Week 7: Analytics

Ah, the great struggle of doing anything new in libraries: answering the question, “why should we care?” to the people with the money that makes things happen, in a way that they’re willing to commit it. This was touched upon briefly in Week 4 when we looked at Colburn and Haines’ downright seminal work on libraries and YouTube, but this week I want to do a deeper dive, because this might very well be the way you justify to your donors the continuation of your project.

Continue reading “Week 7: Analytics”

Week 2: Libraries vs. YouTube – Reference Services

Patron saint of librarians Neil Gaiman put it best: “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.”
Reference Transactions are information consultations in which library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources to help others to meet particular information needs. Reference and User Services Association. (2008). Definitions of Reference.
If anything is a hallmark of the librarian’s identity, it’s putting people into meaningful contact with the information they seek. It’s one of the first things we learn about in grad school, and oftentimes what draws us to the profession in the first place. Continue reading “Week 2: Libraries vs. YouTube – Reference Services”