There is a lot of buzz around getting rid of the reference desk, and I think that the best I've read so far on the subject is an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (4/20/07) by Scott Carlson titled "Are Reference Desks Dying Out?"
Part of his discussion surrounds the fact that students are becoming more self-directed, which I see as a result of an increasing emphasis on instruction. Not a bad thing at all, really. The new types of "reference" he points towards are basically research consultation/instruction, in a number of settings. This is likely an extension of the whole everything 2.0 whatnot, which focuses on putting the user/patron/student in charge of their research.
Part of what has been getting to me about the reference interview, as it is presented in LIS textbooks by Katz, or Bopp/Smith is the fact that it has largely gone unexamined in light of the fact that more and more libraries and library users are becoming self-directed. Basic functions of the library are easy to figure out, and what people seem to need help with is in the area of instruction and research. First of all, naming the whole thing a "reference interview" is unhelpful, because the strategy of asking people what they need is as easily applied to determining what instruction would be helpful, not only for "reference" questions.
Secondly, no matter how hard we may try, our interviews will always color the search. End of story. Our knowledge of the subject and of it's attached sources will never match the searcher's, nor the person (teacher/professor/absent student) who designs any imposed queries. To cop some ideas from Peter Morris (author of Ambient Findability), a straight interview, conducted at a desk, lowers the findability of library resources, because the librarian is supposed to channel them and select the right one(s), which takes away from the uniqueness of the search, of the searcher's conceptions, and their results.
I think that a person's final product is very much a result of their searches for information, and too much coloring of the searches' results (I would also argue that we as librarians oversimplify complex searches to fit our sources as well) results in much less unique and personal research. There is an imperative by reference librarians to make our users conform to the tools at hand, and while this may raise the general quality of research being done, it also locks searches into preconceived notions of how information is organized, and detrimentally, how it is to be used.
Monday, April 30, 2007
scary reference!
Some reference interactions:
Asked to get "black angels" by a "disc" numer, which are LP's, patron wanted CD, so I found one handily.
Had to find 3 Stravinsky ballets on LP's for duplication because the CD they were on is a reserve item.
Finally got the bejesus scared out of me by a question. The student was looking for a finished version of Hugo Wolf's "Mailied" with words by Holty, not by Goethe. The complete works only give a fragment and the bibliography of Wolf did the same. According to the student's professor, there is a "finished version" out there. Being somewhat flustered, I suggested he check back with the professor for more information. Then I knowcked around on Google Scholar, which pointed me towards a score done by the Internationale Hugo Wolf-Gesellschaft, which has the "Mailied" in it, but it didn't specify the version, although one article claimed it was based on the Wolf fragment.
There was also an email from a researcher in Italy, who was trying to get into an ebook that had a score in it, but was confusting that subscription service with the library's Digital Sheet Music Collection, which is free.
Asked to get "black angels" by a "disc" numer, which are LP's, patron wanted CD, so I found one handily.
Had to find 3 Stravinsky ballets on LP's for duplication because the CD they were on is a reserve item.
Finally got the bejesus scared out of me by a question. The student was looking for a finished version of Hugo Wolf's "Mailied" with words by Holty, not by Goethe. The complete works only give a fragment and the bibliography of Wolf did the same. According to the student's professor, there is a "finished version" out there. Being somewhat flustered, I suggested he check back with the professor for more information. Then I knowcked around on Google Scholar, which pointed me towards a score done by the Internationale Hugo Wolf-Gesellschaft, which has the "Mailied" in it, but it didn't specify the version, although one article claimed it was based on the Wolf fragment.
There was also an email from a researcher in Italy, who was trying to get into an ebook that had a score in it, but was confusting that subscription service with the library's Digital Sheet Music Collection, which is free.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
in conversation with a reference librarian.
