A Librarian, who I work with, presented an article to me today, "Librarian, cybrarian tribute is long 'overdue'; Here's a love letter to cool needed pros" By Craig Wilson.
This article appeared in on the front page of the USA Today newspaper; the date published is Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.
There is a quote at the top of the article that reads "We have had this huge burst of information, yes, but how do you know what you want or need? That's where a librarian comes in: to usher people through."
This above quote is one of the major reasons I write this blog. Because information is at you everywhere. And it is accessible to the majority of the population in one way or another. Librarians' job is to know how to help you find the information that you need, that is appropriate for whatever info request you may have. It's not our job to give you the answers to things (no, we do not everything; people seem to think this.) It's our job to help you find your answers and that is through either teaching you how to use various information resources or steer you in a direction where you may be able to find them yourselves.
The past weekend. There were two ladies from our library system that went to an event called "School to World". They were there to represent the libraries by showing tweens and teens what we do and what we can offer them, for free. That we exist. That we are alive and well, for the most part. To me... this is the part of librarianship that is most important. The public needs to know how we can fit into their lives and the community. And, it is so important for the young adult generation to help us librarians learn how they are using information resources to find knowledge or their truth. What they are using to write their papers. Sometimes, I'm more interested in what they can show me and what I can learn from them versus what I know and can show them. But, it's always good to trade methods.
This generation will soon be the next information professionals or librarians. And they use and perceive information through different routes and in diverse ways. I believe that it is my job to help me create the library based upon what I know and their needs. And, how am I supposed to know if they do not know how important their you-tubing is or their wiki stuff. I used to think Myspace and Facebook was like "their" domain and now I'm starting to think... they have this whole other social networking web-world that most of us are unaware of unless we ask.
I just spoke with a woman on the phone during a reference question and after I explained to her some things about our library she was thankful and said that she didn't realize how important it is that our tax dollars go to libraries.
In my opinion, for whatever it counts, it is important to support libraries.
I had a friend awhile back tell me that he wants to be able to access whatever information he wants, any type of information, for free, whenever. Me, being a librarian... I was like, well... that's sort of possible but there is some information that is not free, that's just the way it is right now. However, Libraries subscribe to a wealth of information that is normally not free and un-google-able. This information is found in databases (each database is like a library of its own.) Databases are never free. The library pays a lot of money to subscribe to them and we offer them to our patrons/customers for free, as long as you have a library card.
Librarians are good people to help you with databases. There is a ton of information in these but if you don't know how to use one, you can spin in circles and eventually feel like throwing the computer out the window. Trust me.
So that's a good reason why you need libraries and librarians.
Don't be afraid to ask. Don't be afraid to ask to learn.
Because of the wealth of knowledge that exists in libraries... "Libraries are an arsenal of liberty"
Think about that one.
I even get on TMI overload sometimes.
-a highly wired lady
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