information, information, tsk, tsk, tsk

While I was reading Buckman's article, I could just imagine "documentalists" bickering over what is or is not a document/information/data (which would likely make me tear my hair out).  Maybe there's a huge struggle over information terminology of which I am not aware.  But the definition of information makes sense in a world of limited space and resources for physical items.  My husband is researching collections of indie cassette tapes: who collects them, who should collect them, where should they be housed, and why or why not?  The answers to these questions could depend on whether or not the tapes are considered information.  As a side note, I don't think I'm alone in craving physical copies of art or music in the "digital age" when everything seems so fleeting and intangible.

Anyway, Buckman made an interesting case for the inclusion of an antelope in a zoo under the umbrella of information or document.  Since it communicates information about its species and habitat, an antelope must be a sort of document, right?  It seems, then, that logically a zoo might be considered a storehouse for information, like an archive or library.  Clearly, we do not use such a broad definition when managing library collections or archives, though Buckman wants to blow the lid off of traditionally restrictive definitions.  The conclusion I drew is that an object's status as information is linked to its use as information by a user.  I think the article is more an exercise in philosophy than a set of practical guidelines, but it definitely impressed on me how broad a swath information science may cut.  In fact, information science/studies/literacy/whatever you want to call it has been popping up all over lately in my life. 

Since I read about personal information management in my other class, I've been much more conscious of how I organize my own files and emails.  Each time I search for a document or song or photo on my computer, I wonder whether it really is more beneficial to keep everything miscellaneous, as Weinberger asserts in Everything is Miscellaneous, or whether there is some merit to my categorization structures in iPhoto or on my desktop.  Weinberger's comments on nesting and classification come back to me as I read a story to my first graders that scopes from their bedrooms to houses to neighborhoods all the way to the universe. 

illustration from Wave by Suzy Lee

photo from weheartbooks.com

Libraries: Digital, electronic, and hybrid 
by D.D. Rusch-Feja

My initial sense when reading this article was that it lacked a human element.  However, as I continued I tried to take the perspective that the complex systems outlined are the basis for user-friendly virtual libraries.  That said, I did appreciate the concept of the "life cycle" of digital libraries: "'from information creation, access and use, to archiving and presentation'".  I know that all libraries go through such a cycle, but digital librarians face unique challenges as they attempt to keep pace with the internet, an issue that Johnson also raised when she wrote of attempting to save rapidly changing and disappearing web content.  I had a momentary mental image of a tsunami-sized wall of information about to crash over librarians armed with buckets, trying to scoop up the information and whisk it away into relevant and usable organizational format.  That involves discernment of quality and worth, an act that seems subjective and sticky, as in Johnson's discussion of the papers of Joe Hamburger.  I have more to learn about archiving and how it relates to library collection management.

Traces: Document, record, archive, archives
by Sue McKemmish

I liked way that "Traces" placed archiving within a more human context.  When archivers are described as keepers of stories it gives their work a mystical bend--not that archiving involves anything resembling magic, but it demonstrates archiving's a purpose on a grander scale. 

I had never before thought of archiving in the broadest sense, as preservation of anything--the environment, architecture, and so forth.  The chapter also stretched my understanding of what can actually be archived.  I had always thought of archiving as keeping intentionally-created items such as books or websites, and not so much preserving the "traces" of events, like photographs, recordings, and news reports.  "Traces" also impressed on me the great responsibility placed on archivists since there must be a very deliberate hand in selecting (or discarding) records which in turn shapes the "social and organizational structures of remembering and forgetting" (17).  The way in which information is selected, classified, and organized sends a specific message that could be used for good or ill.  This conjures images of history being rewritten in 1984, but in the case of archiving the facts do not need rewriting, only careful retention and deletion, classification and labeling. 

 Libraries
by Christine Pawley

It is incredible to me how relatively quickly libraries have evolved from simple collections to multimedia hybrids.  Librarians' list of tasks have also grown.  Every day I see my school's media specialist taking on technology tasks that fall to no one else.  In the public schools, I have observed the tug-of-war between buying physical materials versus digital services.  In many cases, as I'm sure is the case in libraries as well, we'd like to have the best of both worlds. 

Information Science
by Tefko Saracevic

It makes sense that information science is interdisciplinary because of the interdisciplinary nature of libraries themselves.  It is interesting to see how information science correlates to information literacy, the topic of my other course this semester.  I think information literacy is what a person has when they have mastered the basics of information science.  Also, both information literacy and science deal with computer literacy and science, but are do not solely involve technology.  The article added to my understanding of information and how to qualify it--the value of information is based on the difference the information makes in one's decision-making process.  Information, like information science and literacy, are broad and abstract terms, but perhaps rightly so, since the work of librarians and the tasks of libraries are ever-changing.  The aspects of information literacy that interest me are practical applications in social and educational settings, which is not surprising as I'm on my way to school librarianship.