RE: Librarians

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> Providing subject and author access (otherwise known as metadata) is a way
> of doing it, and we have learned that it must be done in a very
> sophisticated way to do much good. Neither the libraries' traditional
> devices nor the current web devices do well for this, except in the hands
> of a really experienced user, which in practice usually means a librarian.

This, I think, is the irony of our current position with our users.  Our
methods of providing access are insufficiently sophisticated, and
therefore require more sophistication from our users than they generally
have.  Our traditional response is bibliographic instruction, and that's
why our users are avoiding us.  If we're going to stay relevant (or,
perhaps more accurately, become relevant) to library users, we're going to
have to stop trying to change the way they use information, and instead
figure out how they use information and change what _we_ do.

-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
The University Libraries
University of Nevada, Reno        "All Reviews in the world
1664 No. Virginia St.              begin with the intention
Reno, NV  89557                    of being virtuous.  None
PH  (775) 784-6500 x273            have been."
FX  (775) 784-1328                   -- Gustave Flaubert
rickand@unr.edu