Everyday Information Transfer

It has also occurred to me that some other activities could be described as information transfer. In purchasing or finding a crochet or knit pattern on the internet, someone else’s intellectual creation can be reproduced in another place or time from where it originated. This is also true of recipes. I have some that were handed down in the family or found in historical cookbooks that are 50, 100, or more years old. In one sense it is amazing to think that food items enjoyed by people decades or more ago can be accurately recreated and enjoyed today. Again, every time we read music and perform it, information transfer occurs—sometimes from hundreds of years ago. It is interesting to think that not only the pitch information is transferred, but also something of the emotional content of what was written perhaps very long ago. And that information transfer occurs from the composer to the performer, and then to any others who might hear the performance.

Information Transfer in Zoology

For activity two, I interviewed and observed Zoology classes (Animal Diversity and Wildlife and Fisheries Management) since zoology was my undergraduate major. With the opportunity to interview two professors with decades of experience and another who was just beginning his academic career, it was easy to observe the differences in information needs. The more experienced instructors seem well established as far as source materials needed for their lectures. One professor specifically mentioned a long-established and excellent relationship with the library subject specialist. The other indicated that there would be no need of assistance from a professional librarian for this particular (lower level) course. He did, however, mention some newer technology (iClicker) to which he was introduced in a library information session and he was interested in receiving information about how he might use it in his classes.

When interviewing the new faculty member, the overall impression was of much more active searching and incorporation of ideas and techniques to enhance lecture preparation and learning activities for the students. Administrative emphasis on establishing learning outcomes was actively incorporated into the course syllabus by using the established competencies for the major in designing learning outcomes for this particular class. Reserve materials for the students not only included extra copies of the textbook, but additional papers beyond the scope of the class that students could review for extra credit. The establishment of a class-related club and his interest and involvement in faculty-support resources on campus are additional examples of his active involvement in information seeking and use.

Along with noting information needs, it was fascinating to observe how the concepts of “Constructivism” (James, 1962) and “Sense-making” (Dervin, 1992) were applied in lectures and laboratory activities. The manner in which lectures were presented made students aware of “knowledge gaps” that then stimulated their receptiveness to the new information presented. Also, “sense-making” occurred through laboratory activities, field trips, and photos or biological specimens presented to the students.

Based on the interviews I did for this activity, it seems that newer faculty would be the most amenable to suggestions for liaison services from library professionals. Their needs may be greater, but established faculty can also be effectively served. With the more experienced professional, it appears that the greatest opportunities for liaison service might be in regard to upper level courses, individual faculty research, and providing information about new technologies and databases. Information about database upgrades and other issues in accessing library information should be of general interest to all faculty. An example of this is a planned upgrade of electrical services in the library where I work that will occur over the holiday period. A major portion of the library will be without power for over two weeks, and therefore will not be accessible to faculty and students. In an attempt to effectively transfer this information to library patrons, the library is using a variety of communication techniques. These include: a notice on the library homepage, messages to campus departments and individual faculty, signs in the library, and a notice in the campus newspaper. Some individual library departments have also posted signs on whiteboards in their areas.

Information Transfer in Music

The constructivism and sense-making activities in the class centered on aural presentations from the professor’s personal collection and analysis of printed music scores available to students in a companion volume to the class text. And for the same reason of it being a lower level class, the instructor did not see any need for the use of “gray literature,” which may very generally be described as various documentary materials that are not commercially published (Mathews, 2004). However, he did note that gray literature would be of value at the graduate level and particularly so in the Music History field. The only possible area of assistance from the library that he mentioned for the next semester of the course was to perhaps put the listening assignments online. He hesitated at this, however, since he does like to get the students into the library. The listening assignments for students are available in the library Learning Resource Center and are the only means he has of doing this since the students already want to do everything online. The next semester does make use of reserve materials for the students.

Implications for Librarians

Print and Electronic Resources

In volume 2 special types of scientific and technical materials are considered. This would be an excellent introduction for new librarians to science-related materials. Their discussions include: conference literature, dissertations and theses, government documents, in-house and proprietary information, journals and other serials, maps, microforms, numeric data, patents, software, standards and specifications, technical reports, and translations.