Comments on: Snooki, Whale Sperm, and Google: The Unfortunate Extinction Of Librarians When They Are Needed Most

By: Justin Ippolito

Justin Ippolito — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:54:36 +0000

This is such a beautiful article. The quality of information has suffered as a result of this hyper connected age of instant gratification. No effort is ever involved, just “Google It”.

By: Discovery services in a Google world | reDUX

Discovery services in a Google world | reDUX — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:05:32 +0000

[...] Read this post by Margaux DelGuidice from In the Library with the Lead Pipe to see why librarians are oh-so-glad that discovery services are not [...]

By: Margaux

Margaux — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:41:53 +0000

Hi Nicole,

Thanks so much for writing this comment. I feel your pain and sympathize with the obstacles that we are up against; however it sounds like you are making a lot of progress and are doing great work! Congratulations! In May my book will be coming out and we have a lot of information on how librarians can use the TRAILS to support their library programs via data driven library programs. I thank you so much for the comment and hope to stay in touch. Perhaps our high schools can Sype at some point. Thanks again,

Margaux

By: Nicole Thompson

Nicole Thompson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:41:36 +0000

Thank you so much for this! As a high school librarian (or media specialist, as we are called here…) I am constantly fighting against the “Google it” generation that insists the best way to find a book in a library (not kidding here) is to Google the title. Now, we have come a long way from that in the years I’ve been here, but still, everyday, I have a student (or ten) who seems to thing Google will provide everything they need, from (as you so aptly put) movie times to information for their research paper on a Supreme Court case. We very recently began playing about with TRAILS assessment created by Kent State, having various classes starting research projects take the assessment as a pre-test to give the teacher and me some idea of what their knowledge base is. Shockingly, the students were not only happy to be challenged, they WANTED to learn the right answers, and thus, the right way to go about researching. It turned into the best “teachable moments” of my career for a solid week. I have even had parents emailing and calling, asking about this test, and seeing if they could take it, then asking questions about how they can help their children learn how to find the best information that is available for their school projects; not just what the first 10 hits in a Google search will get them.

Thanks so much for this post!

By: Torstein Låg

Torstein Låg — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:15:35 +0000

Ah, lovely, thanks. I’ve come across that quote several times (and who wouldn’t want to us it?!) and now I know where its from. :)

By: Margaux

Margaux — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:09:47 +0000

Thank you for the comment! I agree that librarians are walking a fine line between trying to please their budgetary authorities and trying to do the best job they can for their patrons.

The information for the Neil Gaiman quote came from an April 2010 video interview that he gave at the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library. He has several great quotes in that interview! The link is below, it is titled “Neil Gaiman on Libraries”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH-sR1uCQ6g&feature=youtube_gdata_player

By: Torstein Låg

Torstein Låg — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:20:01 +0000

Thank you! That was a very inspirational post. Fighting mis- and disinformation seems to me the most important and challenging goal for any librarian. I do worry, though, that it might not make libraries more popular with budgetary authorities in the short run. Still, serving the public well may influence public opinion in favour of libraries in the long run.

Oh, do you by any chance have the details for that Gaiman quote?

By: Snooki, Whale Sperm, and Google: The Unfortunate Extinction Of Librarians When They Are Needed Most | Julie's Information Professional e-Portfolio

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:14:04 +0000

[...] http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2012/snooki-whale-sperm-and-google-the-unfortunate-extinc… Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← Week 4: Redesigning the library’s role [...]