Another Case of the Missing Library
Steven just remarked on the Educause training toolkit for information literacy that somehow missed the fact that libraries have been working on it for some time. D’oh! This presentation on an Annenberg School-sponsored media survey also struck me as a place where “library” as a source of information is noticeably absent. (So are books.) Admittedly, the focus is on how media can recapture people’s attention as a trusted source of information, and it’s really focused on “how do we get consumers to pay attention to our advertising so we can recover that revenue stream.” But still … the survey asked about where people turn to find trusted information. The library is not one of the options. (See especially slides 20 and 24.)
The survey focused entirely on sources of information that can be optimized for advertising dollars – and how to drive the public toward news media for purchasing decisions – so they may have just decided libraries don’t belong on the list. But when they ask about “where you go for information” and libraries aren’t there, it suggests value is only attached to information sources that exist to generate advertising dollars and stock dividends.
The study reports that people are increasingly skeptical about mass media and that “word of mouth” is more important than being told what to read through PR and marketing. In other words, you PR flaks have shot yourselves in the foot and are now trying to learn how to talk like a human.
Maybe our users need to get a little more outspoken. Libraries have net assets worth billions! You can claim your dividend every time you use them! You can use them online with no pay wall! And no harvesting of personal information or annoying banner ads!
I think we have an edge, here, if only we were able to get the word out.
Posted by Barbara Fister on January 27th, 2008 under Commercialization, Privacy, information industries.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from Anne-Marie
Time: January 27, 2008, 12:13 pm
This really resonates with me – this is much more likely to be the kind of “sales pitch” that works best in my basic info lit sessions. My students totally get the idea of “premium content,” of subscription/fee-based sources, and they love that they get access to those in the library. That works a lot better for me than anything like “use library databases because they’re vetted for quality.”
(And really, I think it should work better – they know a lot of the professional, scholarly & expert information IS out there on the web)
But I love the idea of making it easier for them to tell each other about that – I’m going to have to think about that a lot more — thanks!
Anne-Marie
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Time: January 27, 2008, 9:05 pm
[...] this morning Barbara Fister pointed out a recent survey by the Annenberg School (the USC one) – a survey trying to examine “gaps in media usage between communicators and the general [...]
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