Communications Module Synthesis

In examining the ACRL EBSS website, I found two main things. The first is that the site is poorly maintained. I noticed the same thing that many of my classmates commented on, which is that not all of the links work, and even some that do no longer direct to the pages they are supposed to. I clicked one link that was supposed to lead to collection development suggestions from the University of San Diego only to find that USD has since remodeled its website, and the linked page no longer existed. Furthermore, some of the information presented in the site itself has not been updated since before I graduated high school. While I think this is partly understandable, given that some of the standards are still quite relevant seven years later, I do wish that there was a more frequent review done by the web master for ACRL EBSS. Overall, the site needs to be revisited and updated.

Furthermore, I noticed that most of the information on the site was geared towards collection development, and not necessarily reference work. While the lists of resources and journals could prove useful to a reference librarian, the bulk of the wiki was dedicated to providing standards and context for creating a sound collection of communications material. Thus, while I think the site has merit for any librarian, it is certainly not a resource that I would recommend for patron use.

The first article we read, on “Information Literacy and Communication Research” I found both insightful and refreshing. As I state in my Reddit review of the article, I was taken with two main aspects of it. First, the article was published in 2013 meaning that it is up-to-date. I am pleased with this because it means the article is still of relevance, and the conclusions the authors reach are not using antiquated search or information seeking strategies. Second, this study was finally done by people who seem to understand that the best way for undergraduate students, or anyone for that matter, to learn how to use library resources is to do so in the context of what they are already learning. At every point in the program, it was designed to seamlessly bring the library into the research work the students were performing and thus aid them, rather than hinder or frustrate them, in writing their research paper. I am confident that the overwhelmingly positive results the researchers report come in no small part from designing an information literacy program that directly aids the students in their work, rather than a program that is wholly divorced from the students’ coursework. As an aspiring reference librarian, this is the type of information literacy program that I hope to one day run.

The second article, on the ambiguity of communication and finding good communications resources, was interesting. I did not realize that the boundaries of the discipline were so poorly defined, nor that there was so much infighting as to what should and should not be included under the heading of “communication”. Moreover, I did not realize that there was such debate over which journals should actually be accepted in the field of communications proper, and which describe subjects that reside predominately outside the field of communications. This was an insightful article because it helps me to be more aware that in communications finding the right sources may not always be a clear-cut process. There could be very good information on a topic I am searching in a resource that is, at least ostensibly, totally unrelated to that field. Especially if I ever do work in the field of communications, knowing that it is an ill-bounded discipline will help me to perform more targeted searches and also to cast a wide net to see what else could be brought in.

I opted to examine the Communication and Mass Media Complete database by performing a simple search for the keyword “librarian”. I am familiar with EBSCO, and am generally impressed with the quality of their databases, so I was not all that surprised that I found this one to be of usefulness and good integrity. What did surprise me, though, was the amount of material the search returned. There are almost three hundred articles discoursing on various topics related to librarians. What this brought up to me is something that I intuitively grasped, but had never specifically thought about: the role of communications in the work of librarians. As librarians in general, and especially as reference librarians, most of the work we do has to do with communicating information. Thus, the field of communications has a lot to offer us as we learn to better communicate and perform our tasks. I would argue that it is of no small importance for the discerning librarian to familiarize themselves with some of the principles of communication to help aid in their professional development.

Finally, I was disappointed that there was no sub-Reddit on communications. I have come to enjoy browsing the humanities sub-Reddits, and I was a bit let down we did not get to do that this week.