Article: Discord Over Dewey
Okay, so it's not every day that I'm quoted in the Wall Street Journal online. They did a piece on the Arizona library that's de-Dewefied, and in the process interviewed several cooler-than-me librarians. Take a look. Even the LOC has taken notice.
Comments
quoted AND linked. impressive!
Posted by: sylvie szafranski | July 27, 2007 07:33 AM
A couple of years ago some of my co-students wrote their masters about the fact that the Swedish library system (SAB) might be obsolete and in the need of a change. This became clear during interviews with users/clients/library visitors. The users didn't understand the system and couldn't find their way to the book they were looking for. This was an ongoing discussion among some students during our education at the University College of Borås. Was it possible to adapt SAB so that it could become more userfriendly?
When I started working I realised that this wasn´t discussed that much in the libraries. SAB ruled.
It's interesting to see that although the library is supposed to reflect the society it is "in" many of us working as librarians still seem to consider the library as our own territory. We don´t need to guard our library systems thinking that we will loose our place, we librarians know so much more than the SAB or Dewey. We must include the public in what is going on at the library and not forget our other skills. We must get better at marketing ourselves and our libraries as the resources we are.
Posted by: Veronica Sarge Cech | August 2, 2007 08:35 AM
I loved that article. It was the first article in the NYT I've ever read where I knew half the people. I felt like Andy Warhol, who loved reading gossip magazines because who wouldn't want to read a magazine about all their friends?
Posted by: Tim | August 14, 2007 11:09 PM