Academic librarians are a unique information community because they are expected to be able to locate information for patrons using a variety of methods. McDonald, Rosenfield, Furlow, Kron, & Lopatovska (2015) point out the importance of librarians having this knowledge, describing them “…as the hub…” (374) before going on to consider their personal preferences as “…these factors affect librarians’ ability and inclination to advocate or deter the adoption of new digital resources…” (374). If librarians don’t know how to use something, and can’t find out how to use it, they won’t use it professionally or personally.
While there is a lot of research on users’ information needs, there is not a lot that has been written about the information needs and uses of academic librarians. This may be in part that academic librarians straddle different information theories and behaviors because they assist patrons with their information needs, in addition to seeking information for themselves. For example, in their day to day duties of helping others with research, academic librarians are experiencing both active and passive information seeking (Wilson, 2000). Active, in that they are literally completing certain steps of the research. They help to translate the query, launch the search, and adjust the search once the results come in. However, they are hardly ever personally invested in this research, and may not ever complete research into this subject again, therefore, they are also passively involved in this information seeking, as there is no desire to further act upon that information.
While Spink and Cole’s model of combined several information may work well for some academic librarians as it incorporates ELIS, the foraging approach, the problem based approach, and the Information use approach, depending on the information, or personal preference of the librarian, they may choose to rely on specific theories (2005). For instance, academic librarians tasked with a specific research need may turn specifically to problem solving or foraging depending on the task difficulty, length and subject matter. If they are looking for advice on how to handle specific categories of patrons, they might turn to contextualization instead. In my research, I came across a journal article by Elizabeth Galoozis, who pointed out that “While we are aware that information is organized, used, and sought in the workplace, we do not always take the same care with it as we do with outward-facing collections of information” (2014). Academic librarians are so focused on how, and if, users interact with information they do not have the time, or bandwidth, to focus on information behaviors among themselves. A particular behavior that Galoozis points out that I found interesting is the phenomenon of the gatekeeper (2014). Essentially, instead of information being disseminated, a staff member becomes the sole source of information which can lead to a variety of issues farther down the road (Galoozis, 2014).
Since they are aware of various realms of information, such as internal document libraries, databases, print resources and the internet, there is a multitude of ways that they seek and share information. “Librarianship, as a profession, relies on a comprehensive body of knowledge and specialized skills. Such knowledge and skills are most frequently acquired through professional preparation- formal education, or vocational training.” (Luo, 210). There is a wide variety of resources developed by academic librarians for the purposes of sharing information, from written peer-reviewed journals to Twitter accounts. For example, the ACRL used twitter to issue a call for applicants to help develop Building Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity Framework Task Force.
ACRL tweets out a link to their post about volunteering to help develop a new framework task force.
Blogs like The Librarian Parlor and ACRLog, not only provide resources and opinions from other academic librarians on how to improve research techniques, but also touch on subjects like conferences and publishing. Twitter can provide ideas for displays, events, or even pass on information about what happens at conferences. For example, tweets with the hashtag, #alaac19, may contain information about events at the 2019 ALA annual conference, requests for more research on interesting topics and even links to other blogs with even more information.
Samantha Harlow’s tweet using #alaac19 to share their presentation.
Professional organizations such as the Special Libraries Association and the Association of College and Research Libraries offer opportunities to not only connect with others, but share and even help create information. Journals such as the Journal of Academic Librarianship, and Aslib Journal of Information Management are two examples of resources where academic librarians can seek information, by reading, or share information, by publishing. Because academic librarians are aware of the various technologies they can use to create and share information, they are not limited to a singular one, but make the most of all the technology they have access to.
References
ACRLog. (n.d.). Retrieved from ACRLog: https://acrlog.org/
ALA_ACRL. (2019, September 24). We’re joining with @ALA_PLA, @ALALibrary’s ODLOS office, and @ARLnews to develop a framework for cultural proficiencies in racial equity. Apply for the Building Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity Framework Task Force by October 8. bit.ly/2mse9uY [Twitter Post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ALA_ACRL/status/1176528642131877890
Association of College & Research Libraries. (n.d.). Retrieved from American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/acrl/
Galoozis, E. (2014, February). Me and you and everything we know. In The Library With The Lead Pipe: An Open Access, Open Peer Reviewed Journal. Retrieved from http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org
Luo, L. (2009). Effective training for chat reference personnel: An exploratory study. Library & Information Science Research, 31, 210-224. doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2009.04.004
McDonald, E., Rosenfield, M., Furlow, T., Kron, T., & Lopatovska, I. (2015). Book or NOOK? Information behavior of academic librarians. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 67, 374-391. doi:10.1108/AJIM-12-2014-0183
Samharlowlib. (2019, June 25). I made an open presentation with links about working with online doctoral students as #alaac19 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dX2f05v-qGnppcVXbpeQnNZbP1w5Tu7Vty9XaHFW6k4/edit [Twitter Post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/samharlowlib/status/1143609895645634560
Special Libraries Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from Special Libraries Association: https://www.sla.org/
Spink, A., & Cole, C. (2005). Human information behavior: integrating diverse approaches and information use. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 57, 25-35. doi:10.1002/asi.20249
The Librarian Parlor. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Librarian Parlor: https://libparlor.com/
Wilson, T. D. (2000). Human information behavior. Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 3, 49-56. doi:10.28945/576
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