Blog Reflection #6

I have been both impressed and underwhelmed by the amount of resources available. I am impressed at all the different types of information available, but I also say underwhelmed in that the classification appears a bit haphazard. This was especially true with using some of the supersites that collect links to a variety of information like bartelby.com. Sometimes it could be challenging to locate a specific source or even data within a source. It felt like bartelby.com's mission statement is to make the most data available data with minimal effort. In contrast, encyclopedia.com is quite a bit easier to use and easier to read the results.

I don't resist the urge to Google. I just, as I have before this class, highly scrutinize any URLs returned. I look for brands and sites I know are reputable. That said I don't completely rely on it. Also, I do not (and never did) use Wikipedia.

Do my assignments in and of themselves drive me crazy? No. Being one of four classes (now 3, the winter one at another school just finished) and working 45 to 50 hour work weeks does that well enough.

Project 2

I live and work in the entertainment industry. Many people come to the Hollywood area from outside of it and need information for job searching and better understanding of the industry. The local libraries, needing to serve everyone, can only devote a percentage of funds to these resources. An interesting idea might be a specialty library (distinct from a library of acquisitions) catering to entertainment products and information. Envisioned users would not only be newcomers wanting to break in, but industry veterans, scholars of the field, and fans of entertainment. However, since the primary source would be people working in the industry, such a library could be a great compliment to an office complex that leases offices and suites for smaller productions so they can save their budget dollars. This could also serve as an incentive for people to look into using their other services.

My idea of an optimal library reference area in a situation like this would be books that cover entertainment award recipients, entertainment directories such as the Hollywood Creative Directory with information how to contact companies, or directories for renting production materials. The industry doesn't lend itself to a diverse amount of ready reference materials. Many of these are available online as well for a subscription charge, but I believe in some cases the subscription versions specifically have restrictions for shared use that would make them impractical in a library setting. Though there are less ready reference materials, they do regularly update but are more pricy than regular reference counterparts. Though there may be some general books and even films in a circulating collection, the vast amount by the nature of the library would be reference. There would also be how-to books for writing and production, but how many would be reference and how many actual circulation would depend both on the nature and cost of the texts, and to what extent a library of this nature would want to be circulating as its competitors are not.

The closest competitive libraries in type are either those hosted by the various entertainment guilds and academies, such as the Writers Guild library which is open to the public and offers some similar resources but is in Hollywood proper (“Welcome To The Writers Guild Foundation Shavelson-Webb Library”). Another example is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences whose facility is in Beverly Hills (“Margaret Herrick Library”). These are not convenient for the Burbank and nearby areas which also hosts several major studios and would be a good site for the proposed library. In short the downside is that most of these are too highly specialized based on the sponsors of the library, though each one is impressive in its own way.

A library website for this kind of setting that allows the public some research access would be a big bonus. The above listed areas have site pages about them but not service sites for the public. It would be helpful for users to have the ability to search what the collections contain before coming in to know what items may be available to reference, especially if they can’t be checked out. It’s frustrating to make a trip only to find the library you go to doesn’t have something. This is something the competition doesn’t currently offer.

Additional help and offerings a library might provide would be workshops. One example might be how to research to find funding for independent film-making. Another could be best practices for screenwriters to research getting the facts right for their scripts. The competitors do not appear to be workshop oriented in terms of their libraries, though like such in the case of the Writers Guild Foundation the sponsoring organization may offer workshops and seminars. These seminars would be very specific and tied to the library, and could be led by its reference team.

What would make reference services special at this kind of a facility would be a very focused hands-on approach that is a more wider knowledge base of the entertainment industry on a professional level but not as general as a regular reference librarian.

In short the vision statement is: “Remain Professional Yet Easily Publicly Accessible”.

Sources cited:

Anonymous. “Margaret Herrick Library.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. n.d. Web. 18 Mar 2011.

Anonymous. “Welcome To The Writers Guild Foundation Shavelson-Webb Library.” The Writers’ Guild Foundation. n.d. Web. 18 Mar 2011.

Blog Reflection #5

Accuracy is a subject that has come up in several of my library classes. More social interaction and sharing likes like Wikipedia are cropping up everywhere with a tendency to be more specialized in nature. It becomes hard to distinguish something authorative from a collection largely made up of people's opinions and what they think are facts (sometimes with supporting references sometimes not).

The Medical Library Association has a guide for determining credible health resources, which is important because many people may find it easier turn to the Internet to self diagnose then rely on a professional, especially when money is tight and many are uninsured. The MLA brings up a good point in that looking at the credibility of who produces the site that provides the information is a big factor to consider. In the case of health, accuracy could mean life or death if one is not careful! Other factors they stress to look for is how current the information is, clearly factual, and the proper audience for the website should be relatively apparent. I believe these factors pose equally true for any website regardless of subject.