In a conversation with one of the reference staffers, I got a pretty good glimpse as to their concerns about the provision of reference work at the Waltz Library. He basically said that there really were only to kinds of questions that they get. Either a person looking for a specific piece of material (score, book, sound recording) or a subject based question ("do you have any materials on..."). In both cases he noticed that there were fewer and fewer questions being asked at the reference desk, although the ones he gets are becoming much more intense in scope and depth. I have seen this play out at the Penrose Library as well as in the literature. One that comes to mind was written about the Information Commons at the University of Indiana Bloomington, by Dallis and Walters (Reference Services Review, 34(2), 2006).
There are a number of explanations for this kind of shift in behavior, although the first that came up in conversation centered around the course reserves, both online and in hard copy, including sound recording. Part of the supposition is that because there are more and more items being put on reserve, undergraduates, particularly the underclassmen, spend less time looking for materials, and more time working with them. The hypothetical result being that students know the material better, but know the library less. All said and done, this might not be an all bad thing, whether you're a fan of "save the time of the reader" or "user-centered design." Interesting how these things never go away. Even if Raganathan was a a fan of open stacks and the course reserves are "closed," they have the same spirit behind them: convenience. Since I'm name dropping, both speak to Mann's "principle of least effort". It seems like more of the questions are coming from upperclassmen and graduate students, whose research is a little less structured.
The other thing that I noticed is that because of the desk layout, the computer terminals for the students are right next to the circulation side of the desk, which is normally staffed by student workers (although sometimes librarians will step in) as opposed to the side that the reference desk is located on (which is at the entrance). I suppose that the underlying logic of the physical arrangement is that people who come in with a question will go to the reference desk, but it seems like more questions are being generated when people interact with the library's resources, all of which are past it, with the circulation side of the desk in between them. Unfortunately, the obvious solution to the problem of switching the sides is prohibited by the physical arrangement of internet jacks, printers, space, and wiring issues. I wonder if less differentiation between the desks and more between the actual workers would be a solution.
Another aspect has to do with the timing of the academic cycle. Since CU is on semesters, there are only a few weeks left, so most of the major research has been done already. According to the staffer, there might be a little pick-up in reference as the semester closes, when last-minute research and clarifications are being followed through. It seems as though there is a similar lull at Penrose, where the cycles are shorter because of the quarter schedule.
In talking with Laurie, she mentioned how many papers she had written in library school, while I think more so than papers, I have given presentations for most classes. I wonder if presentations (and group work) are somewhat of a standard at DU. To a certain extent, that concerns me. I agree with Thomas Mann's assertion that higher levels of information can only be achieved by sustained study and attention, which the process of writing papers provides. Irony isn't escaping me on this one, as I type into my blog.
Speaking of Blogs:
My class on interent sources went pretty well, despite my running late and running into traffic on 36. It really made me resepect professors. I was feeling a bit tired, and I think that because of that the class suffered somewhat, thanks to my sedated delivery. That being said, it was nice to see how interesting topics came from unexpected places. The section on online repositories of digital sheet music brought out a discussion on copyright, and the section on music resource pages illustrated the importance of website style and currency (see IU's music web resources list), from the section on evaluating web resources (see Cornell University's page on evaluating web resources). It really made me think about how important it is for function to be directly related to style, because in the age of web 2.0, static webpages look much worse for the wear, to the point that even good resources are easily overlooked. I think that some of the problem falls under the "judging a book by its' cover," but some of it also comes from failure of good design. Here's a good blog post which summarizes the issue from the infotangle blog. A more extensive discussion can be found in books like Peter Moreville's Ambient Findability.
Here's the text of the handout for that class:
There are a number of explanations for this kind of shift in behavior, although the first that came up in conversation centered around the course reserves, both online and in hard copy, including sound recording. Part of the supposition is that because there are more and more items being put on reserve, undergraduates, particularly the underclassmen, spend less time looking for materials, and more time working with them. The hypothetical result being that students know the material better, but know the library less. All said and done, this might not be an all bad thing, whether you're a fan of "save the time of the reader" or "user-centered design." Interesting how these things never go away. Even if Raganathan was a a fan of open stacks and the course reserves are "closed," they have the same spirit behind them: convenience. Since I'm name dropping, both speak to Mann's "principle of least effort". It seems like more of the questions are coming from upperclassmen and graduate students, whose research is a little less structured.
