Librarians are Great
4:43
Just a few of the reasons why librarians are important as told by a pilgrim-bear, a ninja, and a man with a mustache in a jogging suit. Being a librarian doesn't mean you can't have a sense of humor.
Tags: YouTube editor
Added: 1 year ago
From: MsDainaRose
Views: 203
[scene opens with a cartoon animation of a bear in a stereotypical pilgrim costume]
PILGRIM BEAR: Hello. First things first, this is not how pilgrims actually dressed, but for some reason a lot of people think it was. With very little research, one would quickly realize how inaccurate this outfit really is. Research is why I am here. I am going to tell you about research, and just as importantly why we need librarians.
[the bear smiles]
PILGRIM BEAR: There exists a growing notion that the internet can replace librarians, but this idea neglects to consider the fact that although the internet offers a lot of valid information, it also confronts the researcher with plenty of rubbish.
[the bear shakes her head]
PILGRIM BEAR: Without training and search logic, many researchers wander about drowning in the sheer amount of data available to them, not knowing that they may be looking at manipulated, innaccurate, irrelevant or biased information.
[cut to an overhead shot of the bear]
PILGRIM BEAR: How we look at information and where we get it is very important.
[cut to a shot of the bear with her back to the camera]
PILGRIM BEAR: Librarians are trained in offering assistance, insight and wisdom to users to more effectively determine the value of found information and find stuff we actually need.
[cut to another shot of the bear]
PILGRIM BEAR: Lack of valid information can lead to widely accepted falsities ... like pilgrims wearing buckles on everything.
[cut to another cartoon animation of a ninja and a jogger talking to each other]
JOGGER: Okay, so the pilgrim thing told you some stuff about what it is librarians do, and a few reasons why we need them, but there's more to it than that. If there's any hope to improve our ability to infer, interpret and synthesize ideas from information, long-standing school research practices like topical research need to be recognized as an obstacle to the growth of these skills. If an instructor asks a student to go research William Faulkner, they are pretty much telling them to collect up little bits of information from Google or Wikipedia and glue them together without much if any original or analytical thinking. This is where basic topical research falls short, and yet another reason why librarians will be so important in the already-booming information age.
NINJA: So, you mean I shouldn't go research William Faulkner with Google?
JOGGER: No, I mean that if we truly want to improve information literacy, we must have people who are trained in more indepth and creative ways of finding critical information than simply cutting and pasting together questionably valid things that have already been said. To do this, we need people who can help train others to use new technologies. Basic topical research gives good foundational knowledge about a subject, but does not lead to an innovative understanding of it.
NINJA: There is a lot of stuff out there. We really should start getting people to think analytically and creatively about how to interpret and better organize it all, or it's going to be pretty much impossible to keep up with the constant influx of new info.
JOGGER: Exactly. That's why we need people who can readily adapt to constantly changing and developing information technologies, and explain them and their use to others.
NINJA: But we also really need them to be able to reach out, so that they can actually get people to recognize the value a librarian can be as a resource. Along with learning how to navigate the highly complex researching tools required of them, librarians should know about things like online-based movie makers and video-editing software. Tools like those could make a message kind of fun accessible, while still being informative.
JOGGER: Can't forget social networking venues like Facebook, and media outlets like YouTube, either. Although those technologies might not seem crucial, the technology community needs to use every tool available so they can better serve as information specialists, regardless of speciality ...
[they both pause]
JOGGER: Let's dance ...
[he starts dancing, and the ninja quickly joins him, then cut to a live-action shot of a female librarian speaking directly to the camera]
DAINA: Hi, I'm Daina, and you just watched my little cartoon. What I'm trying to get across to you with all of this, is that librarians are important and we're going to need them in the future more than we need them today even. There's an ever-growing amount of knowledge available to us, and we need people who are capable of thinking analytically and being more creative about how we can go about organizing it. We need people who can actually come up with more innovative ideas. We need people who can actually work the technology, not just let the technology work us. And we need people who can teach that to others. My name is Daina, and I wanna be a librarian. Thanks for watching.
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