Librarian as an Information Architect

Stanislaw SkorkaPedagogical University

Krakow, Poland

Building the BridgeBuilding the Bridge

A piece of History...

Librarians have always created and organized information

Yesterday’s LibrarianYesterday’s Librarian

Someone who:• Worked with books (collected,

selected, borrowed, shifted etc.)• Knew any authors of any books

(„living encyclopaedia”)• Focused rather on documents

(books) than on people (users)

Today’s Librarian

Person who:• manages information in all forms• is capable of searching for in every

information sources• knows where and how to find a

relevant information (searcher)• analyzes users’ searching behavior

Today’s Librarian (2)

• also named: cyber librarian (cybrarian)

• uses analytical information seeking strategies

• educates next generation users• has appropriate knowledge to start a

new profession (information professional, information architect)

But...Unfortunately...He takes Users into considerationmostly for statistic purposes

Today’s Librarian (3)

Information Architect

Someone who:• humanizes technology focusing on

people (Lynne Duddy)

• enables data to be transformed into understandable information

• organizes the patterns inherent in data, making the complex clear

• creates the structure or map of information which allows others to find their personal paths to knowledge.

(R.S. Wurman)

Librarian vs IA-ctCommon elements of interest

Managing huge information resources (collecting, selecting, accessing)Organizing informationServicing users/readersDeveloping searching tools (indexes, catalogs, navigation systems) Creating findable information spaces (websites, readers rooms etc.)

Librarian vs IA-ct (2)

Librarian’s main aim is to provide access to information

Information architect’s main aim is to facilitate this access

Five Laws of Library Science by S.R. Ranganathan (1931)

1. Books are for use. 2. Every reader his or her book. 3. Every book its reader. 4. Save the time of the reader. 5. The Library is a growing

organism.

A librarian is a natural information architect.But in Poland very few librarians consider this

fact.IA makes up a chance to appear new, attractive

profession in library science: Information Architect Librarian (IAL)

The possible scope of IAL profession: designing of usable library web sites, easy findable

library rooms, training to use IA in everyday life etc.

Benefits from his work are hard to over-estimate because knowledge is invaluable.

Conclusion

IA in librarian activity

1. Library webpage designing 2. Organization of physical library

space (reading rooms, book collections etc.)

3. Evaluation of web resources 4. Educating IA

1. Polish Library Web Sites

Current state-of-artart• Boring content• Limited to official information (amount of resources, facts)• Very weak informative• Old fashioned• Unusable• Difficult to find• Non-strategic approach to web site designing

1. Polish Library Web Sites

Challenges and goalsuser-centered design strategic and tactical planning approach to web site designing and managementsupporting education and researchhelping users finding needed informationproviding access to various e-sources (web catalogs, portals, e-journals, data bases)reporting the news about library and school liveshowing the better, valuable site of the Internet incorporating students into creation process

Process of designing cycle (example)

Library Web Site is not only for librariansbut for their users (students, teacher, parents etc.)

1. Library Web Site

Notices

Users of a library Web site (lws) are mostly the readers of this library (students, pupils, teacher, parents, scientists), so it is quite easy to collect important information about them and their opinion about the site

lws should indicating appriopriate resources in the Web

Web site designing is an endless process...

1. Library Web Site

2. IA of real library space

Library has the same IA’s elements as web sites:•organization system•navigation system•searching •labeling

Library resources need to be organized in a usable way

Foundations• enabling free access to library

resources • giving fast and short

information about library resources, new books etc.

• supporting users to move through the shelves in search of a document,

• pointing ways to important places in library

• supporting users’ decisions about where to go, what to read, borrow etc.

2. IA of real library space

3. Evaluating IA3. Evaluating IA

Goals:• Educate methods of evaluating

information critically• Characteristic of Web site layout,

navigation and searching systems• Improvement in Web resources quality

selection skills• Support information searching for

educational purposes• Learn how to recognize whether a Web

site is trustworthy

Elements of IA evaluation3. Evaluating IA

structure

groupinglabeling

IA

Web resourcesWeb resourcesevaluationevaluation

By Steve Toub

By evaluating librarian teaches better Web sites designing and how to avoid common mistakesThe main aim is to improve the quality of educational and informative Web sitesIt is one of criterion involved in complex process of Web pages evaluation including: authority, objectivity and currency of resources evaluation

3. Evaluating IA

Benefits

4. Educating IA in Library

Topics:• recognize Web sites elements• organize information• understand the economic, legal, and

social issues surrounding the use of information

• strategies or methods using in Web searching

The part of information literacy curriculum

Handful of conclusions

• Library and Information Science (LIS) and Information Architecture are inseparable disciplines

• The bridge is a metaphor of communication, cooperation and corelation between these disciplines

• IA is a metadiscpline not having its own identity so LIS ought to be a source IA-ct derive from

The bridge between two disciplines

Handful of conclusions (2)

• IA needs librarians because:– they deal with collecting, organizing

and searching of information. – they educate future information and

web users

• Librarians need the IA’s knowledge because of its awareness of users

• IA is not only a craft or discipline but also it is a point of view

Future’s Librarian

Information Architect Librarian • A person who incorporates

attributes from today’s librarian and information architect

• Evolution of traditional profession• Interesting opportunity to develop

research areas in Library and Information Science

In the end...

The Internet is constantly evolving towards global information resources, we could call it,

according to Jorge J. Borges, The Library of Babel

But every library needs librarians...