Debating Noble Purposes, from LISNews:

Debating Noble Purposes
July 22, 2009 – 1:08pm — StephenK

In the July 17th edition of The Christian Science Monitor, William Wisner wrote about public libraries and his goal in restoring noble purpose to them. On July 20th the Annoyed Librarian responded to Wisner’s op-ed. Now there is a response by a non-librarian posted in one of the Christian Science Monitor’s blogs.

After reading Wisner’s opinion piece on Sunday, I posted the following in a course discussion group:

As someone who considers herself an “information professional” and is drawn to librarianship of the blended sort, I don’t agree with the author’s statement that, by embracing technology, we are “putting ourselves out of business.” I certainly don’t agree with the implication that the pursuit of access to information and the pursuit of knowledge are mutually exclusive, nor do I believe that by “focusing on access in all its forms and hoping for the best librarians have slowly stepped away from being readers or scholars” and libraries “[dumb] down their mission.”

And later:

If “knowledge is information combined with understanding and capability” (Laudon and Laudon 2006), and knowledge builds on information, how is knowledge built without access to that information?

As an emergent librarian, except when I read about them in Library Journal, I don’t yet have a full sense of who the “movers and shakers” are in the LIS field and how they are generally perceived. For example, when I first read Herb White, I blew him off because I found his characterization of library workers who do not hold MLIS degress as “clerks” distasteful; I have since discovered that he is widely read and highly regarded by many in the field.

When I read Wisner’s opinion piece, I didn’t know if the author or the platform (Christian Science Monitor) were someone or something to which other professionals would give consideration. What I did (and do) know is that his understanding of the relationship between knowledge and information is different than mine. All of this is to say that it’s been interesting to see some of this n00b’s thoughts reflected- and challenged- in the LIS community’s response to the Wisner piece.

Herb White still gets under my skin, though. Clerks: really?

LINKS IN THIS POST

• The Blended Librarian: What is Blended Librarianship?
• The Christian Science Monitor
• Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers 2009
• LISNews
• LISNews: Debating Noble Purposes
• Wikipedia: Herbert S. White

Related posts

• Library Day in the Life: In the Interest of Full Disclosure (0)
• Library Day in the Life: Final Thought (0)

Tags: blended librarianship

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