Model #1: Info Dissemination of a Special Library

Unlike my other model (see post below for Model #2), which represents a standard view of general forms of information dissemination, Model #1 (scroll to bottom of the page to view) is a simplified visual display of information dissemination for a Special (corporate) Library. The example used is a software company which must disseminate information to its customers, both internally (employees) and externally (clients).

The model is based on a user-centric, service paradigm. That is why it begins and ends with user needs assessments. The general processes in the information cycle are represented in the second box, one of which is dissemination. The various methods of dissemination are broken out (and displayed in the third box). They are the specific forms of dissemination that the Special Library for the software company is responsible for.

A model of information dissemination & diffusion

I have created a general model of information dissemination and diffusion (which can be viewed at the bottom of this Blog page, see Model #2). This model is only one component of the overall information transferal cycle. The cycle begins with the creation of information out of raw data and ends with its deletion at the end of its usefulness (or improper deletion if not properly preserved as useful content).

In the standard view of information dissemination, information professionals focus on storage of collections of data so that it can be disseminated to users. In this view, classifying and cataloging of books or research materials would constitute a dissemination service. Other examples include, as indicated in the list of dissemination forms and channels in my model, setting up a database, a library website, a news publishing outlet, or product distribution by vendors and jobbers, etc.

As described in the blog contributions contained here, librarians and information professionals play an important role beyond passive collection and storage of information so that it can be disseminated and retrieved. The sheer exponential increase in available information worldwide means that knowledge seekers are often overwhelmed and have trouble finding the specific information they need, as well as the ability to evaluate the validity of the data they do retrieve. That is the function of librarians. As information professionals, they are best able to assist the users in getting the greatest outcome of their search. As part of their education and training, Librarians have the tools and skills for searching and analyzing data.

As professionals in the knowledge industry, librarians need to turn toward the changes in technology and understand the ways in which people search for information, and more importantly, how they process information. As professionals, librarians need to use theory and create research and studies to recognize how best to perform their function of transferring knowledge. That is the point of my model in referring to a paradigmatic change in information dissemination. The movement must be from a model of creating static storage and access to information – to a model based on what information is sought and how it can best be absorbed.

If a model is based on the needs of the users, more effort will be put into analyzing those needs. The end result will be an anticipation of the actual needs of the users, a proactive dissemination of the required information, and the development of approaches to help instruct and assist with absorption of the information, i.e. diffusion. Librarians have an important role to play in the information professions. They can bring to bear both their experience and also the body of study that is Librarian and Information Science.

The Purpose of Information Dissemination is Improved Diffusion

During my research on dissemination, I found an article in American Libraries magazine by Steven J. Bell called “Design Thinking”. At first I thought it was an odd term to be used in reference to libraries. As I read on, I began to understand that the term was analogous to the concept of using theory and knowledge about end user information processing to improve service. i.e. functioning in a scientific manner (as information scientists) to increase positive outcomes for our information seekers.

As Bell describes it, ‘Design Thinking’ applies methods and strategies. This is similar to applying business and management concepts to library (and information dissemination) operations, as well as theory. Design is used to create a plan that takes into account factors that influence effective information diffusion by end users.

Bell describes how librarians need to analyze what information they collect and disseminate, as well as technology used, to determine if it is actually of use to patrons. “For example: Whether it is owing to a lack of time, a desire to quickly implement new technologies, or allowing a bandwagon mentality to rule, rarely do most of us allow sufficient time to carefully design a strategy for technology innovation. Not only do we likely fail to conduct an analysis to first determine the feasibility of a new technology application, but we rarely take the time to adequately determine if our users would value the new service. In a nutshell, our approach is to identify a solution before we fully understand the problem. We can do better. Design thinking can offer a new way of thinking about, acting on, and implementing our resources and services with a more thoughtful and creative approach that is focused on the design of the best possible library user experience.” (2008).

The point is that it is not enough to have a wonderful database, collection, or method of dissemination if the information is not what the information seeker needs. Likewise, if the information is not easily available for retrieval; or if the user does not have instructional assistance to aid in diffusion of the information, then it is not a good user experience.

