March Librarian's Lobby

A philosophy class studying ethics prompted this month's Librarian's Lobby Column.
Here's the link: http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/crc103a.htm

Ethics and Closed libraries

Two issues are bothering me enough to write new articles. First, last Thursday, I read a story about the Wall Street Journal wanting to close their research library. I think this is not a good sign for libraries or librarians. People don't seem to understand that librarians help people navigate the world of information. When I teach on line searching I hold up a 900 page book from WestLaw and tell the class this is just the directory of data bases available from WestLaw and is only one of the more than 100 systems available to search. Just figuring out which data base to search sometimes requires help from a librarian. I know that Google opens up a portal to huge amounts of information, but Google does not index everything. Even some of the materials it does index, is not available for viewing without payment. There is a reason one pays to use a data base; value added.

The second issue is bibliographic instruction. About 4 weeks ago I taught a class about the materials concerned with ethics. Last week I read something that changed one of the ethic case studies that I presents. Information changed, now I have to update the class.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipes new revisions

I just revised my 2008 book, Whole Wheat Bread Recipes 2nd ed.. ISBN: 978-0-934402-34-7. http://home.earthlink.net/~byls-press/WW_bread-2.pdf. Some minor corrections were made, a new picture added, and a new variation of the Marble Cake is included.

Important Challenges that encourage quality

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way of thinking about how people and systems relate within organizations

Total quality means that every paying attention to all aspects of the organization. Every person and every system can improve, change or develop.

To understand the commitment to TQM and excellence people should

Be good suppliers to internal and external customers
Be good customers
Be good coaches
Be good team leaders team members
Be good communicators and learn how to be better

Observe and process relationships and transactions
Learn to plan, prepare and solve problems
Learn to learn and improve and encourage those around you to do the same
Learn when to listen and when to talk
Never stop learning. (See previous post.)

Never Stop Learning

Almost every organization must now be a learning organization. We must learn the academic, theoretical, technical, human, and analytical skills to fix problems before they happen.

With thanks to the Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and Pete Seeger here is my interpretation of a learning organization

To Everything There is a Time

A time to plan; a time to act

And in between a time to learn

A time to create; a time to destroy

And in between a time to learn

A time to purchase and a time to sell

And in between a time to learn about what is valuable

A time to laugh, a time to weep
A time to be sad; a time to celebrate

And in between a time to learn about what makes life worthwhile

A time to design; a time to build
A time for old; a time for new

And in between a time to discover.

A time to read; a time to write
A time to talk; a time to listen

And in between a time to learn how humans communicate

A time to share; a time to receive

And in between a time to learn

A time to give; a time to take

And in between a time to learn about respect and trust

A time to manage; a time to follow

And in between a time to learn what makes us want to do the will of others

A time to work, a time to play, a time to cook, a time to eat
A time to be born and a time to die

And everyday is a good time to learn.

Searching strategies

We can't be everything to everybody. Last night several readers asked for materials that we didn't own. One person needed help searching for the term: henological reduction. You are probably wondering what the word "henological" means. You are not going to find it in most dictionaries. It was coined by Henry Dumery for use in the proof of God's existence. He defines the term as: "the inferior receives from the superior the means to be what the superior is not." (Dumery, Henry. The Problem with God in the Philosophy of Religion. Evanston, IL : Northwestern, 1964 p. 89.) This definition is far from that offered by the Oxford English Dictionary -- "The belief in one god as the deity of the individual, family, or tribe, without asserting that he is the only God." One does not have to understand the nature of this rather obscure argument to help the reader. The reader wanted to know why a particular Jewish text web site did not have any information on the concept. The quick answer is either the makers of the web site didn't include any information or the query was not properly formulated.

To check for good search strategy the reader asked for reference help. Since the term is rare Google searches on the web, books, and scholar produced few results, but they were helpful. A search using Jstor retrieved: "Being and Some Theologians" by O. C. Thomas
The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 70, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Apr., 1977), pp. 137-160, reference found on page 156. This confirmed the concept is not a Jewish concept and therefore unlikely to appear on a site with Jewish texts.

Another reader wanted travel books for the Middle East. This was beyond the scope of the collection since we don't have courses that would need these kinds of books. The public library does have a large number of travel books because traveling people frequently need these books. However, a check of the Chicago Public Library catalog found one possible book, but it was dated 1996. A check of books for sale at Barnes and Noble showed many that would help this reader.

In the next ten years -- What should libraries do better?

1) Evaluate -- In order to improve on services, physical plant, and collections, the evaluation and investigation process must be continuous. Sometimes the evaluation must be formal using surveys and sometimes the evaluation may be informal or anecdotal. One must listen to the needs of readers, staff, and community. The evaluation process identifies areas that are worthy of praise, areas in need of fixing and ideas that should be shared.

2) Improve -- The result of the evaluation and investigation is improvement. People and buildings need to improve to better seem the public. Planning and anticipation is part of the improvement process. Sometimes the systems need to be fixed before they get broken.

3) Emphasize -- Figure how the best way to deploy resources. Find the right balance of information resources to store, retrieve and use.

4) Remain aware of the mission -- Libraries are portals of information. Define what your library is and what it is not. Stay on your mission so that your staff and your public understand your message. Don't shy away from the mission of supplying information on the many sides of an issue. Libraries are valued assets of the community, but they should not advocate ideas that are beyond information. Recreational reading, encouraging reading and understanding of the world, promoting the cultural treasures are all part of the mission. Encouraging religious dialog and curing the ills of society are better left to other agencies and crusaders.

5) Learn -- Never stop learning. Continue to examine professional and scholarly literature for new ideas and evaluation of research. Learn from other libraries and colleagues about their best practices and what does not work. Never stop searching for excellence. Don't be satisfied with coasting and mediocrity because there is always something to learn.

All of these areas will help the organization be better today and in 5 or 10 years.