Re: Charleston Presentation: Rick Anderson & Future Librarians

["B.G. Sloan" <bgsloan2@yahoo.com>]

Rick Anderson said:

"...we need to be careful not to assume that just because our 
users need us, they will necessary register that need and act on 
it.  If they don't believe they need us, the fact that they 
arguably really do won't make much difference to our future."

Reminds me of a report I read recently. Some Illinois librarians 
did an ethnographic study of library use. One of the sections of 
the report was titled "Why Don't Students Utilize Librarians?" 
The first paragraph of this section reads:

"While the majority of students we interviewed struggled with one 
or more aspects of academic research, very few students sought 
help from a librarian. In fact, one of the most striking aspects 
of the ERIAL study was the near-invisibility of librarians within 
the academic worldview of students, and is symptomatic of 
students' general belief that librarians do not possess the 
disciplinary expertise necessarily to provide sufficient 
assistance with research assignments. When asked if she had ever 
asked a librarian for help with a paper, a sophomore in 
international studies replied, 'Not really actually. I've never 
done that. I always assume librarians are busy doing library 
stuff, and it's just not the first thing that pops into my head 
when I think of a librarian, like helping with papers or paper 
writing.'"

Full text at: http://bit.ly/a8HZVZ

Bernie Sloan