More on Subject Headings and Information Literacy

Our reading this week began with the essay, Information Literacy: the Partnership of Sociology Faculty and Social Science Librarians (Caravello, Kain, Kuchi, Macicak, & Weiss, 2008). This essay introduces the reader to information literacy as it applies to the sociology student, and the ways in which faculty and librarians can work together to ensure that these information literacy requirements are being met by the sociology curriculum.

Like other essays on the topic of information literacy, we learn that what is meant by IL is the ability of individuals to identify their information need, access the relevant information, critically evaluate the information, digest and incorporate the information in order to perform some specific task, and to use this information ethically and legally (pp. 9).   A sociology student's definition of IL gets more specific to their research with the addition of understanding the relationship of social structures and information.  This involves understanding social inequalities, access to technology, and the social structures that are generally responsible for the creation and dissemination of information. The reference librarian, in the field of sociology, should have an understanding of these needs and work with faculty to ensure that students are aware of these aspects of IL.

But, the library is made up of more than just liaisons, reference desks and reference librarians.  Before anyone can access a resource, it first needs cataloged so that that resource is discoverable and accessible to students.  The way in which this is accomplished will effect access to the resource and can make the difference between a resource being missed and a resource being found.

While exploring the web site of the ANSS (Anthropology and Sociology Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries) I was surprised to find the way in which the ANSS addresses the problem of accessibility of library resources for sociology.  Like any other field in academia, sociology is not a static field.  Rather, it is constantly in flux. New knowledge is constantly being added. New knowledge means new theories, new research fields, new research questions, and new terminology.  In terms of access, this means that subject headings are constantly being added in order to ensure that resources are findable using up-to-date terminology.

University libraries mostly use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in order to describe the subject of a resource. Using this kind of controlled vocabulary is a way of ensuring consistency and formality to subject analysis, and gains the benefit of uniformity and predictability for the end-user. The LCSH is not a static set of subject headings, rather, it, like knowledge itself, is constantly in flux. They update in order to keep up with the changing nature of resources, experimentation, research, and discovery.  By keeping up to date subject headings, the LCSH remains relevant, and catalogers are given the tools they need to describe new resources.

But how is a cataloger suppose to keep up with a constantly changing database of subject headings that cover virtually all areas of knowledge that appear in resources from monographs to music and movies?  The answer that the ANSS has adopted on their website is to include a section on New Subject headings (http://anssacrl.wordpress.com/publications/new-subject-headings/). It is here that a catalog librarian can keep updated on what new subject headings were added to the LCSH in the fields of sociology and anthropology in order to describe new resources (or even update existing records of old resources) so that they are current as to how researchers will look for the resource.

This list benefits researchers, students, and reference librarians as much as it benefits catalog librarians. By checking the list of new subject headings, any researcher can have an idea of what new subject terms she or he may use while conducting a search.  Even by casually scanning the list, a researcher might be inspired to look into a given new heading to see if their library has any items on the subject.

Out of my own interest, I decided to test some of the new subject headings from the list on KentLink to see if Kent State University has yet made use of  any of these new headings. In a very non-scientific way, I chose some subject headings at random and ran a subject search in KentLink

2014 headings:
Jewish Morning Customs - None
Melodrama, Polish - None
Ethiopian American Art - None
Cell phone users - None.

2010 headings:
Aleut literature - none
Pets and older people - none
College student parents - none
Coming of age - 16

2007 headings:
Custodial parents - 1
Transgender prisoners - 1
Social gerontology - 3
Punk culture and art - 2
First responders - 47


This raises some interesting research questions:

• How long does it take a new subject heading to go from being added to LCSH to being widely used?
• How does attention in media effect the usage of a subject heading?

Caravello, P. S., & Kain, E. L., & Kuchi, T., & Macicak, S., & Weiss, G. L. (2008). Information literacy: the partnership of sociology faculty and social science librarians. Teaching Sociology (36). pages 8-16.

Sept 16 - 22

All this week I have been absolutely fascinated with Dervin's Sense Making Methodology chart.  For starters, I did not know it was possible to create a post-modern / existential graph before, but alas here one is! Secondly, the graph is filled with wonderful ideas and each one says considerately more than what is actually depicted on the graph itself. Whereas most chart are in the business of portraying 'objective' data so that everyone can benefit from them just by a careful analysis of the trends that they project; this chart has a certain esoteric value to it that results in a greater appreciation the longer a time spent studying it.

The graph itself portrays a cartoonish scene of an purposefully ill-defined squiggly-man approaching a bridge in order to cross the gap from uncertainty (ignorance) where he currently stands, to some unforeseeable conclusion on the other side.  Unlike some other charts in information behavior, Dervin's is not overly optimistic about the outcome of the information seeking process.  Her chart clearly illustrates (and labels) the possibility of failure, hindrances, and other possible consequences that could be the end result of an information seeking event.

The chart itself names a number of possible causes for such failures, and these possibilities arise right from the beginning of the process. Firstly, the squiggly-man himself carries with him a large umbrella, labeled Context.  This umbrella that the squiggly-man is constantly holding with him at every stage of the information seeking event consists of things such as power dynamics, cultures, and ideologies that will shape and manipulate the information that the seeker comes into contact with and processes.

The point at which the information seeker sets out can be a problem in itself. This point is named by Dervin as the Situation, a name that reminds the reader of Sartre's influential work, Being and Nothingness.  As such, a Situation resonates with ideas about subjectivity and a "resisting world," but also a heavy resistance to the fixity of truth.  Indeed, the Situation is characterized by Dervin as consisting of experience, history, barriers, horizons (recalling Heidegger), and constraints.  It is no easy process of merely knowing the topic you need information on and receiving that information in some instantaneously enlightening experience.  There are entire worlds to be considered.

Sense-making and un-making is what facilitates crossing the gap. According to Dervin's chart, sense-making is made possible through an active process of "verbings", procedures, and strategies.  This makes the information seeker something like an experimenter, trying different active methods in order to discover and process information.  The bridge itself is made up of different sources (media, institutions, people) that might produce or solicit the information, as well as "relevances" which indicate the ways in which we evaluate the usefulness or trustworthiness of a source.  The gap itself consists of our own questions, confusions, riddles, and angst, or the ultimate impossibility of grounding any of our sources on an external truth.

Finally, on the other side there is the outcome, and as already mentioned above, these outcomes are not always positive.  Perhaps the seeker was helped or perhaps she or he was made more confused or left with more questions.  Perhaps the information received was more negative than positive.  Whatever the case may be, the squiggly-man has made it to the other side and must now deal with whatever consequence or impacts arise from the change.

From the stand-point strictly of a librarian working with individuals to assist them in finding appropriate information sources, I think that the most important thing to gain from Dervin's idea is the uniqueness of every situation and the opportunity that each different situation presents.  The squiggly-man on Dervin's chart is made up of a flexible squiggly line for a reason.  That reason is to present the idea that she or he is not some rigid, already predetermined and predefined person.  We should attempt as much as possible to let go of our presuppositions and actually listen carefully to the needs of each patron.   The more we know about the individual and her or his needs, the better equipped we are to find the appropriate resources for them. 

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