Having a concern with user experience in seeking and understanding information is what makes dissemination successful. This article by Bell addresses that issue, despite using different terminology (design vs. theory). This blog aims to develop that concept, as well, i.e. that diffusion of information is key, not having the best collection that sits in a building or on a server.

Reference:

Bell, S.J. (2008). Design Thinking. American Libraries, 39 (1&2), 44-49.

Also available for retrieval from USF Library Literature & Information Science full text or USF Academic Search Premier database at
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=28111140&site=ehost-live

Embedded Librarian concept

Today was the first time I heard about the Embedded Librarian concept applied at Daytona Beach College (DBC) in Daytona, Florida. I read the article by Rachel Owens in the latest issue of the Florida Libraries journal and I was very impressed with this concept. In response to ever more courses being offered online, librarians are less able to assist and teach research skills to students. This new idea is to have the librarian function in an instructional capacity 'embedded' in an online class.
In this capacity, the librarian does not wait for a student to come to him/her. Rather, the librarian actively participates in the course and provides instruction about research and information about resources. This is another innovative way to proactively disseminate information and/or go to the library patron (student) and help them connect to the information they need. It is a positive adaptation to the changes of technology that are impacting on students and schools. Many schools have returning students that do not have developed research skills. If they are taking courses online, it is difficult for them to get to a library and work with a librarian. This is a wonderful solution to this changed reality of higher education.

Reference:
Owens, R. (2008). Where the students are: The Embedded Librarian Project at Daytona Beach College. Florida Libraries: the Official Journal of the Florida Library Association. 51 (1), 8-10.

Knowville 3D in Second Life

This YouTube video is an example of innovative dissemination using new forms of technology especially geared toward youth. Here, librarians are using Second Life to promote some of the resources of the library. This moves the resources away from passively being part of a collection and toward appealing to the users that may be interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NjMLip41so

Do you know who Paul Otlet is? If not, you should...

