Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Today's collegiate libraries with wireless Internet access, online catalogs, databases and multiple comfortable lounges in which to study would probably confound the Earlham librarians pictured in this 1917 photo.

RICHMOND, Ind. — The straight-laced, proper Marian Paroo, immortalized as "Marian the Librarian" in Meredith Willson's Broadway smash, The Music Man, was for many the archetype of that profession for much of the last century. But Marian, breezily sorting through her Dewey decimals while holding a hushing index finger to her pursed lips, might have a hard time recognizing today's modern librarians who encourage engagement with knowledge and cringe at the thought of the sanctity of silence in the stacks.

"Arguably, libraries are now the most popular and exciting places on college campuses," says Neal Baker, humanities and languages librarian at Earlham College's Lilly Library.

Sara Penhale agrees. The College's science librarian and an associate professor of biology, Penhale sees all libraries — including Earlham's Wildman Science Library — changing so rapidly that they may not even be recognizable to past generations.

"The function of the library facility is changing," she says. "It's no longer just a place to store information; it's a more interactive space."

"Libraries now provide more services: writing assistance, tutoring, centers for teaching and learning geared toward faculty development, computer labs, you name it," says Baker. "There is a nationwide trend for campus libraries to take on more and more of the functional attributes of a student center."

New open spaces are being created in Lilly and Wildman Science libraries, giving Earlham students the ability to relax or socialize while studying and working on group projects.

During a tour of the compact Wildman Science Library, Penhale points out a large open space that was recently created when much of the library's collection of bound periodicals was made available online in full-text versions.

"No one uses them anymore," she says, indicating the shelves of heavy compilations of journals and magazines. "Libraries are no longer accumulating new print materials at the rate we once did so we need less space for shelves. We've created exciting spaces like this one that will transform the library even more."

Penhale's staff has been asking library users what they think should be done with the space. Even though Penhale doesn't believe that the student who wrote "Hot Tub" will get that wish fulfilled, she is hopeful that the space will become a gathering place.

"The library is becoming more informal and flexible," she points out. "In 10 years I can imagine a social learning space with comfortable seating areas and computer stations where people can gather to research, work on group projects and check e-mail. We could have rooms with plenty of windows to feel a part of the outdoors. A café area would be nice, too."

As the library facility has shifted its focus, so too have librarians. Baker believes that it's essential that he and his colleagues keep up to date on the latest learning and reference technologies. While his primary role at Earlham is to be the library's liaison to the humanities and languages departments, the self-described "jack-of-all-trades" finds himself drawn more and more to instructional technology and the exploration of how emerging technologies can extend the reach of teaching.

"The library is, in my mind, synonymous with technology," he says. "I can't really separate the two."

One of the most visible examples of the encroachment of technology into research is the rise of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia launched in 2001 that is the subject of much debate in academic circles. Created by American entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia is a Web site written collaboratively by volunteers across the world. It is also one of the most visited and largest reference repositories on the Internet.

According to Wikipedia's online FAQ, there are currently more than 75,000 active contributors working on approximately nine million articles in more than 250 languages. There are approximately 2.25 million articles now available on the site whose statement of purpose is perhaps best summarized in its own FAQ: "With rare exceptions, articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit this page link."

It is this idea of unfettered access that has led a number of academics to discount the validity of the information on the site or attempt to forbid students to use it in their research, but Neal Baker is bully about Wikipedia.

"It's a marvelous research tool to teach scholarly communication," he says enthusiastically. "It allows you to deconstruct, to get under the hood, to really participate in the information gathering and creation process. Pedagogically, it teaches how information is produced, vetted and disseminated."

"What's on Wikipedia is extraordinary and exciting," adds Penhale. A Wikipedia contributor who has updated the site's entry on Earlham to provide more information on the College's library programs, Penhale urges others to do the same.

"An ideal exercise for a class is to update an entry with the appropriate sources and prove its factual validity. It really gives the student a sense of what kind of power there is in amassing knowledge."

Wikipedia is a good beginning point for research, Baker says, "especially now that the site's editors have become more rigorous about citing sources. Students seem to understand that. I think they are adequately informed about the utopian nature of the Wikipedia project."

The idealistic goal of the collaborative was summed up by Wales in a 2004 interview with Slashdot magazine. "Imagine a world in which every single person in the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing [with Wikipedia]."

Science Librarian Sara Penhale assists students in Wildman Science Library's computer center with their online research. In addition to mainstream Web resources, Earlham students have online access to a vast number of searchable full text academic and scientific journals.

The idea of building a network of individuals connected to one another by computers dates back to the earliest explorations of what became the Internet, but the real explosion of social networks has come only in the last seven to 10 years as more and more Internet users sought online interaction.

Social networking on the Internet is not going away anytime soon, says Baker. "It has a viable future. Plus, the idea of collective intelligence — of collective knowledge — is really exciting. I'm excited to see where it leads and how we can continue to tie this back to the classroom in the future."

Wikipedia is not the only site drawing the attention — and sometimes the ire — of the academy. Many students spend significant amounts of time on YouTube, the video sharing site that, since its 2005 launch, has grown so explosively that it makes Wikipedia's rise seem slow by comparison. YouTube, which was acquired a little more than a year ago by Google, Inc. for more than $1.65 billion worth of Google stock, is home to approximately 75 million video clips according to wildcard searches of the site, which rarely makes its usage data public.

YouTube is beginning to show its potential as a significant information resource for the academic community. Baker notes that he is currently at work developing ways to capture and convert YouTube videos for classroom use. "There is a myriad of diamonds-in-the-rough on YouTube; we can embed these vibrant cultural artifacts in the classroom in very productive ways.

"We must emphasize the power of social networks in education," he says. "There are millions of people all over the planet pooling resources, editing Wikipedia, posting to YouTube, developing a knowledge collective. It's terrific!"

It may come as no surprise that today's incoming college students are savvier users of computers than earlier students, but, says Baker, while these students may be more comfortable with computers, they are "no more adept at research when they arrive at college than they ever were."

"There's so much information out there," says Penhale, "that no matter what you do, you usually get something. Our job is to help students evaluate the information. There's always more they can learn. Students become more sophisticated in their research during their time in college. The ability to go to new sources and to test new sites occurs over time."

But in the age of global interconnectivity, the Earlham College libraries have not forgotten the basics, says Baker. "Sometimes we actually find ourselves needing to teach students how to use a printed book; how to read a table of contents. Believe it or not, students are intrigued and excited about that."

Contact:
Mark Blackmon, director of media relations
765/983-1256 — E-Mail Mark