Module 5: Environmental Scanning as a Model for Library Service

Our first lecture for Module 5 brought to mind my own personal search for information recently.  My husband and I live on a small lake close to London, Ohio.  We've been here about 4 years, and for the last year or two have been talking about purchasing a boat.  Initially, we watched other boats on the lake, talking about the pros and cons of ownership of the various kinds of boats that would float by, trying to determine what sort of boat would best fit our lifestyle.  Eventually, we more or less settled on the notion that we are pontoon boat people.  We started asking our pontoon owning neighbors about the best brands and models on the market.  We watched YouTube videos on pontoon purchasing, ownership, and maintenance to see what we were getting ourselves into.  Our modes of scanning gradually became more specific.  Last winter, we attended several boat shows and talked to boat salesmen.  We poured over web sites and shiny, colorful brochures.  We narrowed our preferences down to two models.  Now, we are making a concerted effort to visit nearby marinas that sell these two models of pontoons.  When we hit the boat shows next winter, we will be ready to purchase.  Next summer, fingers crossed, we'll be taking twilight cruises on our well-researched pontoon.

As I listened to the lecture, I thought about what a perfectly reasonable model this is for many information searches.  Often the need for information begins as not much more than a curiosity about some random fact that was heard or seen during undirected viewing.  With curiosity peaked, this might lead to some directed exposure and informal searching to learn a bit more.  Finally, if the information gained thus far has not been sufficient, a deliberate effort to retrieve additional information in a more formal search will be undertaken.  This is often the point when a patron will turn to the librarian for assistance.  They have done all they can without the specific skill set that we as librarians can provide.  While not all research projects will fit this model, Aguilar's method for identifying, collecting and translating information about external factors into useful plans and decisions is clearly a model that can be utilized for library service.