I think that those of us who are in the information science field should know about the body of work of Paul Otlet. Therefore I would like to summarize who he is, and refer you to some of his writings and writings about him, in case you are interested.
Otlet was an early pioneer in the European documentalist movement in the early 1900s. Documentalism is the equivalent of what we would today call information science. During his lifetime, Otlet wrote widely and voluminously on the subjects of bibliography, classification, librarianship, international cooperation, the organization of knowledge, and documentation. Together with another documentalist, Henri La Fontaine, Otlet developed the Universal Decimal Classification system (UDC) of bibliographic control. Adapted from Melvil Dewey’s decimal classification scheme, “UDC’s most innovative and influential feature is its ability to express not just simple subjects but relations between subjects.” (UDC Consortium, 2006). This was the first truly faceted classification system, which allowed access to data by subject (Rayward, 1991).
As important and useful as the UDC has become for librarians, Otlet’s most amazing contribution to bibliographic technology was his development in 1895 of a huge database called the Universal Bibliographical Repertory (Repertoire Bibliographique Universel). This database was created using document entries on standard 3” X 5” cards, which had grown to 15 million entries by the late 1930s. As primitive as it seems, this standardized approach to housing and accessing pieces of information was actually very revolutionary in its full design concept. It has much in common with today’s online search functionality. While the repertory machine was clearly limited by the practicalities and limitations of technology of that time period, it was still widely used at the time via written requests sent by mail (Rayward, 1991). The repertory was, of necessity owing to the technological confines, a mechanical rather than a computerized database. But it was developed and conceived of as having linked relationships between the data. So its purpose was far more than retrieving a single document. Otlet even used the word web (réseau), as in web of information, to describe the machine and its purpose. Amazingly, his writings described the future possibility when “… users would access the database from great distances by means of an ‘electric telescope’ connected through a telephone line, retrieving a facsimile image to be projected remotely on a flat screen” (Wright, 2003, para. 3).
What I find most interesting about Otlet was what drove his research and work in the documentalist movement. He had a world perspective and part of his vision was that all of human knowledge should be made easily available to all who wanted to search for information (Rayward, 1991). His work was inspired by his political viewpoints on peace, internationalism, and social justice. “He was deeply concerned about how, with new technologies and new forms of organization, knowledge might be mobilized to manage social change more effectively than in the past” (Rayward, 2003). Otlet did not view information as simply a physical thing to be stored and retrieved using abstract bibliographic methods. Instead, he embraced what Greer calls the “people paradigm” in diffusion of knowledge (Greer, Grover, & Fowler, 2007). He was extremely interested in cataloging and organizing information for dissemination. But beyond that, he especially wanted information to be utilized and transfused into knowledge.
Otlet’s view of documentation is that it equals more than the written word (Buckland, 1991; Rayward, 2003). He put forward the necessity of associating all documents, regardless of their format, in a universal way, and to systematically link them according to subjects and topics. Otlet envisioned what we would today call hypertext linking. Furthermore, his view extended to multimedia formats for ‘documents’ or data (Rayward, 2003).
Otlet has written widely on the organization of information. His two most well known works, written in the mid-1930s, are Traite de documentation and Monde: Essai d’universalisme. Many of his innovative ideas on classifying, storing, linking, disseminating, and retrieval of human knowledge are a precursor of ideas being discussed and implemented today such as meta-searching algorithms and the Semantic Web (Wright, 2003).
Present day information science researchers and leaders in the field are resurrecting interest in Otlet’s contributions and information about his works and ideas (Rayward, 1999). Two researchers in particular have written extensively on Otlet. They are W. Boyd Rayward and Michael Buckland. If you would like to read further about Otlet, I would recommend visiting the following Otlet resource sites (one created by Rayward and another by Buckland: http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~wrayward/otlet/otletpage.htm and http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~buckland/otletbib.html
As you can see from this brief synopsis of Otlet's work, he has contributed in more than one area of the information science field with ideas on improving the cycle of information transfer. I have added this posting here because I believe he helped promote the idea of information for use, not as a something to be stored. This is the true understanding and purpose of dissemination of information. Please let me know what you think about Paul Otlet… and if you have any comments on any of the Otlet articles (or want to refer readers to them).

References:

Buckland, M.K. (1991). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science (1986-1998), 42 (5), 351-360. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Library Literature and Information Science database.

Greer, R., Grover, R.J., & Fowler, S.G. (2007). Introduction to the library and information professions. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

Rayward, W.B. (2003). Knowledge organization and a new world polity: The rise and fall of the ideas of Paul Otlet. Transnational Associations, 1-2, 4-15. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~wrayward/TransnationalAssociations.pdf

Rayward, W.B. (1991). The case of Paul Otlet, pioneer of information science, internationalist, visionary: Reflections on biography. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 23, 135-145. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~wrayward/otlet/PAUL_OTLET_REFLECTIONS_ON_BIOG.HTM

UDC Consortium. (2006). About Universal Decimal Classification and the UDC Consortium. Retrieved March 14, 2008 from http://www.udcc.org/about.htm
Wright, A. (2003). Forgotten forefather: Paul Otlet. Available from UC Berkeley School of Information Management & Systems Paul Otlet bibliography website, http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/otletbib.html

Librarians are expert finders & distributors of information...

Librarians are changing along with technology in the age of online information. Their skills of organizing, retrieving, and disseminating information have transferred and/or adapted to the digital realm. The relevancy of librarians is not lagging so much as the lack of knowledge the general public has about the important role that librarians play.
Farsighted librarians, library managers, and Library Information Science programs are increasingly promoting new means of information distribution online. I am providing a link below to an interesting article about such efforts. Librarians are creating MySpace pages, Avatars, online chat and reference services, teaching digital literacy, and generally developing a new model that is adapted to the new ways information is disseminated to people.

To read this article, click on the link below.
Feibel, C. (2008, February 22). Information isn't reserved for books. The Houston Chronicle online version. Retrieved March 1, 2008 from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5563926.html