, preserving digital archives, and improving methods of data storage and retrieval.
2. The skill set for librarians will continue to evolve in response to the needs and expectations of the changing populations (student and faculty) that they serve.
3. Students and faculty will increasingly demand faster and greater access to services.
4. Debates about intellectual property will become increasingly common in higher education.
5. The demand for technology related services will grow and require additional funding.
6. Higher education will increasingly view the institution as a business.
7. Students will increasingly view themselves as customers and consumers, expecting high quality facilities and services.
8. Distance Learning will be an increasingly common option in higher education, and will co-exist but not threaten the traditional bricks-and-mortar model.
9. Free, public access to information stemming from publicly funded research will continue to grow.
10. Privacy will continue to be an important issue in librarianship.

My reaction to most of these was, “duh!” I have some thoughts of my own, but I want to hear about you think academic libraries will change, or about how you would like for them to!

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