Concepts For a Revolutionary Field:
Philosophy Behind Library and
Information Science
Andrew Beman-Cavallaro, MLS
Associate Director of Libraries
Pasco-Hernando State College
Spring Hill Campus
bemanca@phsc.edu
352-340-4829
Librarian As Perpetuator
• We are members of a cabal stretching back
millennia which has kept the Information of
Mankind safe, caused knowledge to expand, and
dedicated its participants’ lives to ensuring the
intrinsic value of access.
• Radical Revolutionaries ;)
• Drivers of the catalysts of social change
(Vision/Inspiration/Appreciation/Encouragement)
How?
• SSLLI
• Physics & Ontology: Nature of existence
[Schrodinger (superposition)/Heisenberg]
• Philosophy as interest
• Information Theory, Foundations of
Mathematics, Logic, Conversation Theory…
Who?
• Bertrand Russell: Logic/Linguistics
• Ludwig Wittgenstein: Mathematics
• Richard Dawkins: Biology/Genetics
• Claude Shannon: Information Theory
What?
• 117 Library related eJournals (PHSC)
• 1 Library & Philosophy Journal:
Library Philosophy and Practice
• University of Oxford to the rescue:
Luciano Floridi
Philosophy of Information
• Philosophy of Information in LIS
• Epistemology: Study of the nature of
knowledge
• Social Epistemology
Philosophy of Librarianship?
• Do we have one? (ALA values)
• “To provide unbiased access of
Information to a Population”
• Access, Engagement, Instruction, Info.Lit.
Philosophy of Librarianship? (cont.)
• Patience & Fortitude?
• Create, Consolidate, Disseminate, Utilize
• Are we just practical application?
BRIEF History
• Sumer tablets (cuneiform) 4th mil. BC
• Archives: approx. 2600BC
• Private archive: Ugarit, 1450BC-1200BC
• Library of Ashurbanipal (Sardinapolus):
approx. 280BC, Nineveh
BRIEF History (cont.)
• Library at Alexandria, approx. 280BC
• Zenodotus to us
• Crazy idea #1: Cave paintings (Lascaux)
What Do We Know of Information?
• “Facts or details about a subject”(Merriam)
• Written words? Ideas? Interpretation?
Language? Rewritten? Knowledge?
• Music as example
Information (cont.)
• Can Information be destroyed? (Hawking)
• Information Ecology
• Information vs. documentation
• Big data: The End of Theory
Quantum Computing
• Altering the future of the way we think
• As We May Think
• Qubit
Everything Is Information
Meme…(Dawkins)
Information & Communication
• If there is Information can you know about it
without communication? (Take a look)
• Biologically (DNA)
• Libraries use Librarians to make more
Libraries
• “The Information wants to get out”
Communication (cont.)
• Communication as transference of
Information (Hofstadter: Gödel, Escher, Bach)
• Image based use of Information
• Douglas Adams’ technology rules
• Smart phones and kids & “www”
(phone vs. user)
The Nature of Information
•
•
•
•
•
•
Marking→(value)→
Symbol →(organized)→
Data→(processed)→
Information→(understood)→
Knowledge→(acted upon)→
Wisdom
Nature of Information (cont.)
• Charles Babbage: Mechanical Computer
(ahead of his time)
• Samuel Morse: Code
(not alphabet nor binary)
• George Boole: Search Logic
• Alan Turing: Code breaking
Defining a Library
• The building? (Seattle Public Library)
Third Space?
• The Staff, fewer Libraries, more Librarians?
(vending machine Libraries)
• The collection? (umbrellas, phone chargers,
people)
• The population served? (Patron driven acquisition)
Defining a Library (cont.)
• Digital Commons vs. open access lectures
• Crazy idea #2: The grape
• Semantic web →
subject cataloguing
Defining a Library (cont., cont.)
• Library as a place of conversation
• Look, feel, and smell of books not enough
(eBook newcomers fall the fastest)
• Big redesign factor of a Library: 1st website
Defining a Library (cont., cont., cont.)
• The naysayers:
• In the digital age why do we need
Libraries?
Defining a Library (cont., cont., cont.)
• Statistics to show value (no INTRINSIC
value?)
• Library like Fire Department
• Consumerism of Information/relevancy
Everything That Has Information
Confounds Society
•
•
•
•
•
•
Everything
That
Has
Information
Confounds
Society
The People:
• Immanuel Kant: dignity, autonomy, respect
• John Rawls: Veil of Ignorance (contract)
• John Locke: Life, Liberty, property, taxation
• Aristotle: Teleological (sake for an end)
the best goes the best
To
Outcomes…
• Consequentialism?
• Utilitarianism?
• Libertarianism?
• Deontology?
Another Dude:
• “A country that does not know how to read
and write is easy to deceive.”
-Che Guevara
• A population which is Information illiterate is
easy to deceive.
• Information illiteracy=poverty (Not age based)
“Be realistic, demand the impossible.”
-Che
Personal Burden of Information
• Responsible for accessing material which
used to be provided
• Now without instruction/assistance
• Removal of eTitles from Libraries & personal
devices
• Facebook editing settings & public status
• Zuckerberg: End of Privacy
Dealing With the Devil?
• Library collaboration with corporations:
B&N, Amazon for eReader training
Renting book or article pages?
Wikipedia’s scholarly possibilities
YouTube as the World’s Public Media Library
A forgetful Google means a society denied
the right to know
• Spark With Imagination, Fuel With Data
• Share Everything
• Be a Platform
• 1/5th Work Week
Hope From Non-Profit
Marketing
Crazy idea #3:
Alternative READ Posters…
Marketing (cont.)
• Social Media
• Geek
• Anti-Reading PSA
• Social Maturity And Real Thinking Syndrome PSA
• Inclusion in MLIS curriculum
Conclusions
Think radical
Think large
Think weird
Think often
Thank You
Special Thanks
Anthony Adams:
Librarian, Hernando County Public Library
Ray Calvert:
Director of Libraries, PHSC
Drew Smith:
Librarian, USF
Guy McCann:
Physical Sciences Professor, PHSC
Jessica Riggins / Vikki McLean:
TBLC
Resources
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