Library Anxiety in the Electronic Era, or Why Won't Anybody Talk to Me Anymore? One Librarian's Rant

Abstract

Decreasing statistics reported by reference librarians in academic libraries reflect the fact that fewer patrons are approaching the librarian at the reference or information desk in the library. (1) The Association of College and Research Libraries' statistics show an average 0.3 percent yearly decrease in reference transactions since 1991. Much blame is placed on the availability of online catalogs, databases, and full-text resources, but some explanations have their roots in problems long extant in the reference librarian's world. Everyone wants instant information gratification. Librarians, even those of us old enough to know better, have come to expect, even demand, that our information needs be instantly and effortlessly satisfied with a Google search on the Web. It is hard to get instant gratification from a librarian--just ask our spouses. A librarian may want to take the time to conduct a reference interview, ask questions, explain what he or she is doing, teach inquirers how to find information themselves, or suggest additional options. Marcum is afraid that librarians are seen as mere processors of information, that [s]tudents begin to think of us as the technicians who change the paper, not the experts who will help them think through the substance of important questions. (2) My fear is that they don't think of us--of me--at all. Isaacson thinks students assume, Why talk to a sometimes forbiddingly bookish librarian when you can interact with bright and bouncing animated images, Quicktime video, disarming audio, graphically seductive full-color photography, streaming texts in fonts that Gutenberg would have died for? (3) Isaacson also thinks his students didn't know how to interact with actual librarians, and that we scare them more than we bore them. Barton agrees, saying, We desperately need to invest serious thought and effort into ways that we will not only provide access to information, but also maintain the connections between the wired user and the information expert to demonstrate that the added value that we provide users in this information- saturated environment is far greater than the mere convenience of it all online. (4) Keefer wrote that she wanted us to help students, as we interact with them at the reference desk, understand that their frustration with the system is normal, that everyone gets anxious in the library, and that asking for help is an important and essential part of the process. (5) Librarians want students to to value human interaction more than the quick and the convenient, and want to enhance librarian-student interaction by emphasizing people over information. (6) So, we are caught--as we have always been--between giving patrons what they want and getting them what we think they need. In response, librarians run to learn Web design and educational technology to create online tutorials and other high-tech tools to help our patrons with their information needs and hone their information literacy skills. While we may do this to reach more students with fewer staff, the actual effect is to remove ourselves from potential personal interaction with our patrons and increase the amount of time we spend in our offices. How many students, other than those coerced into doing so, actually use our carefully designed online tutorials and help screens? I have been unable to find any published evidence that these resources are used except when required. Holman claims students learn basic library skills as effectively using computer-aided instruction as in a classroom with a librarian. (7) Other librarians describe their pride in creating electronic classrooms for their instruction sessions. (8) My own experience, however, is that during live information literacy sessions held in new computer labs, students focus on whatever is on the screen (sport scores, instant messages, sometimes even the lesson), rather than on what the real-live librarian in front of them is trying to convey to the class. …

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