I only have a few minutes, so this will be short, but I’ve been thinking a lot on two themes lately:
1. The economy of free. Libraries grew up in an environment where information was scarce. Libraries made sense because they could gather scarce resources and share them. Information isn’t scarce any longer. Some forms are harder to come by than other, but largely information does seem to want to be free. In fact, there is such an abundance of information that many librarians are repositioning themselves as experts in helping people filter through information, critique information, or make sense of conflicting data.
2. Citizenry is changing. People are able to participate in the larger discussion in a way they haven’t been able to do before. Someone with very few traditional credentials can make a compelling video, put it on YouTube, and change the course of the discussion. A group of bloggers can pressure traditional organizations to adapt to new needs. Grassroots work is possible in a way that it hasn’t been before.
So this leads me to think about information/digital/computer literacies. I’m pretty much sold on the idea that to be a informed, participatory citizens, people must understand haw to navigate and contribute to the current information environment. This is more than just watching the news and voting. It’s knowing how to find information and critique it. It’s understanding the types of information out there. It’s knowing the venue that will be most effective for sharing ideas and knowing how to produce content for that venue.
This isn’t necessarily the traditional librarian skill set, but I think there’s something to be said for at least thinking about this model. Librarians can rock out the navigation of traditional media. So now I’m thinking again about LIS education. What can we be doing to help people learn the rest? And how hard would it be to convince traditionalists that this is, indeed, valuable?
One of the things I remembered from my past MLIS class was how the library was not seen as a source of information due to, like you said “Information isn’t scarce any longer.” However, Google or other search engines are not the end all and be all information gathering. I agree with you that libraries and librarians serve a greater source by helping those patrons to find valid and accurate data.
In addition, libraries need to expand itself to other services it can provide to the community it serves. Here in Miami, all libraries have tax forms and provide tax assistance through AARP volunteers every friday. When there is an issue to vote on, early voting can be done at libraries. As long as this trends continues and the needs are met, regardless of what happens to information gathering, the library will still be around for many generations to come.
Thanks for your comments! I agree. It’s really worth thinking about what services a library can provide for the local community. Tax assistance, early voting, etc. are great services from public libraries. Some of the information environment issues I discussed (I think) make a lot of sense within information literacy. It’s certainly an interesting time to be navigating changes and creating a new path!