Laura Townsend Kane - Working in the Virtual Stacks: The New Library and Information Science

Working in the Virtual Stacks

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Working in the Virtual Stacks

The New Library & Information Science

Laura Townsend Kane

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION | CHICAGO 2011

Laura Townsend Kane is the assistant director for information services at the University of South Carolinas School of Medicine (SOM) Library in Columbia, South Carolina. Kane is coauthor of Answers to the Health Questions People Ask in Libraries: A Medical Library Association Guide and author of Access versus Ownership in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, several book chapters about librarianship career opportunities, and peer-reviewed journal articles on various issues in librarianship. She is an active member of the Medical Library Association (MLA) and its regional Southern Chapter, and is a Distinguished Member of MLAs Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP).

2011 by the American Library Association

All rights reserved except those which may be granted by Title 17, Sections 107 and 108, of the United States Code.

While extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of the information in this book, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

ISBNs: 978-0-8389-1103-7 (paper); 978-0-8389-9326-2 (PDF); 978-0-8389-9327-9 (ePub); 978-0-8389-9328-6 (Mobipocket); 978-0-8389-9329-3 (Kindle). For more information on digital formats, visit the ALA Store at alastore.ala.org and select eEditions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kane, Laura Townsend.

Working in the virtual stacks: the new library and information science / Laura Townsend Kane.

p.cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8389-1103-7 (alk. paper)

1. Library scienceVocational guidanceUnited States. 2. Information scienceVocational guidanceUnited States. 3. LibrariansEmploymentUnited States. 4. LibrariansJob descriptionsUnited States. 5. LibrariansEffect of technological innovations on. 6. LibrariansUnited StatesInterviews. I. Title.

Z682.35.V62K37 2011

020.23'73dc22

2011016135

Contents

Seven years. Not such a long span of time in the context of history. What can happen in seven years? Well, lets get some perspective. In seven years, my middle son went from infancy to being a very vocal second grader with a mind of his own. Wow, that happened fast. Theres more: our family sold our old house, bought a new one, moved in, and had a third baby! In addition, I went from being a technical services librarian to being the assistant director for information services (in the same library). Okay, so a lot can happen in seven years.

What if were talking about technology? How long is seven years in that context? Well, its almost as if were discussing dog years. These days, one year can seem like the equivalent of an era in terms of technological development. Lets do that perspective thing again. Think back: seven years ago, did you know what BFF meant? Did you have a Facebook or LinkedIn page? Did you have a talking GPS in your car? Did you imagine that your cell phone would ever do anything more than make and receive phone calls? Did you have an e-reader? Had you ever heard of Second Life or Twitter? Did you envision 3-D technology in your television? There could be hundreds more questions like these, and most likely your answer to all of them would be no.

Seven years, then, technology-wise, is a long time. Now lets look at the profession of librarianship. Have the technological advances of the past seven years affected how we work, how we interact, how we live our professional lives? Absolutely! In amazing, unbelievable ways.

Working in the Virtual Stacks: The New Library and Information Science is a sequel to Straight from the Stacks: A Firsthand Guide to Careers in Library and Information Science, which was published in 2003. Though the first book featured interviews of some very tech-savvy folks, there was little mention of social networking or embedded librarians or mobile devices. Today, there are librarians out there whose entire jobs revolve around such concepts! So much has changed. A librarians job is more flexible than ever thanks to technology. Libraries themselves have gone through physical changessome dont even have true stacks anymore and have gone completely virtual. Because of this, I saw a real need to produce a sequel to Straight from the Stacks that would illustrate how changes in technology have affected the work of librarians and the vision of libraries. Hence the title change with the addition of the word Virtual.

While on the one hand so much has changed, on the other, not much has changed. I am referring to the dismal fact that very few librarians seek out librarianship as a first career choice. This was the case in 2003, and it is still the case today. I have met many librarians throughout my career, and a common theme that crops up in conversation is the idea of the accidental librarianthose who stumble upon librarianship by accident (or fate!). As was the case in the first book, the librarians in this sequel either pursued librarianship as a second career or came across the possibility while looking for work in other areas. Many worked for years as student library assistants or library aides, until it occurred to them to make a career out of library work. Not one said as a child, I want to grow up to be a librarian. This has always bothered me about my profession (even though Im no exception, as I started out wanting to be a Spanish teacher). I do think, however, that this phenomenon is changing, but slowly. Librarians are taking a more active part in shaping the digital age; we are becoming more visible; we are reaching farther into academic and public communities; we are doing a good job adapting to change and making ourselves indispensable. So there is hope that our profession will soon rank right up there with I want to be a firefighter when I grow up. Meanwhile, those of us in the field must do our part to help with recruitment by being more vocal about our fantastic profession. This book is my fulfillment of that charge.

The organization of this sequel is very different from the first book. Thirty-four interviews of librarians are arranged into broad categories reflecting librarianship roles. While Straight from the Stacks was organized by traditional library type (public libraries, academic libraries, special libraries, etc.), Working in the Virtual Stacks uses emerging roles as categories. The boundaries of library positions have somewhat dissolvedthanks in part to technologyso that it is no longer practical to discuss the profession in terms of traditional library type. To illustrate, a web services librarian can likely be found in a public library, a special library, an academic library, a corporate library, and in online businesses like Amazon.com.

This book, then, is divided into five chapters: . The thirty-four interviews place spotlights on librarians from all over the country in all types of positions and reflect decades of collective professional experience. Most of these information professionals (as some like to be called) have had the unique experience of being witness to the birth and growth of the Internet, the explosion of social software, and the incredible expansion of the digital age. They have had firsthand experience of how technology has shaped libraries and affected the careers of librarians.

I will stress that this is by no means a comprehensive list of possible careers in librarianship. There are literally hundredsthousands?of possibilities out there for librarians, especially those proficient in technology and those who easily adapt to change. A comprehensive list would be impossible. It is my hope, though, that this book and its sampling of career possibilities will inspire two groups of people: those considering librarianship as a career and those considering a mid-career change. To those thinking about enrolling in library school, I hope you find sufficient excitement and intrigue in the text that follows. To those considering a change in librarianship positions, I hope you find your niche in the field; there is one for you, I promise!