[WEB4LIB] RE: Information Literacy (was Jargon...which was

[Tom Edelblute]

This is an odd place for me to jump into this thread, but here I go.

Most of this thread has taken on the academic library discussion.  I am
with a public library with my own perspective.  Only two-thirds of the
American population graduate from high school.  Half of those graduating
high-schoolers will go on to college.  Only of that population will
graduate.

Therefore, from my perspective, when a person comes through the door
looking for something the last thing we want to do is burden them with
technical jargon.  Instead, we work toward the lowest common
denominator.  The less jargon the better.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Edelblute
Public Access Systems Coordinator
Anaheim Public Library   phone: (714) 765-1759
500 West Broadway        fax:   (714) 765-1730
Anaheim CA 92805         e-mail: thomas at anaheim.lib.ca.us

Leo Robert Klein wrote:
> 
> At 01:23 PM 5/17/2002 -0700, Bill Drew wrote:
> >I am going to play the devil's advocate here.  Why should we use jargon
> >written for librarians by librarians?  The users could really care less
> >about such things.  I am not talking about dumbing down.  that is a
> >different issue entirely.
> 
> I agree with the devil here.  Many librarians who I've talked to would like
> to make the site "an instructional opportunity".   They're not at all
> comfortable putting things in terms the students use themselves or would
> understand.  In fact, the very idea that we should actually cater to what
> the students _want_ is a foreign notion --- since everyone knows students
> don't have a clue.  As far as I know, the students _want_ to hang out on
> the beach -- an option of course which the library currently doesn't
> supply.  What the students want from us -- and generally what they've been
> sent by their instructors to get -- is three articles and a book or two in
> order to complete an assignment.  There's no "dumbing down" to my mind in
> fulfilling this need in terms the students can understand.
> 
> But still the counter-argument rages.  After a while, my mind tends to
> wander and I start seeing visions of Steve Krug's book dancing around the
> light fixtures.
> 
> LEO
> 
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> Leo Robert Klein                                Library Web Coordinator
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