I recently had the opportunity to visit Valencia and Madrid (Spain) to share some of my ideas about librarianship. This posting describes some of things I saw and learned along the way.
 La Capilla de San Francisco de Borja |
 Capilla del Santo Cáliz |
LIS-EPI Meeting
In Valencia I was honored to give the opening remarks at the 4th International LIS-EPI Meeting. Hosted by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and organized by Fernanda Mancebo as well as Antonia Ferrer, the Meeting provided an opportunity for librarians to come together and share their experiences in relation to computer technology. My presentation, “A few possibilities for librarianship by 2015” outlined a few near-term futures for the profession. From the introduction:
The library profession is at a cross roads. Computer technology coupled with the Internet have changed the way content is created, maintained, evaluated, and distributed. While the core principles of librarianship (collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination) are still very much apropos to the current milieu, the exact tasks of the profession are not as necessary as they once were. What is a librarian to do? In my opinion, there are three choices: 1) creating services against content as opposed to simply providing access to it, 2) curating collections that are unique to our local institutions, or 3) providing sets of services that are a combination of #1 and #2.
And from the conclusion:
If libraries are representing a smaller and smaller role in the existing information universe, then two choice present themselves. First, the profession can accept this fact, extend it out to its logical conclusion, and see that libraries will eventually play in insignificant role in society. Libraries will not be libraries at all but more like purchasing agents and middle men. Alternatively, we can embrace the changes in our environment, learn how to take advantage of them, exploit them, and change the direction of the profession. This second choice requires a period of transition and change. It requires resources spent against innovation and experimentation with the understanding that innovation and experimentation more often generate failures as opposed to successes. The second option carries with it greater risk but also greater rewards.
 toro |
 robot sculpture |
Josef Hergert
Providing a similar but different vision from my own, Josef Hergert (University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur) described how librarianship ought to be embracing Web 2.0 techniques in a presentation called “Learning and Working in Time of Web 2.0: Reconstructing Information and Knowledge”. To say Hergert was advocating information literacy would be to over-simplify his remarks, yet if you broaden the definition of information literacy to include the use of blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites — Web 2.0 technologies — then the phrase information literacy is right on target. A number of notable quotes included:
- We are experiencing many changes in the environment: non-commercial sharing of content, legislative overkill, and “pirate parties”… The definition of “authorship” is changing.
- The teaching of information literacy courses will help overcome some of the problems.
- The process of learning is changing because of the Internet… We are now experiencing a greater degree of informal learning as opposed to formal learning… We need as librarians to figure out how to exploit the environment to support learning both formal and informal.
- The current environment is more than paper, but also about a network of people, and the librarian can help create these networks with [Web 2.0 tools].
- Provide not only the book but the environment and tools to do the work.
As an aside, I have been using networked computer technologies for more than twenty years. Throughout that time a number of truisms have become apparent. “If you don’t want it copied, then don’t put it on the ‘Net; give back to the ‘Net”, “On the Internet nobody knows that you are a dog”, and “It is like trying to drink from a fire hose” are just a few. Hergert used the newest one, “If it is not on the Internet, then it doesn’t exist.” For better or for worse, I think this is true. Convenience is a very powerful elixer. The ease of acquiring networked data and information is so great compared the time and energy needed to get data and information in analog format that people will get what is simple “good enough”. In order to remain relevant, libraries must put their (full text) content on the ‘Net or be seen as an impediment to learning as opposed to learning’s facilitator.
While I would have enjoyed learning what the other Meeting presenters has to say, it was unrealistic for me to attend the balance of the conference. The translators were going back to Switzerland, and I would not have been able to understand what the presenters were saying. In this regard is sort of felt like the Ugly American, but I have come to realize that the use of English is a purely practical matter. It as nothing to do with a desire to understand American culture.
Bibliteca Valenciana
The next day I have a few others had the extraordinary opportunity to get an inside tour of the Bibliteca Valenciana (Valencia Library). Starting out as a monastery, it was transformed into quite a number of other things, such as a prison, before it became a library. We got to go into the archives, see of of their treasures, and learn about the library’s history. They were very proud of their Don Quixote collection, and we saw their oldest book — a treatise on the Black Death which included receipts for treatments.
Biblioteca Nacional de España
In Madrid I believe visited the Biblioteca Nacional de España (National Library of Spain) and went to their museum. It was free, and I saw an exhibition of original Copernicus, Galileo, Brahe, Kepler, and Newton editions embodying Western scientific progress. Very impressive, and very well done, especially considering the admission fee.
 Biblioteca Nacional |
 statue |
International Institute
Finally, I shared the presentation from the LIS-EPI Meeting at the International Institute. While I advocated changes in the way’s our profession do its work, the attendees at both venues wondered how to about these changes. “We are expected to provide a certain set of services to our patrons here and now. What do we do to learn these new skills?” My answer was grounded in applied research & development. Time must be spent experimenting and “playing” with the new technologies. This should be considered an investment in the profession and its personnel, an investment that will pay off later in new skills and greater flexibility. We work in academia. It behooves us to work academically. This includes explorations into applying our knowledge in new and different ways.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks go to many people for making this professional adventure possible. I am indebted to Monica Pareja from the United Stated Embassy in Madrid. She kept me out of trouble. I thank Fernanda Mancebo and Antonia Ferrer who invited me to the Meeting. Last and certainly not least, I thank my family for allowing to to go to Spain in the first place since the event happened over the Thanksgiving holiday. “Thank you, one and all.”
 alley |
 fountain |