Did Library School Change Me? Thoughts From a Computer Nerd.
[Note: This content is cross-posted from a previous post on Hung Truong: The Blog!]
Looking back on my old posts from before I went to school at a hybrid Information/Library Science school, my opinions of librarians seemed fueled by a bit of prejudice. For example, in my visiting days post I wrote:
I sat down at a table whose occupants were librarians. Pretty much everyone there was an LIS (library and information services) specialist. This wasn’t really a great first impression, since I applied under the HCI (human-computer interaction) specialization, and to be honest, libraries aren’t really my thing.
What, exactly, did I have against librarians and libraries? I think I mostly felt that, from the school’s website (or the parts of the website that I studied), the program was more for people who were generally interested in information from a more technology-oriented viewpoint. So I was hoping to see more technological-minded folks at my table.
I still, however, decided to enroll. And I’m glad I did. Slowly, I think I started to understand what libraries are all about. I started using the local library. A lot. It probably also helped that I worked at a library my entire time at the school. I wasn’t studying to be a librarian, but I was exposed to the culture. Computer nerds and librarians make a good team.
So did library school actually change me? Or was I somehow intrinsically drawn to the program where computer nerds and book nerds collide? Maybe a little of both. I’ve always had a secret love for organizing and archiving things.
For example, pretty much no one in my family seems to care much about backing up files. I, on the hand, am a bit obsessed about it. I still have files from middle school preserved in their original file formats and directory structure in place. Who knows, some day I might want to look back on that stuff. I’m also kind of a nut when it comes to properly organizing and applying metadata (and preserving said metadata) from photos. Oh, and also backing everything up, both on-site and off-site (using multiple online services).
I also get really irritated when I go to the library and see something like this:
Is that a Drama and Horror blu-ray disc I see mixed in with the Action ones!? Usually I will take the offending discs and put them in the right place. There was also that one time I saw Harry Potter in Comedy when it should have gone in Fantasy. The worst is when a DVD gets mixed in with blu-ray. That’s like the same as a book being in the CD section! Oh man, now I’m rambling.
The point is, I think I already had some Librarian/Archivist in me before coming to library school. Hanging out with like-minded people probably reinforced the behavior mentioned above. And probably for the better. If you’re a computer nerd, I suggest you check out libraries (and librarians!). If you’re a library nerd, I suggest you check out computer nerd stuff (and computer nerds!). Together, we can make the world a more information-y place.
by Hung Truong.
Hung, this post made me a.) LOL and b.) think, as the best Good Librations do. Your thoughts here make me think of a post on Anand’s blog a while back (something about trouble on the i-Land?). Maybe he can speak to that, too. I love what you have to say about bringing librarians and computer nerds together — I came to SI for Library School, but learned some valuable things in HCI School along the way.
I think that this is one of the (I believe unintentionally) brilliant things about SI — as pissed off as we all might get at Martha Pollack for saying that we don’t go to a library school or an HCI school, but an iSchool (citation: SI Ask the Deans Forum, 2009) — all of our diverse/unique uses of the information lens are valuable and should inform each other. And by drinking together and bitching about our SI grievances together (because really, what’s more socially powerful than a shared grudge?), we develop a common language, and we learn through our conversations that we actually aren’t so different after all.
I guess by not discouraging us from potlucking/drinking/friending with each other, SI encourages us to have these discussions about how the school disenfranchises each of its UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL specializations. Librations hopes to make conversations like these more frequent and more interesting, in all their first life and internet forms. We’re all about connecting people, information, and technology in ways that feel most valuable to us. Specifically, through friendship and networks of support and encouragement.
Thanks for bringing this up, Hung! Truly awesome.
EDIT: what I forgot to say was that I disagree with Martha Pollack, as you subtly articulate above, when you refer to SI as a hybrid of library school and HCI school. Our iSchool was BOTH Library School AND HCI School, not neither of these. And that is what SI should purport to be, and what we should represent, in all our MSI(I) glory. Because we’re all Masters of Information in our own wonderful ways, and we part with enough money for that degree to call SI an HCI school or a library school or a community informatics school, or whatever type of school is best centered on our uses.
I also have all my files since middle school! Sadly, I can’t find anything that will read MS Works 3.0 for Windows word processor files. I should have a look at the WriteNow files, too. Those digital archivist folks need to get on that.
As an HCI guy, I see libraries as a physical manifestation of what we do in interfaces. In many ways, though, I wonder if librarians’ function as interface between human and library exists because there is an underlying usability problem with libraries that necessitates extensive training to fully take advantage of all of their resources.
But maybe not. One of the disadvantages of non-digital information is that it can only exist in a single place at any given moment. That creates in inherent problem for how libraries (or any physical collection) should be organized, and under that constraint, maybe usability issues are inevitable, especially considering how easy Millennials (not to be confused with the Net Generation) expect everything to be.
#thoughtsthatseemeddeepduringbreakfast
Librarians get twitchy in almost ANY situation where things are not in order, I’ve seen it happen many times. Including: clothing stores, bookstores, museums, record stores, etc. etc.
As a future library professional I like to think of myself as a facilitator or connector of information to people rather than someone who has to “teach” (in that oldskool sense) or use my “expertise” to “give” users information. I like to connect the dots WITH people/users and create a sense of community along the way. There’s a fine line between organizing for the sake of organizing and organizing to make things findable (methinks).
Also: Ditto, Hung, on the other side of your reservations about this school. I was thinking it was too tech oriented for me and now I’m wishing I had more time to engage in the tech side of things. While I still haven’t developed all the knowledge and language needed to fully interact with the geek world I “get it” more than I used to and that’s pretty exciting.