Sunday, August 21, 2005

IFLA conference registrants were able to attend three museums in Oslo - Munch Museet, Vigeland Museet, and the Stenersen Museum (besides of course the Norskfolksmuseum in Bygdoy and choices to a mind-boggling array of libraries of all sorts including the Norwegian Patent Library).  Here is my picture of Munch's Scream - compare it with the Internet Exhibition on The Frieze of Life: Love, Angst, and Death that the museum had a few years ago by looking at the Angst (anxiety) category. The current exhibition on Munch Himself had a quote on death that I didn't quite understand.  I meant to copy it... but forgot and now can't find it on the Net!  It was something about birth and death and I'll just have to wait a while before I visit a library to get it. An interesting tidbit: we often forget that "catalog" is an information organization (knowledge structure) tool that goes beyond the library catalog or the college catalog or the shopping catalog.  A catalogue raisonne is a book of all the works by an artist, is usually written by the leading researcher on the artist and it includes all sorts of information about the works such as provenance; a Munch Catalogue Raisonne is in preparation and here is a list of the paintings about which more information is needed - http://www.munch-raisonne.com/overview.htm.  More information on catalogue raisonne in general can be found here. comment []6:48:12 PM     Helge Hovik (Oslo University College) presented a paper at IFLA 2005 on Critical Aspects of the Professional Socialization of Freshman Library School Students.  This was an interesting study in many ways.  First, was the concept of hidden curriculum - described by those approaches, perceptions and values that students appropriate as part of the study experience as such, rather than the stated educational objectives. Second, they used reinterpretation of the past in the light of recent experiences to understand LIS professional socialization.  Third, they collected data at two different points in time. I found several of the findings fascinating since my own teaching experience is similar:  1) "The overall and dominant change over the first semester ...is the sharply increased interest in reference work and - to a smaller extent - with non-fictional material, while classification, fictional literature and technology seems to be turn-offs." 2) "students in our survey overvalue reference work that is an output function, and undervalue classification as a critical input. Libraries should not be detached from this core value-creating activity and become "specialists in finding stuff on the Internet" that is classified by others...." 3) The students also seem to dissociate classification from their interest in working with people in a nice/friendly atmosphere, but such work for the Internet age could be precisely that."  Amazing! Just having coming from the Munch Museet I can't help but wonder at how much of a role anxiety and modern society's alienation plays in all of our choices about a profession to practice. comment []9:49:29 AM

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