2006SummerQ4

Question #4
The development of the Internet and the rapid development of new applications (from search engines (e.g., Lycos, Altavista, Google) and directories (e.g., Yahoo!) to e-commerce sites (e.g,. Amazon, eBay) to digital libraries (e.g,. American Memory, JStor) to collaborative, social information spaces (e.g., MySpace, Wikipedia, Flikr) makes it possible to envision a world without information professionals and libraries. This has been labeled the “Redundancy Model” because information professionals will no longer be needed to mediate access to information. Others propose the “Masters of the Universe Model,” where no one will be able to find high quality information without consulting an information professional.

Taking a specific information environment as your starting point (e.g., academic library, school media center, public library, special library, etc.), discuss how information professionals remain relevant in an environment where users can obtain all of the information they need from their desks or their homes.

Question #4 (Set B)
The development of the Internet and the rapid development of new applications from search engines (e.g., Lycos, Altavista, Google) and directories (e.g., Yahoo!) to e-commerce sites (e.g., Amazon, eBay) to digital libraries (e.g., American Memory, JStor) to collaborative, social information spaces (e.g., Web 2.0 / Library 2.0, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flikr) makes it possible to envision a world without information professionals and libraries. These developments have led to speculation that information professionals will no longer be needed to mediate access to information. Others argue that the information landscape is becoming more complex, making it increasingly difficult to find high quality information without consulting an information professional.

Taking a specific information environment as your starting point (e.g., academic library, school media center, public library, special library, etc.), and making explicit use of what you know about the roles played and the value added by information intermediaries, discuss how information professionals remain relevant in an environment where users can obtain the information they need from their desks or their homes.

Response