The Accidental Bloggist

wondering aloud September 15, 2008

as part of the Institutional Repository group, I find myself wondering if the disparity of experience and career goals among the members may make it difficult for much consensus.   it seems the only thing we all have in common is that we are in the program, albeit some are LIS and others KM.   as a person planning to remain in an academic library setting, my views are naturally going to be different from someone hoping to create a knowledge collective for an accounting firm.   and so are my needs…  Dennis made an interesting comment once about the degree program itself and how we all have to get what we need from it since we are on such different career paths.  remaining true to that inner compass while collaborating and expanding into the unknown may be the very experience that will help me negotiate between “knowledge worker” and “librarian” – my personal Charybdis and Scylla.   

looking at the bright side then, here goes.  Salo’s comment about the lack of prestige in a digital collection is not something I’d thought about directly, but as a print-on-paper snob myself, this is the point that looms very large in development strategy.   particularly for fledgeling repository efforts, marketing such a concept to faculty is sobering.   like the guy in the movie “Handcock” who was trying to get pharmaceutical companies to give away their product in the hope of a better world.   a bumper sticker saying “I ‘heart’ IRs!”…. well, maybe that needs a little more punch.

even something as “simple” as an online exam bank where students could study using previous tests has proven to be very slow going.   there is a whole cabinet of paper files put on reserve by faculty to allow students to view previous exams.   many will not allow these to be scanned or made available electronically.   why not put them online?   there are those who do not want other faculty to use their questions.   the sentiment from said faculty seems to be that they worked hard to encapsulate the issues of the class and they do not want to make it easy (or anonymous) for other professors to appropriate thier work.   professional pride (or embarrassment) seems to keep these files safe from prying eyes – particularly those files that have to be “signed out” on a piece of paper with the peruser’s name.    does a professor tracking the viewing of their tests violate privacy issues?    AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!  CHRYBDIS!

sailing more towards Scylla where I can sacrifice a few ideas to save the rest, what is appropriate for a digital collection?   or to use Salo’s extensive experience, what is pragmatic?   do IRs commonly use tracking programs so that users have to sign in and verify who they are before looking?   that would be a given, right?    is that information tracked/used/verified by the IR gatekeepers?   is this shades of Big Brother Google?   sorry if all this is boring to those who figured it out long ago.    I’m still reading the stuff on hashing that was supposed to explain it better and ready to curl up in a ball with my thumb in my mouth like Sybil.