Do They Want Librarians?

Something got me thinking the other day. What is the role of the public librarian today? The argument goes that since the Internet is often people’s main source of information, the role of a public librarian should be more focused on programming than on providing reference services. While I am not discounting the importance of library programming, the planning of certain types of events is a different skill set from the professional duties of the librarian.

First, the Internet does not fulfill every information need out there, sometimes you just need to use other sources. Also, the first search hit may not be the best hit for a particular need. Also, and this is showing my biases, a good readers’ advisory librarian is hard to find and recommending good books to read for recreation is more than just shoving a list in someone’s face. If someone needs an answer to a question beyond a simple directional or technical service question that person would left to find for themselves causing a dissatisfied customer.

So, what is the purpose of the public library in the 21st century?

709 New Direction

With the clock running out until the next IRB meeting, I have decided to change direction and do a critical content analysis of information literacy teacher’s guide instead. Hopefully I could finally get things moving.

The 709 Blues

These last few weeks I have been trying to turn my 709 topic into something doable in one semester. My original plan was to do a study of a class that uses critical pedagogy. I could not easily find anyone in the area who uses a critical information literacy pedagogy so I modified my plan somewhat. I decided to take a look at whether students find what they learn in information literacy classes in their everyday lives outside the “classroom.” I just created a questionnaire but I have no idea what class I am going to study. I need to figure this out soon if I am going to submit an IRB application before they meet on October 5th. So much to do so little time.

What’s New with Myron

The summer has come and gone and I broke my promise to maintain this blog on a regular basis. There’s really no real reason besides sheer neglect. What have I been up to in the mean time. I took two summer classes and did reasonably well. Now I am taking the final two classes before getting my MLS and I am excited about it.

This semester I am taking 709, the thesis course (we’re not supposed to call it that but that’s how to describe it to non-Queens College library science students, and 713, science reference. I’m glad both classes are on Tuesday so I could spend one day in class and the rest of the time doing homework and other things. Already in the science reference class I have become of things in databases that I have always taken for granted. Those things will become useful for 709.

My 709 project is on Critical Information Literacy, information literacy where students evaluate information to empower themselves based on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy. Ideally I would like to observe and survey a class that uses Critical Information Literacy as its pedagogical basis. If that happens then I am doing “human subjects experimentation,” which means I have to go in front of Queens College’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). That means I have to be certain of what exactly I am doing by the next IRB meeting which is October 5. Before that I took an online tutorial that dealt with the history of human experimentation in social science research. The tutorial was time consuming but it is something I had to do before moving format. I may change what I am going to do depending on whether what I am aiming for is practical. I will keep you posted about the status of my project.

I’m still working at Rosenthal Library and Milliman. I finally received an interview with New York Public Library for a Librarian Trainee position. The interview is on Tuesday so wish me good luck.

I’ll write more soon.

LibCamp NYC and Summer at Rosenthal

Over a month ago I want to LibCamp NYC, a Library unconference. There were a series of panels on various topics related to libraries. Most of the session I went to was related to some aspect of information literacy (IL)instruction. My 709 topic is on critical information literacy so I wanted to get a sense of what different librarians are doing regarding IL instruction. One thing that is apparent is that the one-shot session is not enough time to go through the fundamentals of information literacy. There either need to be a new model for IL instruction or the one-shot session needs to be revamped.

There are notes on each of the session, including two written by yours truly (Critical Information Literacy and What Should We Do About the Dinosaur Known as the Reference Desk) at http://libcampnyc.pbworks.com/.

Right now I’m at the Information Desk at Rosenthal Library and as far as providing service, I feel I am having a good day. Making sure that you are providing the user’s information need is important. One student came up with a list of suggested books provided by her professor to use for a paper about critical thinking and religion. Of course, with lists of these types, all the books held by the library that’s on the list is out, but since that was a list of suggested items, I decided to do a subject keyword search on books on the topic and gave her a list of books. From there she browsed in that area to find other books on the topic. She found plenty of material for her topic.

An update of my status

Hello, sorry I neglected this blog for awhile. What’s been going since I last posted. The Spring semester has ended and I am awaiting the beginning of Summer classes in about two weeks. I want to BookExpo and LibCamp 2009. I’m starting to gather materials for my 709 (thesis) project. Life goes on and I’m trying to get some things done in a limited amount of time. In other words, everything is normal.

Recently I’ve been thinking about my reading habits. I decided to go through the list of NYPL’s 2009 Summer Reads list. I’m going to try to get through as many of the books as possible that are available in the Parkchester Branch. Besides that, the only other criteria is that I reserve the right to stop reading any book I am not feeling. Since I am no longer required to read anything for Readers’ Advisory class, I might as well just read the books that I enjoyed.

