Question of the week: What sorts of classes do you take to become a librarian? (with thanks to Dan)

Here at Syracuse, we take core classes and electives in the MSLIS program (Master of Science, Library and Information Studies).  The core fall classes are Intro. to the Library and Information Profession, Information and Information Environments, Information Resources:Users and Services, Information Resources:Organization and Access.  Additionally, Management Principles for Information Professionals is required but offered both terms (I am taking this in the fall term).  I am also part of the Black and Latino Leadership program, this is an uncredited elective class.

In the spring, I will take 2 classes dealing with Telecommunications and Information Policy and Information Resources: Acquisitions.  My two electives will be,  Creating.Managing.Preserving Digital Assets, Database Administration Concepts and Database Management. 

We also have electives which up to 6 credits can be taken in any School at Syracuse. I have chosen to transfer my 6 credits from the MBA progran ( Strategic Management and Managerial Economics).

My final 5 credits will be an internship (hopefully back at Yale) and a 2 credit independent study.

All of these classes have been discussed with my advisor, Prof Lankes, who also happens to be the Director of the Libary and Information Studies Program.

So, I have been getting a lot of questions about the mission here at the iSchool.  One buzzword that is heard consistently in many of my interactions is innovation.  I would have to say that Dave Lankes (our instructor who wanted us to create this blog) is an innovator.  He spent the first four classes in full deconstruction mode, but then he continued the educational process by beginning to construct what a vision of a librarian might be. 

In our latest class, he brought in a guest speaker, Joseph Janes, from the iSchool at the University of Washington.  UW is a main competitor for students studying Information Science so I thought the discussion would be thought provoking.  It was.  We heard a lot about "play" in the discussion which immediately brought me back to Derrida's notion of "jouissance".  Ideas should be played with, tossed around and used to stimulate discusssion.  This is at the very heart of innovation.  Then Prof. Janes told the class that he and Lankes had been separated at birth!  That explained a lot as to why they were saying very similar things.  Then we find out that they both graduated from Syracuse.  Even better, because now I am sure that Syracuse University is the right place to be.  It is truly an innovation hub.

One final note, as Camus said in The Fall, "We are all in the soup together"

Question of the week: tell me, why are librarians so technologically oriented these days? what do blogs have to do with that? why do you need to build websites? I have so many questions...

At the Syracuse iSchool (School of Information Studies), there are three majors: library and information science, information management and telecommunications and network management. Librarians are concerned with the access, retrieval and storage of information. So I am taking classes in digital libraries, database management, open access systems, etc so that I can understand the architecture that we all use. The notion of a librarian standing behind a desk checking out books for you is kind of an idealized notion that really does not correspond to a modern librarian's job.

Interview with Mr. Kendall Crilly: Associate University Librarian, Program Development and Research, Yale University.

This was a 35 minute interview; I have edited portions for clarity.

What led you to pursue a profession in an academic library and how did you enter the Yale University library system?

 Well, as an undergraduate, I never used the library system.  In 1985, when I started a Master’s degree in the Yale School of Music, I worked on a project inventorying 150 musical scores.  That summer I continued working in the Sterling Library on a project inventorying the old card catalogues.  In the spring of 1986, I was taking a class with Harold Samuel called, “Research in Additions” taught at the School of Music.  This professor was exciting, leading me to rethink my future career as an organist.  So, I took a year off from my studies and worked in the Sterling Library, mostly in clerical functions.  I began a MS.LIS. Degree at Southern Connecticut State University, taking courses at night.  In 1988, I began working full-time in the Sterling Library at the Circulations Desk.

What are your core responsibilities and how many support staff report to you?

I have direct line reports of 8, with a total of 69 staff.  The lines which report directly to me are 1) Access Services, 2) Document Delivery with is an inter-Ivy League direct borrowing program, 3) Half of the technology unit, 4) Director of Research Education, 5) Usability and Assessment, 6) Historical Sound Archives, 7) Oral History of American Music, and 8) Broader circulation and access for other libraries, such as Bass Library (undergraduate library).

