Library Web Chic

I’m working the night reference shift again and it is nearing the end of the semester. Not surprisingly the library is busy. However, much of the activity is not at the reference desk. Tonight has been a pretty good evening question-wise, but the majority of people are not visiting the desk. Most are working on the computers in one of the library’s labs. Often collaboratively with multiple students sitting around a computer. Moreover, several of the questions at the desk tonight have revolved around information technology skills. I’ve been asked how to add a header with title and page numbers to a Word document; how to change the orientation of a page being printed from Excel; how to print from powerpoint so that multiple slides show on a page; and where someone could save their paper (and not have it deleted when the computer reboots which is standard practice) if they don’t have a disk (save it to the desktop then email it to yourself). Many of the other question this evening have involved interpretation of the cryptic MLA and APA citation style, particularly in regards to electronic sources.

The point of this description is that the role that librarians are being asked to play today has drastically changed. Truthfully, now more than ever, librarians working the reference desk need to have knowledge and skills involving technology. Particularly skills with Office applications which our students use on a regular basis. Student ask technology question in the library on a regular basis. It is a fact of our existence and a result of the fact that we have more than 100 computer available for them to use; digital still and video cameras they can borrow; and software for creating multimedia available. This change is also driven by the fact that the expectations of professors have changed as well. Students are being asked to create more than papers these days. They are asked to create presentations for class, web pages and/or portfolios, portfolios on CD, and a variety of other types of information. Some librarians would argue that providing this type of “technology support” is not within the job duties of a librarian. However, I would challenge them to look beyond this as “technology support” and see it as support for knowledge synthesis, and creation. Seen through this lens, these types of activities are a critical part of the mission on libraries. There is a niche here for libraries to fill if we grab it; make it truly our own and allow it to enhance what we already do. This statement may make some librarians uncomfortable, but libraries and librarians need to realize that our role is changing and expanding into something that very rich and diverse in nature. By the same token, the nature of libraries as a place is changing as well and we need to seriously think about how we can make our environments suitable for the new activities that library users come to the library to perform.

Update

Colleen comments “was this written a decade (almost two decades) ago?” and “We have moved several levels beyond the considerations posed in this posting.”
I would question this statement because at my library we haven’t moved beyond these things as an issue and many collegues I talk to are are libraries that have these issues as well. At my library we are still struggling with whether or not reference librarians should answer questions about Powerpoint, Word, how to make a web pages, scan photos, download images from a digital camera, etc. Colleen points out that technology has impacted librarianship already with “some professionals shifting toward titles like “media specialist” and “cyber-librarian” to embrace change?” However, I would point out the that this change truly is some librarians, not all librarians, which is what I see as the crux of the problem. Librarians don’t agree on how important technology is to librarianship. In my library, some librarians don’t think technology support should be part of the library’s mission. What this boils down to is that these librarians don’t see how technology support issues are related to what Colleen says are “our profession’s core values”.

From where I stand, technology, and tech support and interwined with librarianship’s core values for a number of reasons. I think of equal access as encompassing equal access to information about how to use technology to put forth one’s ideas and opinions to others. In terms of intellectual freedom, what better way to support intellectual freedom than to give users the technological tools and skills to express themselves? While I agree that technology will change, it always does, and there will be new applications, librarians need to be up on the current technologies which support information creation. Furthermore ACRL’s Standards for Information Literacy include a standard which states that “The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.” Examining this standard closely, one can see that it includes in its learning outcomes effective use of information technology. Based on this, I don’t seen how these types of activities aren’t a critical part of what libraries do today.