Why I am typing this, because already I invoked that clause. I started reading Away by Amy Bloom and after going through 63 pages, I decided I didn’t like the book and moved on to The Beach House by Jane Green, which I am feeling a lot more. More behind my thought process in my next post.

Museum of Sex Archives Visit

On Wednesday I visited the archives of the Museum of Sex. The Museum of Sex is a museum devoted to the social history of sex. I learned some surprising things about sexual habits that I was not even remotely aware of, particularly what are “fuzzies” and “furries” (“fuzzies” are people who wear animal paraphernalia while engaging in sex play and “furries” are people who dress up like anthropomorphic animals while engaging in sex play).

One of the of the most fascinating items in the collection is Ralph Whitington’s porn collection. Ralph Whittington is a long time Library of Congress employee who amassed a hugh pornography collection. Like the librarian that he is, he categorized the collection into different sub-topics based on subject headings. Not all of it is cataloged in the Museum of Sex’s archival classification system I’m sure this material would be valuable to anyone who chooses to research porn or related topics.

For more information on the museum of sex and its archive go to www.museumofsex.com/. I’m typing this at the New York Public Library and of course the site is filtered.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

In the 1680’s America, after the death of her master, Florens, a young slave, realizes just how fragile the familial bonds she had with her mistress and fellow slaves and servants.

Toni Morrison effectively captures colonial America during the 1680’s in her latest novel. This story shows the roots of the often tenuous relationships that African American women, African American men, White women, and White men have with each other. With that being said, this novel is more effective as a historical essay than as a novel. I often asked myself while reading this book, “who are these characters and why should I care”?

Florens, Sorrow, Rebekka, and Lina, the central characters of this novel, are types that fail to come alive. Once you know which character is which, the trajectory of each of their stories is obvious.  While I don’t mind learning something while reading a novel, entertainment value comes first. Although this book is only 368 pages, it is not easy reading. I like novels with depth and while there is a strong set of central ideas, that’s all there is to this novel a set of ideas. As a novel this is a good essay.

Tribute by Nora Roberts

When former child star, Cilla McGowan, went to rebuild her late grandmother’s, legendary film star Janet Hardy, farmhouse, she did not expect to fall in love with graphic novelist Ford Sawyer and the town around her. However, when she discovers her grandmother’s old love letters, someone makes it clear that she is not wanted in town.

I enjoyed Nora Roberts’s tale of a young woman looking for a home and finds one in the town where her Janet’s farmhouse is in and finds love in the arms of Ford. The surrounding mystery regarding Janet’s letters and her death was just something to add some spice to this romantic tale of a woman in search of a place to belong.  However, last night’s movie adaptation on Lifetime focused more on the mystery than on Cilla’s search for belonging. I found myself disinterested in the movie. First of all the casting was just wrong. Brittney Murphy was way too skinny to be Cilla; there is no way that this frail girl could be swinging hammers and wrecking houses for a living (watching her swing tha hammer was laughable). Also, Ford was way more hunky than I imagined him, in fact, I imagined Ford looking more like the guy who played Steve. I imagined Steve to be this big, burly guy, not a skinny, little thing.

Also, by focusing so much on the mystery, the heart of the book was cut out completely. So many characters were cut from the movie including, both of Cilla’s parents, her stepmother and sister, and Ford’s dog. That dog was the key to Ford and Cilla falling in love. I understand they cannot cover the whole book in a two hour movie but they cut out so much of the soul of the movie from the choices the producers made. Very disappointing.

Beijing Coma by Ma Jian

Dai Weihas spent over a decade in coma after being shot during the Tiananmen Square protests in June 1989. Dai Wei looks back at his life, while being fully conscious of the present even while in a vegetative state.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I loved how Ma Jian showed how China’s Cultural Revolution affected that generation and the generations that followed. This is the story of the Dai family and how the Communist Government had a negative impact on this family’s life because some members dared to speak out against it. There are two parallel stories, one is the story of Dai Wei’s life, particularly leading up to the protests in 1989; the other is the story of his mother who is burdened with his care after no health care facility would take him due to his political affiliations.

As I reached the end of this book, I realized that this is the perfect readalike to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Both stories deal with the effect of a dictatorial government on a family; both stories have parallel tales that comment on said dictatorships; both are multigenerational tales; and both, you could argue, deal with family curses. There are a lot of parallels. They are not the same story but I do think that this book has the same appeal. Especially, since Oscar Wao has a long hold list in at many New York City area libraries, Beijing Coma is the perfect readalike for people to read while waiting for Oscar Wao.