Stephen Sonnenberg LIS 600 Reflections Paper: Be Open Minded/Critical thinker: I would say that really trying to understand

the situation is at the corps of every public service career. In our first reading, What do We Know about Knowledge?An Essay on the Knowledge Society by Armin Nassehi, the author writes, Whatever we know about something depends on the observers perspective and there are a lot of perspectives, even in science. This shows us that there are many different views, even in areas that we think are clear and cut like science. Nassehi also talks a lot about different philosophies, and surely as time has passed, many ideas, religions, and philosophies have gone away and come back to humanity, and so we see that we are in a constant state of flux of what we believe about the world. Librarians, and anybody who is in public service needs to recognize that we are not just one kind of people, we are all vary different, but there are underlying themes that tie us together. In the reading from Lester and Koehler from that same week, we see that information is bombarding us. They show us how in 2006, 264 billion dollars was spent on advertising. They also say that info is used to shape our opinion in political candidates, and even influence how we see the world around us in entertainment. Librarians should have a critical eye when looking at the sources of the information, the language of the information, and really examine what the information is trying to inform you of or make you believe. A librarian, according to the code of ethics, is to service all library users equitably and also be unbiased. Being unbiased is very clearly being open minded, in my opinion. It is saying that my values about something may be wrong. I may dislike someone, but I should still be willing to help them, even if I am vehemently opposed to what they are working on. In the second rule it talks about resisting censorship. While I wrote my action research on censoring porn, I still believe that for the most part, we should welcome ideas that are controversial, and be willing to fight for seeing all sides of a subject. That is what being a critical thinker is about. A librarian should also look at the circumstances. We saw you, Dr. Hersberger, give examples of you doing this. You explained to the children how drawing in books ruined it for the other kids instead of making their parents pay for them necessarily. We saw how you also let people that were not allowed to use the town library use it because so little of the town actually used the library. These are examples of thinking critically that I think librarians can look at. Being open/ a critical thinker also means looking at the new ways that information is presented. Music is now almost strictly sold as MP3 files. Movies are now converted to digital files or DVDs as well. If we were to just cling to just books and journals, and not see the value in electronic values, then we would not have survived. We have to see the value in both print and other sources. We are open to digitalizing some materials, but others we want to have

Be Respectful/Nice/serve others: Good People skills are a thing that I think anybody needs to have. How much more does this matter when you are a bridge between people and information? It is definitely vital. If you are unwelcoming to patrons, they may not come back to the library. Basically all the rules of the ALA come down to respecting others. We are supposed to respect all people and give equal and unbiased access. We are supposed to respect property ownership. We are supposed to respect our co-workers. We are supposed to stay current in the knowledge and skills of the profession, which I would argue is being respectful to the patrons of the library. Even the idea of setting equal policies and codes of ethics is trying to get everyone on the same page. In the preface of The Five Laws of Library Science by Ranganathan, the Madras Library Association writes that it is aiming to create a library service suited to our country. In the same sense, in the foreword, we see the author saying that library is for the benefits of learning for people at large and are democratic institutions for the enjoyment and profit of all. Clearly there is an emphasis on serving the public right here in the foreword. In the first law we see Ranganathan establishing that books are for USE. He tells the story of a librarian at Northwestern who had every book but two in the library and was going after the one who had the two books. He then says that a modern library should be happy if their shelves are empty. The next two laws are all about connecting people with information. If we connect people with the information they need, and the information with people that need it, we are doing our job to serve the public. The fourth law is all about saving the persons time. I can think of no better way to be courteous to a person than to save their time. The fifth law allows the library to grow if needed, which is also all about servicing your community. In Dr. Carmichaels class, he frequently talks about how to handle the reference desk. He talks about the reference intereview, and how the librarian will have to ask questions to get to what the meat of an issue is and how we can help the patron. This shows that librarians are there to help, even when we have communications issues with patrons, and librarians are the ones that have to figure out how to communicate with them properly in order for them to be doing their job. There are many other ways that librarians serve and show people respect. Having the common courtesy to have private records, even when the government and other groups have wanted personal information is one way we have discussed that librarians have frequently fought for rights of the individual. Having the library open when patrons can use it is another way of being courteous about individuals scheduling needs over the libraries wants. Be up to date, both in Education and in technology of the day ALA has a code of values listed on its website, and the one that stuck out to me from theirs was that they say they value education. We see this in almost every library

setting. You need a high school diploma, a college degree, or a Masters degree, to work at a library, depending on the position. Many people have asked me, Why do you need a masters degree to work at a library? But, the main thing I discuss with them, is why not have your staff be well rounded and educated. Librarianship, more than most professions in academia or public service, is interdisciplinary. You have to know about literature, science, popular culture, and news to be a good librarian. When someone comes to the reference desk, its good to have a liberal arts education in your back ground. We talked a lot about what a library exactly is. Is it a cave painting, or is it a stack of books, or is it a digitalized collection. This just shows one thing, the library is constantly changing and evolving into different realms. You have to know how to operate a computer if you are a librarian today, but not too long ago, you did not have to know this, but you would have to know how to read English, when years before that you may have had to know how to read Latin or Greek. The point is Librarians should hone their skills to conform to what is expected of professionals of the time. If libraries had not adopted computer technology, they might not even be here today. If certain librarians could not operate computers or do other things vital to being a librarian, then surely they would lose their job. Ranganathans fifth law really hits home when he talks about how a library needs to be a living organism. As the technology increases, whether it be a printing press or computers, so does the demand of the value placed on the education of the people who are in charge of these materials. I think my third point is the most meaningful. Valuing education is really important. Not only can education give us the technical skills that we need to do our job as librarians, but it can also point us to an understanding of my first two values. Valuing an education will help us be open-minded to criticism and different ideas, while teaching us to be critical thinkers. Once we are aware of different ideas, we can respect others easier I feel. But, it is it because we are respectful of others that we value education? And is it because we are already open-minded that we respect others? I do not know, but I think that the three are intertwined ideas, and they are my most important values of librarianship.