A noisy library by Heloise

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/5680656.html

 A noisy library can actually be a good thing

King Features Syndicate

Dear Heloise:

I would like to tell the other side of the Library story. (The reader complained about noise, etc.) The library survives on funding, and funding is determined by how many people walk through the door. While I would love for our library to be an oasis of calm, we need people.

Do you think we enjoy being the neighborhood baby sitters? There is only so much we can do. Our library has rules on how old a child can be in order to be alone, but over that age we do nothing about it.

There simply aren’t enough workers to do everything that needs to be done and be baby sitters, too.

As for some of our loudness, we have several “little old ladies” who are hard of hearing. They help support us financially and are friendly to us personally. As for the person whose old library was always “as quiet as a deserted church,” I would just have to refer to the word “deserted.” That is what we try to avoid at all costs. We want people to use what we offer.

My suggestion to some of the die-hard library goers is to volunteer to help with kids programs and other necessary projects.

A LIBRARIAN, via e-mail

Libraries might not be as quiet as they once were, but they are still a great resource for everyone! Thanks for loaning out your advice.

HELOISE

Heloise@Heloise.com

HELOISE

P.O. Box 795000

San Antonio, TX 78279-5000

Will Computers Replace Librarians?

I say yes only when the day that a computer can think like a human, have emotions like a human, and talk like a human, and then it is the day that the computers replace librarians.  However, librarians will not be the only profession in danger if such scenario happens.  The fact is that computer is a tool.  It assists human being to accomplish complicated tasks, but it cannot take over the tasks by themselves.  For example, a computer can create a concordance but not an index.  Listing words in alphabetical order is not an index.  An index is created with the understanding of the material or concept of the material in mind.  Indexers can sort through humor, figure of speech, puns, or abstract logics.  A computer cannot appreciate art although it can describe it by its physical form.  It’s all about the aboutness!  Analytical thinking and abstract thinking are still required human intervention.  Let’s remember that in the year 2008 computer is still a tool not a human being.

Controlled Vocabularies versus Natural Language Vocabularies

This is an age old debate among the indexers and catalogers.  Either system has its strengths and weaknesses.  The controlled vocabularies system brings about standard and uniformity.  Users can easily find information as long as they follow the rule like Dorothy follows the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz.  The end result to conduct this search yields higher precision but lower recall.  The burden is on the shoulders of the cataloger or indexer to find all possible way to link the users to the information.  If the “Ozian” builders did not build the yellow brick road from the East to the Emerald City, then Dorothy will never be able to find the wizard.  Same as if the indexer failed to index the appropriate terms, then the users will not be able to find the information.  Natural language system on the other hand gives the power to users to enter their own search terms.  The problem is that not all roads lead to Rome when you conduct information search.  The recall is high, but generally the precision is low.  The users might have to conduct further searches to eliminate irrelevant information.  Generally a good system I believe is a hybrid system when you have some controlled vocabularies but not too restricted.  This does not mean that hybrid system is always the best.  In some situation, controlled vocabularies system is the best solution.  If a user is new to a subject field, it is better to use controlled vocabularies system to guide this new user because he or she might not have enough subject related terms to conduct a search.  On the other hand, the natural language vocabularies system works great for subject field that often generate new words and terms.  It is difficult to control these vocabularies when they are often new and not well known.  The user will likely to find information with keyword search in this kind of subject field.