Readings Journal 2/21

Public Libraries, Values, Trust, and E-Government by Jaeger and Fleischmann

This article discusses the trust people have in public libraries, and how this trust has caused many people to turn to public libraries to access e-government sources.  The article discusses the importance of public libraries to e-government access, especially in natural disasters.

Although I enjoyed this article overall, I was very disappointed at how the article portrayed library-science programs.  The article implied that instead of focusing on how to be a librarian, programs should focus on the values of a library.  I think the article is backwards in this regard.  I feel that focusing mainly on how to be a librarian and less so on values is the better option.  I don’t think values should be neglected altogether, they are very important, but I also think that many library science students already understand the basic values of the library before they begin the program and what they need to learn is how to do the job of a librarian.

Community Leadership through Public Library E-Government Services by Givson, McClure, Bertot, McGilvray, and Andrade

This article discusses the increasing trend towards government services offered online.  The article examines the effect this trend has on public libraries.

The surprising thing about this article and the two Jaeger articles are that they all mention that the government keeps sending people to public libraries when they have any questions regarding e-government materials, but libraries are not getting any extra money for providing this service. The government is saving money by putting everything online, but public libraries are doing more and more with less money.  I also found the liability issues in this article interesting.  I worked at a company where people often asked for my advice when filling out tax forms and my boss told me I couldn’t give them help because of liability issues.  However, as librarians, it is our job to help people, so where do we draw the line?

Responsibility Rolls Down: Public Libraries and the Social and Policy Obligations of Ensuring Access to E-Government and Government Information by Jaeger and Bertot

This article goes through the history and changes over time of accessing government information.  The article then goes into depth about public libraries roles in accessing government information.

The shift of government information from print to online really caught my attention in this article.  I currently work in the government information section of Wells Library.  We have recently had to do a lot of downsizing of our collection.  As part of this, we have been searching for many of the government books and pamphlets on Hathi Trust.  If the materials are there, we discard the print copies.  In the past few weeks we have discarded hundreds of government materials that are now available online.  This article also reminded me of the article we read a few weeks ago, Across the Digital Divide by Seanan McGuire.  The government seems to forget that there are many people who don’t have access to computers or the Internet.  By putting all government materials online, they are restricting access for these people.  The only way these people can access the “born digital” material is by going to the public library.  As McGuire mentioned in her article, the people in poverty will suffer for the lack of print materials because print is often the only way they can access these materials.

McGuire, S. (2011) Across the digital divide.  Rose Owls and Pumpkin Girls: The

Journal of Seanan McGuire, http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/390067.html

In the Public Trust: A Reference Manual for Indiana Public Library Board Members by Cain

This article outlined all of the duties and responsibilities of a library board member.

Before reading this article I had a very vague idea of what library boards did.  This article was very informative and helped me realize why library boards are important and what they do for libraries.  One part I found interesting was when the article discussed the role of the director and how in most businesses the employer knows more about he business than the employee, but that isn’t necessarily the case with the board and the director.  I also thought it was interesting that the board elects officers; I hadn’t realized that before.