Multimedia Seeds: Collections: Media Libraries, Librarians, and Librarianship

The library is more than books, things, and spaces, it's about sharing information and ideas to expand opportunities for thinking. - Lamb

Seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching are some of the ways we experience our world. Listening to a poem read aloud is very different from reading the poem in a book. Hearing a poem read by the original author on an audiobook CD can provide even more insight. In the same way, reading a speech on paper is much different than seeing and hearing the speaker on video. If a library’s mission is to provide a rich information environment, then audio and video are essential components.

The Future of Libraries

Historically, the library has been the home of books. The introduction of photographs, audio books, DVD, and other materials have expanded our thinking about the "things" that are housed in libraries. Today, it's time to expand our thinking about the the location of our collection. No longer is information confined to shelves in a building. The walls of the library are becoming transparent as we see the library as a place where both local and remote collections of information can be accessed. The role of the physical library is evolving as it becomes a "think-tank" for the general public where information and ideas can be shared face-to-face or through technology. Some libraries are viewing their patrons as collaborators who share in the evolution of the collection by providing suggestions or making contributions in the form of historical photographs, works of poetry, artwork, and other information and resources.

Try the following activities:

(1) Go to the text of Maya Angelou's poem Still I Rise and read the poem silently. Then, read it aloud.
(2) Consider listening to her poetry on her audiobook.
(3) View and listen to the video of Maya Angelou reading Still I Rise.
Compare the experiences.

Format Preferences

Certain types of information are best served by particular formats. Some people have format preferences based on their learning styles. For example, some people would prefer written directions while others would prefer to follow a map.

If you’re looking for information about whales and dolphins, you might enjoy reading a book, viewing photographs of whales, watching videos of whales moving, and listening to audios of whale songs.

whale Explore the following resources. If you wanted to address the individual differences of learners, what materials might be considered?
Whales and Dolphins at eduScapes 42eXplore- varied resource
Dolphins Videos - video resource
Sounds of Whales and Dolphins - audio resource (sound files are near bottom of page)
Whales Online - find information resources and listen to podcasts
Defending Our Oceans - podcast from Greenpeace

When printed books for the masses became commonplace, concerned citizens felt that they would lead to idle workers and destroy memory. Live storytellers were much more interesting and dynamic than static books. The same has been said of audio and video technology. For decades people have debated the threat of television and technology to thinking and learning.

It seems that all new ideas take time to find their place. Harry Potter books have motivated many children to read, but they also have led kids and their parents to watch the movies too. In the past few years, Barnes and Noble bookstores and Oprah’s Book Clubs have brought reading back into the home. However, there doesn't’t seem to be a corresponding reduction of interest in media technology as people continue to buy and discuss their books online.

Maybe it’s not the delivery format that matters, but what the format can do that is appealing to the patron.

Multimedia Libraries

Multimedia begin with the introduction of the picture book Orbis Pictus in the 1658 that combined pictures and words. In the early 1800s, Harvard introduced maps to their collection. The New York Public Library developed the first music collection in 1882 and the first picture collection began at Denver's Public Library in 1897. By the early 1900's the Library of Congress began motion picture and phonorecord collections.

The advent of audiovisual instruction that was embraced by the military for training service personnel during World War II gave rise to a wider adoption of non-print media for public and higher education. During the post WWII era, the audiovisual movement was gaining influence and momentum. Instructional television systems boomed in the Fifties and Sixties. 16mm film libraries were built and maintained. During those times, many media librarians entered the field with degrees in instructional and educational media rather than a MLS degree, programs offered within schools of education rather than ALA certified schools of library science.

The Evolution of Media Librarianship

In the 80s, John W. Ellison, University of Buffalo, wrote What are Media Librarians? This seminal article examined the position of media librarians (librarians involved with non-print collections) and how things had or had not changed in recent history of the library field. How were media librarians alike and different from other librarians? Was there really a separate area / field? What particular skills were needed for librarians working with audio and video, non-print media? One position was that media librarian positions were not given equal status with other library positions. Ellis also was the author of Media Librarianship (1985) - - one that in those days might have been the textbook for a course such as this. But it was a different time and positions for audiovisual media / media librarian / instructional media personnel were never as widespread as traditional librarians. They were usually employed in academic libraries or schools of education at universities and in the larger urban and metropolitan schools. Consider the rapid changes of technology that have occurred since the 1980s. Interest in non-print media has rapidly moved from the array of audiovisual formats to the digital technologies of today.

A small number of related articles were published near the same time regarding concerns and issues of media librarianship. Those included The History of Media Librarianship by Amy R. Loucks-DiMatteo, a chronology of the history of media librarianship.

The articles above were published in media journals that no longer exist today, and unfortunately they are not found in any of the subscription databases. This is somewhat symptomatic of the idea or problem; media librarianship was not totally integrated into the larger library fields. (Note: until recently these articles were online and used in this class however they were only accessible at Dr. Ellison's university website). They dealt with issues that some would rather just go away or that someone else should handle.