The other thing that I noticed is that because of the desk layout, the computer terminals for the students are right next to the circulation side of the desk, which is normally staffed by student workers (although sometimes librarians will step in) as opposed to the side that the reference desk is located on (which is at the entrance). I suppose that the underlying logic of the physical arrangement is that people who come in with a question will go to the reference desk, but it seems like more questions are being generated when people interact with the library's resources, all of which are past it, with the circulation side of the desk in between them. Unfortunately, the obvious solution to the problem of switching the sides is prohibited by the physical arrangement of internet jacks, printers, space, and wiring issues. I wonder if less differentiation between the desks and more between the actual workers would be a solution.
Another aspect has to do with the timing of the academic cycle. Since CU is on semesters, there are only a few weeks left, so most of the major research has been done already. According to the staffer, there might be a little pick-up in reference as the semester closes, when last-minute research and clarifications are being followed through. It seems as though there is a similar lull at Penrose, where the cycles are shorter because of the quarter schedule.
In talking with Laurie, she mentioned how many papers she had written in library school, while I think more so than papers, I have given presentations for most classes. I wonder if presentations (and group work) are somewhat of a standard at DU. To a certain extent, that concerns me. I agree with Thomas Mann's assertion that higher levels of information can only be achieved by sustained study and attention, which the process of writing papers provides. Irony isn't escaping me on this one, as I type into my blog.
Speaking of Blogs:
My class on interent sources went pretty well, despite my running late and running into traffic on 36. It really made me resepect professors. I was feeling a bit tired, and I think that because of that the class suffered somewhat, thanks to my sedated delivery. That being said, it was nice to see how interesting topics came from unexpected places. The section on online repositories of digital sheet music brought out a discussion on copyright, and the section on music resource pages illustrated the importance of website style and currency (see IU's music web resources list), from the section on evaluating web resources (see Cornell University's page on evaluating web resources). It really made me think about how important it is for function to be directly related to style, because in the age of web 2.0, static webpages look much worse for the wear, to the point that even good resources are easily overlooked. I think that some of the problem falls under the "judging a book by its' cover," but some of it also comes from failure of good design. Here's a good blog post which summarizes the issue from the infotangle blog. A more extensive discussion can be found in books like Peter Moreville's Ambient Findability.
Here's the text of the handout for that class:
Using the World Wide Web for Music Research
Music 5708
Evaluating Web Resources:
Cornell Library’s Evaluating Web Resources
http://www.library.cornell.edu/t/help/res_strategy/evaluating/evaluate.html
Web-based Reference Tools:
New Grove Online
RILM Abstracts
IIMP
CU Digital Sheet Music Collection
http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/music/smp/index.html
MLA Listing of Sheet Music Collections
http://www.lib.duke.edu/music/sheetmusic/collections.html
LC’s American Memory
Public Domain Music
Choral Public Domain Library
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Gramofile
WWW Directories for Music:
Indiana University Music Library’s Worldwide Internet Music Resources
http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources
Harvard’s Internet Resources for Music Scholars
http://www-hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/music/resources/
Library of Congress. Internet Resources for Music, Theater and Dance. http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/new.internet.resources.html
http://www.lib.duke.edu/music/resources/classical_index.html
Yahoo! Music
http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music
Search Engines:
Google
Ask
Dog Pile
Clusty
Kartoo
Staying Current:
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Search Engine Showdown
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com
Blogs:
Blog Search Engines
Technorati
Google Blog Search
Blog Software
Typepad
Various Examples
http://www.chicagoclassicalmusic.org
http://www.myspace.com/ericwhitacre
Junyan Liu
http://www.myspace.com/junyanliu
http://www.myspace.com/kronosquartet
Thursday, April 12, 2007
the less creative title: day six
I spent the morning doing research for a class I will be teaching on the 18th, on interenet resources. I'm very excited to teach this class because it has a nice "something old/something new" component to it. The older material is older not becuase it is dayed, but because they are in an older format, namely as static web pages in HTML. The new stuff are things like blogs, wikis, and social software sites, along with blog search engines, tagging sites, and blog making sites. I was suprised, but probably shouldn't have been both at the quality and managability of classical and academic music blogs, etc. I feel that there are times and places for both in instruction, and I'm glad Laurie let me take a crack at them.
