Library Science without the Library

Library Science without the Library by Jane Greenstein.

This was a great post that appeared on Library Journal’s site.  To summarize, Greenstein points out that LIS programs continue to churn out employees, but many of them are working part time at lesser jobs (bookstores, coffee houses, etc.) because jobs in the industry aren’t forthcoming.  She encourages universities and students to look beyond libraries as potential landing spots for librarians. 

Whether students choose a traditional or so-called alternative path, MLIS programs should acknowledge-and embrace-that the library profession is changing. They should expand their focus by offering more degrees and creating a more fluid curriculum that keeps students aware of the evolution that is occurring in front of their eyes.

Librarian or Google employee?

To fit my own purposes, she’s telling the profession to get mercenary. 

While I believe in libraries and the mission they serve, jobs opportunities in traditional libraries are shrinking.  I have three academic institutes and two public libraries in the town where I live and I’ve seen around four openings in the last five years, two of which have been management.  I wax nostalgic about working in a traditional library.  But the likelihood of that happening is slim, and would probably be accompanied by a significant pay cut.  Maybe when I retire…

Being a mercenary, and looking to sell our information skills to the highest bidder, can help new and tenured librarians find well-paying jobs in a crappy economy.  Greenstein talks about what I’d consider some very non-traditional jobs for librarians.  But I’d add that there are also “traditional” jobs (although maybe it’s the idea that there are “traditional” jobs for librarians that’s holding us back) for those in the profession, but in wildly different settings from what we’re used to.  My embedded gig is pretty much just being a highly specialized research and reference librarian only without the traditional trappings. 

Greenstein also says:

… my impression is that library and information schools don't know how to properly court prospective "information"-oriented candidates or appeal to my colleagues in the interactive field.

I don’t know if courting the right candidates is as much of an issue as helping students discover, during the process of matriculation, how to apply the skills they’re being taught in radically different settings.  Library schools need to help students think more like information mercenaries and get beyond the altruistic nature with which we all (myself included) come to the profession.    I kind of just stumbled in to special libraries and then was kicked in to the world of embedded librarianship.  There was no training or even consideration about what one could do with a library degree outside of the traditional library walls.  I would have loved some discussion or mentorship within my coursework about how to apply the skills I was learning to other areas. 

The Embedded Librarian as Bullshit Detector

I received a request this week to investigate a web site that was viewing The Company in a rather negative light.  The question-behind-the question was essentially, how much weight should we give this site?

The site was well put together, and as it turned out, providing correct information.  Hell, they even provided citation information and links to supporting materials.  But the site also offered a very one-sided perspective on the issues in question.  In the fine print, the site itself even admitted to having a purpose that was somewhat axe grind-ey.  And the authors/administrators of the site were poets, not legal experts nor did they present any credentials that would make them authoritative for commenting on the issues the site addressed. 

I informed the requestor of all of this as well as the fact that the site doesn’t come up in the first hundred hits. So unless someone is looking for The Company’s name and uses some pretty specific topical search terms, the general consumer isn’t going to find this site easily if at all.  Ergo, low threat.  (As a total side note, the site will be a great example for the next time I have to teach a freshman information literacy course.)

The whole analysis took me maybe ten minutes, because I was trained (and train others) where to look for and how to judge whether information is credible.  I assume everyone can do and can do it as quickly.  But the fact that my colleague even asked the question maybe shows that this isn’t a skill everyone has or at the very least I can do it faster and more thorough.  Maybe I take for granted that I can do this. 

In any case, providing “bullshit detection” services is certainly another services and “added value” that embedded librarians can offer their clientele.  We shouldn’t take it for granted and should actively market it during outreach. 

The Embedded Librarian as a Triage Doc

I’m often jealous of other areas in The Company. 

The Company has several (small) units that can do research that a single librarian (or even a team of librarians) cannot.  They do “big data” analytics, usability studies, qualitative and quantitative consumer analysis, even some electrical and physical engineering.  Their services are top notch and highly specialized.  Because they are doing primary research in topics selected by clients, it’s hard to compete with their specialties when it comes to questions that secondary research can’t reach.  So sometimes I feel like I’m the second tier research.

(That said these areas were also the library’s best customers when it existed and most vocal when it closed.  I also count a lot of my colleagues in those areas as friends.)

The problem is these units often have huge backlogs and waitlists.  Their services are highly sought out, but they have small staffs.  So they can’t handle all of the work. 

That’s where I sweep in to save the day… Kind of.  While I can’t do the detailed primary research like the other groups, I can often find secondary sources that are close enough or supplemental.  And while it’s often not dead on topic, sometimes it’s enough for the project groups to make some assumptions and extrapolations.

So like the triage doctor, embedded librarians can help project groups stay alive when the kind of information they would prefer to have is not available.  In fact, I’ve turned this “bug” in my position into a marketing feature.  When I do outreach, I often tell prospective clients that if they can’t get in to see the specialists or if they’d like me to see what I can find while they wait to see a specialist, I’m happy to help.