Reflection Log 8

This week we read about putting research results to work. The one thing that stuck out most in my mind after reading the
Van Fleet and Durrance article about public libraries is that communication is key. There needs to be thoughtful and deliberate communication between researchers and practitioners in the public library setting. I have always found it somewhat strange that public librarians aren't required to contribute to the research of the field, like academic librarians are. I may be wrong about that but it seems to me that public library administrators are the ones doing the research about matters concerning public librarianship. Regardless, there needs to be some kind of mechanism in place to keep all involved in the know about trends and developments in the field. The authors cite several common communication activities, such as networking at conferences, that help those in public librarianship keep up to date on the current research. Most of the respondents still felt that there was a huge communication gap between administration/researchers and public library practitioners. The authors offer recommendations, given by the survey respondents, for closing the communication gap. This task seems pretty monumental to me but, I think, if everyone involved realizes the significance of the dissemination of research results and makes it a priority, everything should fall into place more easily.

Wallace and Van Fleet write about evaluation. They tell us that "No system is an island" (Wallace and Van Fleet 2001, 1). I really, truly agree with this idea but I also enjoyed Line's perverse take on Ranganathan's 5 laws. Like most people who work in libraries (I assume), I too have been guilty of one or more of these. But this all goes back to the systems thinking described by Wallace and Van Fleet. Everything is connected and, if everyone were as optimistic and idealistic as Ranganathan's 5 laws at all times, there would be no need or desire to "waste the time of the reader" (Wallace and Van Fleet 2001, 3). Anyway, Line's laws really hit home and made me laugh... What the authors wish to convey, in my opinion, is that in order to successfully and meaningfully evaluate something, the effort that goes into the evaluation must be thorough. Otherwise the end result will be essentially meaningless.