The second part of the morning was spent preparing for a consultation on music education sources, specifically arguements in support of it.
I spent the afternoon working with Anita, who pulls double duty as a cataloger and as a reference staffer. Because she's skilled at both, she has a great perspective on how well the catalog and cataloging functions for the user. Currently, III millenium does not let the generic logins for ref/circ look at the authority records, which not only provide the cross referencing, but often have a narrative explaination of why certain headings are used, which is invaluable for learing how to search a catalog. There was also some discussion on copy-cataloging, along with discussions on modifying copy, and the pitfalls of library vendor cataloging. The more I work with cataloging, the more interesting it sounds. I also feel like I am learing a lot about it, which is nice, and seems to be the case withg hands-on(ish) work in libraries.
The second part of the morning was spent preparing for a consultation on music education sources, specifically arguements in support of it.
I spent the afternoon working with Anita, who pulls double duty as a cataloger and as a reference staffer. Because she's skilled at both, she has a great perspective on how well the catalog and cataloging functions for the user. Currently, III millenium does not let the generic logins for ref/circ look at the authority records, which not only provide the cross referencing, but often have a narrative explaination of why certain headings are used, which is invaluable for learing how to search a catalog. There was also some discussion on copy-cataloging, along with discussions on modifying copy, and the pitfalls of library vendor cataloging. The more I work with cataloging, the more interesting it sounds. I also feel like I am learing a lot about it, which is nice, and seems to be the case withg hands-on(ish) work in libraries.
Reference Questions
Monday was a good day for reference questions. The first involved determining the copyright status of "Home on the range." I always thought it was a traditional cowboy song, but it actually has a lyricist and a composer, who co-wrote it in the 1890's. It is also now the state song of Kansas. I told the man I suspected it was out of copyright, which now falls on 1923, but the best place to ask might be a law library.
This question stuck out in my mind because it is one of those that asking followup questions to seems kind of silly. It seems like a lot of questions in the music library are of this type, relating to the possession of by someone, a piece of music, etc.
The second question that stuck out in my mind involved finding materials on the history of cabarets in France and Germany. I began to ask "is there anything in particular you need to know about the history of cabarets in France and Germany?" but thankfully I stopped myself. The only real thing that needed definition was the kinds of materials the student needed, so I asked about that instead. At a public library, I probably would have asked my first question, but because of the setting, I didn't. The resulting session involved some keyword and subject searching in Chinook, and the same sorts of things in RILM, along with some other databases and GoldRush. On the whole it was a successful interview.
All in all, I think that these two questions are illustrative of the very directed questions you get in a specialized library.
This question stuck out in my mind because it is one of those that asking followup questions to seems kind of silly. It seems like a lot of questions in the music library are of this type, relating to the possession of by someone, a piece of music, etc.
The second question that stuck out in my mind involved finding materials on the history of cabarets in France and Germany. I began to ask "is there anything in particular you need to know about the history of cabarets in France and Germany?" but thankfully I stopped myself. The only real thing that needed definition was the kinds of materials the student needed, so I asked about that instead. At a public library, I probably would have asked my first question, but because of the setting, I didn't. The resulting session involved some keyword and subject searching in Chinook, and the same sorts of things in RILM, along with some other databases and GoldRush. On the whole it was a successful interview.
