Silver Adept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silveradept) wrote2016-12-03 08:25 pm
silveradept) wrote2016-12-03 08:25 pm
Entry tags:
December Days 03 - +5 to Spot checks if things are organized in a logically deducible manner
[It's December Days time! There's no overarching theme this year, so if you have ideas of things to write about, I'm more than happy to hear them.]
The title is part of how I would translate the special skills of librarianship into some sort of role-playing game.
Also known as "the librarian is a freaking expert, listen to them." Not just because every full-qualifications librarian has at least two degrees, but the average librarian has seen and responded to queries that are weirder than what you would think of as weird. Yes, weirder than that. Yes, that too.
jenett has a tag that indicates the true nature of the librarian, a nature that only Night Vale has come close to scratching the surface of - Secret Masters of the Universe. (No relation, as best I can tell, to the cartoon starring Prince Adam, nor to the fanfiction that would eventually become Fifty Shades of Grey.) Libraries and archives and museums are the outward manifestations of our abilities, but the real magic is in the people themselves.
In the era of big data aggregating everything it can about you so as to more effectively predict your behavior, usually as a consumer, but also as an activist, political figure, or person of interest, it seems like machine learning and algorithm can create a profile of you that knows you far too well for your own liking. Those systems fail, of course, on a regular basis by suggesting inappropriate things, or by placing you on a list that restricts your movement without your knowledge or without the ability to appeal. Or, more chillingly, it cheerily exposes secrets of yours without your consent or knowledge, often by data breach. Your public library may be one of the few places where you can talk to humans about preferences and be assured that they will not be fed into some sort of corporate or governmental database. We keep a minimal amount of requestable records at all times.
Beyond that, librarians are skilled at human-computer interactions, which allow us to leverage a bevy of tools and materials to assist you in your information requests, and with much less risk of running into fake news, unsubstantiated rumor, opinion masquerading as fact, and paywalls as one might with general Internet access. Undergirding data at large are classification systems, indexes, catalogs, taxonomies, and finding aids. Metadata webs, triples, annotations, and other ways of making meaning out of the sea of possibilities. We know about them, and therefore can use them to produce what you are looking for, often at higher quality and speed than you will spend looking for it yourself. And we're willing to teach you how it's all done, if you like.
And that's before we get into the part where we're often better than the algorithms about what kinds of materials you might enjoy after you finish your current crop.
And there's also the programming, where we're giving teenagers space to grow into themselves and pursue their interests, telling students that it's okay to crush gender stereotype, or to tell gender to go get fucked.
And there's also the part where librarians are likely responsible for helping you get to literacy, through evidence-based Story Times and other options that teach language, script, and other important aspects of communication to the very smallest.
And in between all of those things, we also check out, buy, maintain, and refresh our collections to make sure they're appealing and relevant.
Librarians are experts at so many things that are invisible infrastructure. Cross them, or remove them, at the peril of seeing how much they actually did for your community.
The title is part of how I would translate the special skills of librarianship into some sort of role-playing game.
Also known as "the librarian is a freaking expert, listen to them." Not just because every full-qualifications librarian has at least two degrees, but the average librarian has seen and responded to queries that are weirder than what you would think of as weird. Yes, weirder than that. Yes, that too.
jenett has a tag that indicates the true nature of the librarian, a nature that only Night Vale has come close to scratching the surface of - Secret Masters of the Universe. (No relation, as best I can tell, to the cartoon starring Prince Adam, nor to the fanfiction that would eventually become Fifty Shades of Grey.) Libraries and archives and museums are the outward manifestations of our abilities, but the real magic is in the people themselves.In the era of big data aggregating everything it can about you so as to more effectively predict your behavior, usually as a consumer, but also as an activist, political figure, or person of interest, it seems like machine learning and algorithm can create a profile of you that knows you far too well for your own liking. Those systems fail, of course, on a regular basis by suggesting inappropriate things, or by placing you on a list that restricts your movement without your knowledge or without the ability to appeal. Or, more chillingly, it cheerily exposes secrets of yours without your consent or knowledge, often by data breach. Your public library may be one of the few places where you can talk to humans about preferences and be assured that they will not be fed into some sort of corporate or governmental database. We keep a minimal amount of requestable records at all times.
Beyond that, librarians are skilled at human-computer interactions, which allow us to leverage a bevy of tools and materials to assist you in your information requests, and with much less risk of running into fake news, unsubstantiated rumor, opinion masquerading as fact, and paywalls as one might with general Internet access. Undergirding data at large are classification systems, indexes, catalogs, taxonomies, and finding aids. Metadata webs, triples, annotations, and other ways of making meaning out of the sea of possibilities. We know about them, and therefore can use them to produce what you are looking for, often at higher quality and speed than you will spend looking for it yourself. And we're willing to teach you how it's all done, if you like.
And that's before we get into the part where we're often better than the algorithms about what kinds of materials you might enjoy after you finish your current crop.
And there's also the programming, where we're giving teenagers space to grow into themselves and pursue their interests, telling students that it's okay to crush gender stereotype, or to tell gender to go get fucked.
And there's also the part where librarians are likely responsible for helping you get to literacy, through evidence-based Story Times and other options that teach language, script, and other important aspects of communication to the very smallest.
And in between all of those things, we also check out, buy, maintain, and refresh our collections to make sure they're appealing and relevant.
Librarians are experts at so many things that are invisible infrastructure. Cross them, or remove them, at the peril of seeing how much they actually did for your community.