[Sigia-l] Marcia Bates on Web-era information retrieval

[David R. Austen]

Hello, Maryanne:

As a one-time resident of Toad Hall in your fair city, I enjoyed your
letter and in particular noted your comment about the L-word.

Let's see how well I remember things. Not long ago, somebody here (or
nearby in cyberspace) explained that she *did* use the L-word in her
IA work regularly because there seemed to be near universal
approbation of librarians. I certainly embrace that notion because I
have a Masters from a library school, with an MIS, not an MLS.

It seemed to me that she was likely correct (based on my good
experiences with librarians over decades) and I believe that the local
librarian is the closest the general public will ever come to meeting
a practitioner in (the wider field of) information science.

Let me be diplomatic and assume you are both correct. Is there anybody
else listening out there who would like to weigh in on this one with
another perspective? Perhaps the original poster is on deck.


Best regards,


David Austen


http://zillionbucks.com -- Web hosting for the creative industry

Wednesday, July 10, 2002, 8:00:43 PM, you wrote:

RM> When she says, "it has been an article of faith in the Internet culture that
RM> librarians have nothing to contribute to this new age." I don't only blame
RM> the
RM> whatever the "Internet culture" is. Some of the blame must go to librarians
RM> who
RM> have done a terrible job marketing their unique skills.

RM> - I must also agree that it a fab article and I think that the powers that
RM> be here could take heed.  However, I have been lucky in being able to apply
RM> the essence of this article in the redevelopment of the Internet site here.
RM> BUT I had to fight, scream, yell and jump and down to be heard.  It was a
RM> hard slog and it is not over yet!

RM> With regards to blame going to librarians, I have discovered that the IT
RM> industry associates itself with fast-paced glamour.  The stereotypical
RM> "librarian" doesn't fit into this world as I've been told many times.  So I
RM> now go as an Information Architect, never mention my quals and never, ever
RM> mention the word libarary!  Sad state of affairs but it works. Having said
RM> all this, it was with great relief that Interwoven(the supplier of our new
RM> CMS) think that Librarians are the ants pants and this did help my cause.

RM> *****************************************************
RM> Maryanne Rosenberg
RM> Information Architect
RM> Online Services Section
RM> Information Services Group
RM> Department of Transport and Regional Services
RM> Phone: (02) 6274 6050
RM> GPO Box 594
RM> Canberra  ACT  2601



RM> ______________________________________________________________________ 

RM> IMPORTANT: This e-mail, including any attachments, may contain personal,
RM> confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended
RM> recipient, or if you have received this e-mail in error, please contact the
RM> sender immediately and delete all copies of this e-mail and attachments. If
RM> you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, reproduce, disseminate
RM> or disclose any part of this e-mail or attachments. 
RM> ______________________________________________________________________ 

RM> ------------
RM> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.

RM> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments

RM> ASIST SIG IA website: http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/index.html
RM> _______________________________________________
RM> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
RM> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l



--