All in all, I think that these two questions are illustrative of the very directed questions you get in a specialized library.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
teaching a class, interview presentations, & cataloging as it applies to reference
So yesterday was the first class that I taught, along with the questions on the worksheet that I revised. I was lucky to have a class that was receptive and curious, even asking questions that I didn't have the answer for (regarding the updating of musical directories). Despite a pretty good performance overall, I still have things to work on, especially using my notes less, and also taking more time to demonstrate searches, especially for online materials. For the most part, I feel pretty comfortable in front of a classroom. I think that I need to focus more on preparing and being a little less off the cuff.
I think that hardest thing about instruction, and the most important, is getting across the "why" question. This was doubly hard due to my topic, which was music directories. Granted, directories are nice, but the logical question that follows is: can't this be found online? The short answer is yes, but sometimes it's easy to forget that people will curtail what information they share in different media. Additionally, the way that directories are organized allow for more of a browsing type of searching, with information already co-located, as opposed to keyword searching, which has less underlying logic to it. While i think that this seems somewhat straightforward, my hope is that I can make the point without seeming either condescending or preachy.
It must have been the day for instruction, because I was asked to attend a presentation that was being made for a candidate for CU's head of reference postition. There was an emphasis on the growing importance of instruction in academic libraries, but at one point the question was raised about the fact that it was passe and not wirth the while, that people should get point-of-need instruction through online tutorials and help menus. The point was raised that students are increasingly into self-directed study, and fewer are using the old bricks and mortar.
While that seems to be the case, I would say that that argument overlooks the fact that not everyone likes the format of online tutorials, because they are not particularly interactive, not in the same way an actual person is. They do have their place, but I do not think that they replace a person. Also, they are not always hands on in allowing for instruction that is tailored to a specific information need the way that a class can be adjusted to cover a particular subject area or resource. I agree with the candidate that instruction is becoming increasingly part of the reference librarian's job, either in a classroom or on the reference desk. I think you can make some exceptions, however, for public libraries, or for specific inquiries, which is the crux of this practicum. To some extent, specific inquiries ought to be left as they are presented to the librarian. While there might be cases where a person is asking for the wrong thing, or is going about it the wrong way, it is often the case that the searcher learns more from the experience, or that the searcher in a specialized library really only needs help finding the physical object they seek. So an open question inquiry becomes a prime violation of Raganathan's old adage, "save the time of the researcher."
Finally, I got an in-depth session with one of the catalogers on reference work, which was enlightening. It taught me a lot about using keyword searches for pieces of music, as well as the importance of gaming LC subject headings when searching for music. in general, specificity combined with completeness of information given is key.
I think that hardest thing about instruction, and the most important, is getting across the "why" question. This was doubly hard due to my topic, which was music directories. Granted, directories are nice, but the logical question that follows is: can't this be found online? The short answer is yes, but sometimes it's easy to forget that people will curtail what information they share in different media. Additionally, the way that directories are organized allow for more of a browsing type of searching, with information already co-located, as opposed to keyword searching, which has less underlying logic to it. While i think that this seems somewhat straightforward, my hope is that I can make the point without seeming either condescending or preachy.
It must have been the day for instruction, because I was asked to attend a presentation that was being made for a candidate for CU's head of reference postition. There was an emphasis on the growing importance of instruction in academic libraries, but at one point the question was raised about the fact that it was passe and not wirth the while, that people should get point-of-need instruction through online tutorials and help menus. The point was raised that students are increasingly into self-directed study, and fewer are using the old bricks and mortar.
