Module 1

1.       Weinberger writes about the difference between finding what you want and discovering what you want within the context of a bookstore. Do libraries do a better job of helping people find and discover what they want or not?

I love bookstores.  They are a great way to kill a couple of hours on a rainy weekend afternoon.  I have to admit, though, that my opinion of bookstores is exactly the opposite of Weinberger’s.  I love to browse the shelves and let serendipity be my guide.  However, when I’m looking for a specific book, I get frustrated quickly.  My primary frustration is that there is no way to determine whether or not the bookstore even has the book I’m looking for without tracking down a bookstore employee.  As a person that prefers a self-service checkout queue at the grocery store, I’d rather have the ability to search for and locate my reading materials myself. 

At the library, I can do exactly that.  I can locate an available computer and search the online catalog for the author or title I’m seeking.  The item record will give me a call number that will take me directly to the location of the material I seek.  Now I’ll admit that many library patrons have the same frustration at the library that I experience at the bookstore if they are not learned in the ways of the library.  However, librarians provide the distinction between finding vs. discovery.  It’s true, we can teach a patron how to use the catalog and find an item on the shelf, but we also provide the important service of helping one discover what it is he or she wants.  Librarians are excellent at being just curious enough to ask the questions that will uncover what it is that the patron hopes to discover at the library.  That is the reason that we come to work: to organize information, and to assist patrons in the retrieval of that information, after helping them discover what it is they really need.

2.       Weinberger writes on page 14 that the digital world allows us to transcend the fundamental rule of everything having its place because things can now be assigned multiple places simultaneously. This speaks to the very core of library current and continuing existence. What are libraries doing and/or need to do to transcend this fundamental rule in order to stay relevant to information users? Do libraries need to do anything at all?

Yes!  And we’re doing it, especially in academic libraries.  Most academic libraries are moving from print to electronic resources whenever they can, which is how libraries can transcend this rule and remain relevant to the “born digital” generations.  By providing linked data and multiple access points, we can arrange our electronic collections in any and every way that suits our users.  By providing the ability to do faceted searching, libraries give students the power to create a personalized collection based on their requirements, not the requirements of the physical space.  And, for the student, “everything in its place” can mean the place that they want to be:  home, dorm room, or the local coffee shop.  We can bring the information to the seeker. 

I have a very hard time imagining a world without local public libraries that contain shelves full of books.  I’ve been around long enough to know that I won’t have to worry about that in my lifetime.  But I can foresee a time when perhaps my great-grandchildren might have kiddies’ Kindles instead of shelves full of picture books.  Perhaps there won’t be a building that they are taken to for story time.  But I believe there will still be a library, even though it may be completely virtual.