What are media librarians? What skills do they need? What type of education?
When you think of libraries do you think "book" and/or "video, audio, multimedia, kits"?
Are the terms print and non-print appropriate (audiovisual, multimedia, text, visuals, audio, video, etc.)?
Compare budgets and monies spent for print versus non-print. How do they compare?
Are print and non-print material treated alike - - cataloging, storage, circulation?
What are the attributes of non-print versus print information?
What styles of learning are associated with non-print information?

Read more recent articles, written decades later, that touch on some of the same ideas and issues:

Roedicker, Mike (2003). Media Librarianship: Some Thoughts. This brief article comes from a media librarian's personal website. It's not surprising to find that the author is a graduate of the University of Buffalo.

Widzinski, Lori (Aug. 2001). The Evolution of Media Librarianship: A Tangled History of Change and Constancy. Simile;1(3).
(Access requires login)
The article porvides an overview of the birth and evolution of media librarianship in the U.S. including the current state of the profession, the organization and staffing of media opertations, and professional training for media librarianship.

Format Discrimination

A strong case can be made that historically libraries have had difficulty dealing with non-book materials. In a 1976 study published in Catholic Library World (Dec 1976, p. 223), Don Roberts found that “there is a strong disregard and lack of respect for non-print media in the profession. Traditional school media specialists have been heard to say that books belong in the library . . . everything else goes in the classroom or a special 'locked closet'.”

Many people equate all video programs with film and television violence and endless commercialism. They may never have seen a quality documentary or good educational program. The same can be said for audio books which some people consider only for non-readers, rather than looking to a growing number of travelers and commuters who enjoy listening to books “on the road.”

According to Ellison and Robinson in Media Librarianship (1985), “there should be no discrimination between print, non-print, and computerized channels of information.” We have 'The Right to Read' activities and 'Banned Book Week', but where’s the emphasis on “Effective Listening or Viewing”?

Another seminal article by John W. Ellison and Judith S. Robinson, Information, Not Books, was written near the beginning of the 'Information Age' on the question of "print" vs "non-print" materials. Do most people think “books” or information? Is there format discrimination in libraries today?

basketball Some people see the discriminatory treatment of non-book materials reflected in shelving practices. In some libraries, videos are kept behind the front desk or in the back room. In other centers, all the materials related to a single topic are found together. For example a person who might not pick up a book, might watch a video like the award-winning video Breakin' the Glass about the women's professional basketball. This might lead them to a book like Teresa Weatherspoon's Basketball for Girls: A Pro Superstar Teaches You the Game by Weatherspoon, Sullivan, and Whiteside.

Discrimination is even found in our use of filters. Many school libraries filter YouTube and other video related services.

Supporting Audio and Video

The discussion of format discrimination may seem strange to people who have grown up in a multimedia world. However remnants of this bias are still found in the way many libraries treat audio and video materials. All formats of information need to be supported.

The following justifications are adapted from a list developed by Mason-Robinson in her book Developing and Managing Video Collections (1996):

Good, solid information can be found in the video format
Some information is better transmitted visually than in print.
Many people learn better through the visual than through print.
Video offers opportunities for leaning and recreation for those whose reading skills are low.
Film / cenima is a highly developed art form.
Most homes in the US have at least one video player.
Videos are in the same price range as books and usually circulate at a very high rate.
For public libraries, video serves segments of the tax-paying public who have never before used the library.

Let's face it, non-print materials can be messy. For example circulation of books is easy to track. But with today's advent of electronic resources, use is not as easy to determine. Do you see websites and online resources as being non-print? As the case with subscription databases, many websites rely mainly on textual information. The larger question beyond print and non-print is 'do you consider remote information resources as being part of your collection - - a virtual collection. For example, are primary source documents available from the Library of Congress a part of your library collection? Are YouTube videos also part of the library video collection? One might want to connect to the PBS's Channel at YouTube for access to many more programs than are in a library's physical collection.

Recent publications have touched on issues related to media formats and librarianship:

Roy Tennant (Jan. 2006). Digital Libraries: The Library Brand. Library Journal.
Reports of a recent survey to Internet users worldwide; the key finding was “'Books' is the library brand. There is no runner-up.”

Doug Johnson (July 2009). Libraries for a Postliterate Society. Multimedia & Internet Schools.
According to Wikipedia, a postliterate society is "one wherein multimedia technology has advanced to the point where literacy, the ability to read written words, is no longer necessary."

Sutter, John D. (Sept. 2009). The Future of Libraries, With or Without Books. CNN
Recent article from mainstream media that asks are stereotypical libraries dying out?

More Information

In the 20th Century: A Brief History of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology
http://www.aect.org/About/History/
AECT is a professional organization that evolved with the growth and decline of the audiovisual instruction movement. AECT continues today as this history explains . . .

MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship
http://wings.buffalo.edu/publications/mcjrnl/
Ceased publication in the Winter of 2002; some articles are archived at this website.