[643] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Trees for the forest, continued
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Wed Jul 1 12:10:53 1992
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1992 11:06:35 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
3 Messages, 164 Lines
*----
From: jaffe@ucscm.UCSC.EDU (Lee Jaffe, McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz,
408/459-3297)
Subject: Re: Trees
I've received quite a few substantial responses to my posting already and I
wanted to follow up.
One writer compared the current situation with the Internet to that of online
searching. During the meeting of online searchers that I mentioned in the
first message, this same analogy occurred to me and it seemed particularly
ironic to hear librarians who had made their careers on such skills reject
such an innovation. My comment at the time was that some of them might still
remember when going online meant using a rotary dial phone to call Dialog,
waiting for the tone, putting the handset into the acoustic coupler, following
the printed instructions. They might also remember when only one librarian
in the whole library was willing to do searches and the rest would hide when
a user requested these services. Just as then, we may be able to find sources
through other means, and when we can't we can still convince users to do
without (again, librarians making a virtue of reality) and we can still not
make Internet capability a expectation of the job, but for how long?
The same writer also commented that sending users away because "we're not
into that sort of thing" is unacceptable. I agree again. My strongest
pull in this question is that I see my job is going where the information
goes. The alternative seems to me to be to define librarianship as a
clerical position that shelves and retrieves books. That is not a career
that really interests me. I'd much rather define myself in terms of the
total universe of recorded information. It's not that there are not
limits - I can't read Greek, don't understand mathematics or chemical
structures and the majority of information is never recorded and much of
what is recorded is unavailable - but I don't see information in online/
electronic formats as one of them.
Last, at one LITA IG discussion the "drinking from a firehose" analogy was
raised again. I have a number of thoughts about the appropriateness of
this image* that might be useful. In the above case, someone suggested that
librarians could act as a nozzle for the users. I'd prefer to think of the
Internet as some strange terrain, possibly like a cave in an adventure game.
The Internet is a landscape not a process and in this analogy librarians
can offer themselves as guides to users who want to go exploring. We may
not be the best guide for every kind of expedition and I'm ok with that.
But there is territory out there that is very familiar to us and I think
that we should take some ownership here.
I know that this bit of dialogue is still a case of "preaching to the
converted" so I want to make sure we understand that an important aspect
of this discussion needs to be finding a way that moves the Internet more
centrally into our colleagues' view of librarianship.
-- Lee Jaffe, UC Santa Cruz
* I want to take back ownership of the phrase "drinking from a firehose."
I know that this is not very practical but I hope a couple of the following
points help in this effort. First, I introduced the term in a PACS-L
discussion on information overload related to CD-ROM products more than
a year ago. I got the term from an acquaintance working for a military
contractor. He collects odd phrases used in the industry and this was
one of his favorites. It refers to a company's strategy when dealing with
a government contract compliance investigation and means that the company
plans to overwhelm the investigators with data, more than they can ever
absorb. Usage: "We had that compliance team drinking from a firehose."
(For those intrigued by this sort of thing, the other phrase I remember
relates to the opposite strategy: "open kimono" means total honesty.)
Second, I think that the analogy very pointedly and graphically illustrates
the plight of users at a terminal facing a massive and unmanageable out-
pouring of information such as happens with OPACs and CD-ROM databases.
Third, I don't think that it is a particularly apt analogy for the Internet
experience. (see above) There have been quite a number of instances where
it is being used in this way and I take exception to the tone of anxiety
and lack of control that this fosters. Though the listserv traffic may
sometimes seem like an unmanageable stream of information, email services
in general and resources available through telnet and ftp are rather
benign and passive. I certainly don't think that it helps to bring an
image of being overwhelmed by a volume of information to any discussion
with novice or non-users. I would much prefer an image of the Internet
as a terrain we can explore (e.g. Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Internet,
Thar's Gold in Them Thar Networks). Those that have played computer
adventure games or read CyberPunk literature will more readily under-
stand.
-- Lee Jaffe, UC Santa Cruz
*-----
From: Sue Martin <SKMARTIN@GUVAX.BITNET>
Subject: Re: trees for the forest
Lee Jaffe's comments about people's reactions to the notion that they
might become involved in online services, including the Internet, are
well taken.
Having been a participant in the strategic visions effort all along, I
too have been giving this phenomenon some thought, and would like to
add my ideas to Lee's.
The library profession has -- how many -- about 125,000 members? It's
large, whatever the actual figure is. Most of those people, I would
submit, went into librarianship because they either liked libraries
as they were at that time, or because they got a job as a
paraprofessional in a library and discovered an exciting career. I'm
exaggerating a bit, but that would suggest that as a profession we
divide into two not-so-neat parts: those who like the traditional
library and those who like the idea of change and a new kind of
library.
Until now, the strategic visions meetings seem to have been drawing
people from the latter group. My reaction to the meeting last Friday
was also somewhat negative, but I have found that there are others, who
have a great interest in seeing the profession move forward, who
thought it was a good meeting. I guess, Lee, that reality says that
we must start talking and dealing with a vastly larger group, and
opinions will differ. Those of us who want our libraries involved in
using and teaching about the Internet and other electronic tools will
go ahead and do exactly that.
The people who resist these new forms of communication don't have to
become involved; we can't force them! I would just hope that their
conservatism doesn't hold back the entire profession, and I see
the strategic visions effort as a way for all of us to communicate
among ourselves and other this new definition of what a librarian should be.
Sue Martin
Georgetown University
*----
From: "Bill Drew-Serials/Reference Librar. SUNY Morrisville"
<DREWWE@snymorva.bitnet>
The fear of the INTERNET that Lee is encountering among librarians sounds
suspiciously similar to the fear of any new technology. The ones using Bitnet
and Internet now are the early adapters of new technology. The same reactions
must have occurred when typewriters were introduced and hand written cards were
eliminated.
I find the same reluctance among librarians at my institution. We started
using microcomputers in a big way about four years ago. I was one of the early
adapters of the new technology (because I was taught it when I got my MS at
Drexel). I continually tried to show that things could be done in less time,
more easily revised, and with better results. When I started here we only had
one pc (an M-300) and two 100 terminals. We now have 10 PCs, are connected to
the campus network (via terminal servers to DEC ethernet), and three of us (six
librarians on our staff) are using e-mail on a regular basis. I believe that
the use and discovery of the INTERNET will occur in much the same way.
Things don't change over night. Finding the hook, as Lee puts it, is all that
is needed. One of the hooks on getting the director here to get interested in
things beyond just e-mail was an announcement about listserv concerning women's
issues. She is now learning FTP and telnet. I find it useful to subscribe to
the NEW-LISTS listserv in order to look for "hooks". I send (via e-mail and
campus snail mail) copies of the new list announcements not to just librarians
but to faculty and administration. BE PREPARED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS.
I followed the same path as Lee did to using the INTERNET. That appears to be
one typical route. There must be others.
Wilfred Drew (Call me "Bill") Serials/Reference/Computers Librarian
State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology
P.O. Box 902; Morrisville, NY 13408-0902
DECnet: SMORV::DREWWE BITNET: DREWWE@SNYMORVA
Internet: DREWWE@SNYMORVA.CS.SNYMOR.EDU or DREWWE@SNYMORVB.CS.SNYMOR.EDU
Phone: (315)684-6055 or 684-6060 Fax: (315)684-6115
