Reflective Comments-Intro. to the Library and Information Profession-SU Course 511-Day 2

A hot topic of discusion today that generated a multitude of questions was copyright. Mention was also made of Fair Use guidelines. Fair Use has four factors to be considered: character of use, nature of material, amount and importance of the part copied and the effect on the market for permission. Fair Use seems to be highly abused. Out of all this it was generalized that copyright and related issues are messy and are many times grey areas. It must be noted, however, that the librarian is often times the contact person in regards to these issues so one must stay on top of changing issues related to this topic.

Searching, both in general and when using the SU library were also topics generating multitudes of questions. It is very interesting that searching is a very individual activity that may follow multiple pathways-none of which is necessarily better than another. When executing these seacrches various interfaces are used, some of which are more user friendly than others and some more preferred by specific patrons. Searching is definitely a skill that is perfected and built upon.

Speakers today were from academic and special libraries. John Schuster from Morrisville State College has been all over the globe, training librarians and implementing systems. He is what might be called a non-stereotypical librarian. He mentioned that future librarians should "forget the image" and do what you do best. He encourages future librarians to be patron oriented-this, he says will help things to fall into place. He also emphasized that the library building itself needs to burst outside of its walls. Take aways from the second speaker, Jan Fleckenstein from Barclay Law Library (she is the Associate Director and Head of Library Information Systems) were to develop special skills and interests in a particular area and align missions and goals with parent/funding organizations. She also encouraged SU library students to learn how to learn because learning doesn't stop when you leave SU. A final note Ms. Fleckenstein commented on was that no matter what area of librarianship you end up in, be prepared to teach!