While that seems to be the case, I would say that that argument overlooks the fact that not everyone likes the format of online tutorials, because they are not particularly interactive, not in the same way an actual person is. They do have their place, but I do not think that they replace a person. Also, they are not always hands on in allowing for instruction that is tailored to a specific information need the way that a class can be adjusted to cover a particular subject area or resource. I agree with the candidate that instruction is becoming increasingly part of the reference librarian's job, either in a classroom or on the reference desk. I think you can make some exceptions, however, for public libraries, or for specific inquiries, which is the crux of this practicum. To some extent, specific inquiries ought to be left as they are presented to the librarian. While there might be cases where a person is asking for the wrong thing, or is going about it the wrong way, it is often the case that the searcher learns more from the experience, or that the searcher in a specialized library really only needs help finding the physical object they seek. So an open question inquiry becomes a prime violation of Raganathan's old adage, "save the time of the researcher."
Finally, I got an in-depth session with one of the catalogers on reference work, which was enlightening. It taught me a lot about using keyword searches for pieces of music, as well as the importance of gaming LC subject headings when searching for music. in general, specificity combined with completeness of information given is key.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Pre-labeled books, local cataloging, thomas mann, classes, and the special library
I was just made aware, in a discussion with Laurie Sampsel yesterday, that CU was beginning to use vendor-provided, pre-labeled books at Norlin. The idea seemed to be somewhat upsetting, especially considering the delicate nature of local cataloging at the Waltz library, relating to uniform titles and scores, amongst other things. Today, in speaking with Chris Brown about the same project, I got a different angle on it. He pointed out that five schools are doing this as a way to work as a consortia through prospector, and save money on regular ordering of books, especially if certain titles fit some libraries better than others.
This came in the wake of the announcement that Google will be doing some form of cataloging automation for the LOC, which was interesting. I think that this speaks a necessary (and healthy) divide between different types of libraries. Large ones and generalized, like the LOC or Penrose and Co. benefit from automation because of the time it takes to process and catalog books. To a certain extent, it reflects on the fact that books are coming out in higher volumes than ever before, and as librarians, we don't need to buy or keep them all. By the same token, libraries like Waltz, which is more particular about its' collection development and its' cataloging can continue to function in their own way to best suit their needs, while Norlin can experiment with vendor-labeled books as it pleases.
In other news, looking over the syllabus for the graduate research class, I realized how much of debt I owe to Thomas Mann's Oxford Guide to Library Research without realizing it, especially with the breakdown of research by determining what type of reference sources to begin a search with. While I prep a class session on music directories. What surprised me most about the directories is how clumsy they are in hiding their own usefulness. Some would make great resources for researching major contributors to a field, or for scoping out a potential city you are relocating to (especially if you are looking at how saturated a market is for your area, academic or performing as a music person). It seems like an overlooked source for this type of information includes websites like facebook or myspace, where more and more musicians and groups from different genres, including classical and jazz, are networking and getting the word out about themselves. I would not advocate to use them exclusively, but it might be worth considering.
This came in the wake of the announcement that Google will be doing some form of cataloging automation for the LOC, which was interesting. I think that this speaks a necessary (and healthy) divide between different types of libraries. Large ones and generalized, like the LOC or Penrose and Co. benefit from automation because of the time it takes to process and catalog books. To a certain extent, it reflects on the fact that books are coming out in higher volumes than ever before, and as librarians, we don't need to buy or keep them all. By the same token, libraries like Waltz, which is more particular about its' collection development and its' cataloging can continue to function in their own way to best suit their needs, while Norlin can experiment with vendor-labeled books as it pleases.
In other news, looking over the syllabus for the graduate research class, I realized how much of debt I owe to Thomas Mann's Oxford Guide to Library Research without realizing it, especially with the breakdown of research by determining what type of reference sources to begin a search with. While I prep a class session on music directories. What surprised me most about the directories is how clumsy they are in hiding their own usefulness. Some would make great resources for researching major contributors to a field, or for scoping out a potential city you are relocating to (especially if you are looking at how saturated a market is for your area, academic or performing as a music person). It seems like an overlooked source for this type of information includes websites like facebook or myspace, where more and more musicians and groups from different genres, including classical and jazz, are networking and getting the word out about themselves. I would not advocate to use them exclusively, but it might be worth considering.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)