Sept 9 - 15

Scanning in the Library

Although on an average day of working at the library I am faced with at least a couple of questions about operating the scanner, that is not the kind of scanning that I want to get into right now.  The kind of scanning I have in mind for now is information scanning and how people ordinarily go about research.

When I started at the Kent University Fashion Library, I had no idea what a fashion library was.  In fact, getting the student position at the fashion library here at Kent was the first exposure I had to a library this specialized and specific.  Also, I really have no history with fashion. I do not speak the lingo or know the trends; I do not know the brand names or the top designers; I do not frequently shop or even browse online for clothes.  All in all, my exposure was low and my knowledge was far lower.

Now, I really cannot say that I have become an expert in fashion in three weeks, and I must admit that I have been devoting most of my energy toward learning the library processes more than the fashion industry, but still I feel that our class lecture on information scanning resonated on this topic.

As discussed in class, Francis J. Aguilar’s environmental and information scanning consists of the following linear stages:

·         Undirected Viewing

·         Conditional Viewing

·         Informal Viewing

·         Formal Search

On my first day of starting at the Fashion Library, I was strongly involved in stage one: undirected viewing.  In this stage, characterized by a “general exposure to information,” I found myself walking through the stacks scanning the titles of books and trying to get a general land layout of the rows and the subjects they contained.  Through this general exposure I began to see that the stacks were divided into sections by topics including retail management, history of costumes, designers, colors theories, apparel and jewelry, ethnic fashion, ecology in the fashion industry, and some works on philosophic ruminations.  

Not all of these divisions always seemed perfect to me, as books on some topics seemed be spread out in multiple spots, like books on color could be in fabrics, or patterns, or ethnic, or with other books on color. Further, there was a section for reference, a display section for newer books, the general stacks, large items, and magazines.  For some reason, there are some magazines and periodicals on the main stacks.

But this undirected viewing went beyond only getting a feel for the way the library was divided and subdivided.  I was also exposed to the patrons, and by observing them I slowly learned who they were, what they used the library for, and what I would need to know in order to help them.

Conditional viewing, or a more “directed exposure” probably began over the next couple of days at the library.  I began to understand a little bit more about the function of the fashion library after more exposure to the patrons and attempting to answer their questions concerning the library resources.  From becoming more familiar with the frequent questions I started to get a better idea of what I needed to know more about in order to be more useful.  The number one thing that I needed to start becoming more comfortable with was answering questions related to technology: how to print, how to load a flashcard, how to install a VPN, and related questions.

From here, I believe I entered stage three, the “informal search.” This stage was defined in class as a “limited and unstructured effort to obtain specific information or information for a specific purpose.” My purpose here was to better learn the technology aspects of the fashion library so that I could better serve the patrons.  My methodology was trial and error.  Rather than finding web resources or documentation on the devices, I spent some time playing around on the computers and seeing what worked and what did not.

Finally, after I felt as comfortable as I could feel by learning through that method, I entered the last stage, the “formal search”.  Also, I believe that I am still in this final stage.  Now, I refer to web pages for answers, if I have time, or I ask a supervisor.  As well, my attempt to map out the layout of the library has gotten more formal as time has gone on. I have gotten a better idea of common class topics after attempting to help multiple students with their research needs.  I have tried to remember these common areas of research and to track down their positions in the stacks so that I can more quickly show students to the location that they can begin browsing.

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