Week 1 Readings

Submit or Resist: Librarianship in the Age of Google

Bell’s article calls librarians to return to the values and purposes underlying librarianship: to guide and educate the public. He states that “the real obstacle we now confront as a profession [is] getting our end users to care about the quality of information they obtain” (Bell 69-70). If libraries and database creators continue to copy Google’s interface and underlying technique, users will be restricted to information that is “just good enough” rather than high quality, useful information. Bell’s emphasis on educating users not only about how to use library tools but also how to critically think is refreshing. 

What Literature?

Cart’s “What Literature?” also states that librarians need to act as educators by guiding users toward challenging works. Cart writes that “staffs are being cut…the few remaining librarians are being forced to do the work of legions, and how do you find the time to give reader’s advisory attention to every kid who comes through the doors? Not to do so, however, turns the library into little more than a self-service supermarket” (Cart 161).  Although they are busy professionals, librarians cannot forget that their first obligation is to serve and educate the people who want to use the library. 

Give Them What They Want

Shirley Kennedy’s “Give Them What They Want,” poses as the realistic counter-argument to Bell’s and perhaps even Cart’s articles, but is actually a cop-out. She argues that some users “have neither the time nor the inclination to ‘mess with this stuff,’ and if they can't get you to do their research for them, they'll head straight for Google” (Kennedy 20).  If librarians do not concede to users’ laziness and simply give them something, users will stop using the library and rely solely on the internet. While this is sadly the case sometimes, it is unethical to betray the library’s educational mission to sedate a patron. Despite what Kennedy says, library users are not “customers” librarians simply need to satisfy (Kennedy 20). 

 Let Them Steal Books

Although I do not necessarily agree with Isaacson’s lenient attitude toward some book thieves, his short article does raise an interesting point: there are people out there with a genuine love of learning, and these are the people libraries should be catering to.  The demographic the profession is currently concerned with, the people who are using Google in place of librarians, probably did not use the library much to begin with and do not care very much about the quality of information they receive. Wouldn’t it be better for libraries to maintain a high standard and serve those truly knowledge-hungry souls rather than water-down resources and services in order to get more people through the door? I think so.