I missed the long thread earlier that remarked on the obsolescence of librarians. Apparently, someone questioned the need for a skilled librarian. I think the disconnect is, ironically considering the superiority exercised in the thread, an ignorance toward the role of a librarian. Beginning with, in my understanding, some schools have begun to use parent volunteers in place of (the so called) skilled librarian. I do think its a good thing that some have stepped up to fill the void, but there is still a lot missing. So why do we still need librarians? Ray Kurzweils equation for accelerating change concerning technology demonstrates the exponential advancement of technology. That is to say, technology evolves faster...faster. That means students will have to learn more and do so quicker all the time. This change will constantly alter the way students access information. As such, this will demand an informatics specialist to assist students in inferring, interpreting, and synthesizing data. Breaking it down more, most people know how to Google something. Did you know that there are hundreds of commands, some using a simple symbol like *, that can drastically alter your results? This can be extremely valuable in filtering scholarly data from the nearly infinite search results. Librarians assist in teaching concepts like these. They do so by helping students learn how to locate proper research, navigate databases, and narrow the thesis in a way that makes for efficient research. Even more broadly- librarians assist students in determining what qualifies as a scholarly article. This differentiates the real, peer-reviewed research from a self-published Wikipedia page. If that seems simplistic, then consider whether you can off-the-cuff define what constitutes a meta-analysis. These are not obsolete concepts, but imperative ones to conducting research. Librarians are also well-versed in the ways that research is to coalesce into a research paper, PowerPoint, or any other learning experience. This includes things like proper formatting, learning the ins and outs of APA vs. MLA Vs. Chicago, understanding copyrights, how to avoid plagiarism, etc. Librarians are not obsolete. We need them more than ever at a time when information grows at an accelerating rate. Librarians are not merely hubs for locating books. They are informatics specialists that seek to assist students in unlocking information from the infinity of the Internet, literature, etc.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 02:10:34 +0000
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