Here is the University Library Org Chart:

www.library.yale.edu/lhr/aboutus/orgchart1.doc

President Levin stated "When we did our first-phase renovations of the Payne Whitney Gym and Sterling Library more than a decade ago, it was very important to me [laughs] that the budget for the library be just a little more than the budget for the gym! And today, the library budget remains more than double that of the athletics department." (Lassila, K. D. (2010).  q&a: rick levin. Yale Alumni Magazine 74(1),  29.).  How do President's Levin's recent comments support the strategic goal of Yale's libraries?

President Levin’s statement confirms that our Libraries are held in high esteem.  Our University Librarian, Frank Turner, defines our mission as to be “the #1 service institution to support the teaching and research mission of Yale University”.  This places the Library in an enviable position.  A breakdown of the library budget shows 47% comes directly from the University, 45% comes from endowments and historical funding, the remainder, 8% comes from grants and contracts.

What are some of the challenges you face at the Sterling Library?

The Sterling Library is a Gothic structure, built in 1931.  Our biggest challenge is to get the students back into the library.  We have remodeled the main reading room, moved out all of the card catalogues and opened up some really beautiful spaces within the alcoves and reading rooms in the library.  We have fashioned a committee to re-purpose the space so that it will be found attractive to our students.

What do you think is the future of digital libraries?

All of our libraries have electronic databases.  We are in the process of digitizing the works housed in the Beinecke Library, which houses our rare collections.  We have a committee working on integrating the libraries into the broader community.  I’ll give you an example.  If was teaching a course on 17^th Century Western music and I wanted a real cool audio-visual presentation, I could go to the Beinecke, take some images of old sheet music, then I could go to the Music Library and get some images of old instruments, and then go to the Sterling databases to find collections of different texts used. However, as you know, the campus is so spread out that this would discourage most Professors from engaging in this exhausting activity.  So, we are working on integrating our collections to be accessible from disparate locations within the University Library System. 

When assessing candidates to join the library system, what skills, capabilities and core competencies do you look for in an individual?

This is a question that if you asked five of our librarians, you would get six different answers (laughs).  For me, I look for someone with an MLS degree, understands the technology and would preferably have a second advanced degree.  This person must possess excellent interpersonal communication skills, have upside potential, is intellectually curious, is passionate about a subject and has managerial ambition.  For a level 3, 4 or 5 librarian, I would need to see managerial experience and excellent writing skills.

Other than having the second largest academic collection of volumes (~12.5M), what do you like most about being a Yale University librarian?

This is easy, my colleagues.  When I started in the library, my colleagues were helpful.  When I would call them for help, they would say, “I haven’t met you yet, but how can I help you?”  This atmosphere is pervasive throughout our library system.  If I may add, I love the buildings, the rarity of the collections (sometimes Beinecke houses the only copy of a particular book in existence!), but the colleagues are what I like the most.

After reflecting upon my experience with Mr. Crilly, I saw three opportunities in the interview, one of them being the problem with "re-purposing" the space in the Gothic cathedral and the second being the "interoperability" issue with the digital libraries. The third opportunity, I left out of the transcript because I hope to use it as a carrot for getting an internship. 

The ship has left it's moorings...

In our latest class, Prof. Lankes left the realm of deconstruction and allowed this mangled piece of library science to begin it's maiden voyage into the ports of actual librarianships.  He brought in two librarians working in the public school system who shared their experiences with the class:  Sue, a Syracuse alumnus and Buffy, a recognized pioneer in the Georgia school system.   The overwhelming theme of both presentations was 'collaborative environments'.  

Being so far removed from these educational environments, I was surprised to see just how advanced the library has become.  I have attached Buffy's blog link so that folks can get a flavour of the potential each librarian possesses!

http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/feed/

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Librarians as Problem Solvers

Public libraries were founded to support the information needs of the community, they are funded by tax money and owned by the public.  Lankes focused on the role of the library in an expanded definition, librarians as probem solvers.  That is, if there was an ecological disaster, librarians could be part of the 'first responder team'.  This makes perfect sense. 

In arguably the greatest Science Fiction trilogy of all time, Issac Asimov's Foundation, the story starts with a prediction that the Galactic Empire would come to an end.  To prevent the destruction of the human race, an Encyclopedia is created to capture the knoweldge needed to re-create the Empire.  In a very similar fashion, librarians capture and catalogue existing knowledge that could be used in addressing potential human disasters, including the possible extinction of human knowledge.