The following is a guest post from Nancy Buchanan:
I am an academic librarian, and I work in an academic library. An online academic library. I say this proudly despite the assertions of Steven J. Bell in the September 30 Chronicle of Higher Education article that such is not the case. In his article, Mr. Bell stated that I am not a "real" academic librarian because I work for the online library Questia.
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What is it that makes Questia an academic library and me an academic librarian? Because we are engaged in: building an academically oriented collection that is of value to students, faculty, and other researchers; providing physical and intellectual access to the collection; devising ways to more easily connect our users to the information resources they need; and doing all of these based on input from and knowledge of our users.
My philosophy of librarianship is quite simple: my purpose is to connect people with the information they need or want. With Questia, I have been privileged to do this on a grand scale. Our arena is not a campus or a physical library or an extended community; our scope is now worldwide. Our users are still students, faculty, researchers, and life-long learners; all they lack is affiliation with the same specific institution. My reach has broadened, and my ability to connect people with information has expanded. From a librarian's perspective, how can this be anything but good?
A connection of a different sort -- the connection between the academic library and students, faculty, researchers, teaching, and learning -- was discussed at length by Mr. Bell. I wholeheartedly agree that this connection is a key component of building a valuable library that is best suited to meet its users' needs. After all, the whole purpose of the academic library is to support these users and these endeavors. To best support the needs, the needs must be understood. However, the Questia library and its librarians are not without these connections, too. Just like a traditional library, we interact with our user community, and we receive a steady stream of questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, compliments, and complaints from all our user groups. From "How can I find this information?" to "Why doesn't the library have this book?" to "My students need access to this resource," we work with, learn from, and assist our users.
Establishing and maintaining the user connection is not as easy as in a brick-and-mortar library, but for that reason we make continual efforts to ensure that we have it. Instead of trying to understand the needs of students and faculty at a single institution, we need to understand the needs of students and faculty at many institutions. Instead of keeping up with a specific curriculum at a specific institution, we have to work on a broader level. But I do interact with students and faculty, do learn about our users' needs, and do incorporate this into our daily decisions.
We at Questia have never asserted that Questia is or should be a substitute for anyone's traditional brick-and-mortar library. While my team of librarians and I are building a coherent scholarly collection, it cannot meet every person's every need. It cannot duplicate the institution-specific considerations and specializations of a traditional academic library. While Questia continues to explore new ways to connect users with pertinent resources, we do not offer the same in-depth reference help and instruction so ably provided by librarians in traditional settings. Questia's goal is not to supplant traditional libraries or librarians, but to provide a valuable complement to these.
One of Questia's great values is that it provides academic library resources to those who are not in a position to otherwise access them. A few examples include users with schedules that preclude regular trips to a traditional library, people with physical constraints who find traditional libraries challenging to utilize, users who live in areas with no ready access to scholarly materials, and those who lack local access to English-language research materials. I am proud that through my work at Questia I am able to connect users worldwide with the resources to meet their information needs. For me, this is the heart of librarianship. And Questia is actively doing this in approximately 200 countries around the world.
There is one important point on which I am in total agreement with Bell. It is vital for academic librarians to be involved in the professional library community. Questia librarians are professionally active, with over half the Collection Management department holding current professional committee appointments. I myself have a seventeen-year history of professional activity at the national, state, and regional level, including publications, numerous conference presentations, and far too many committee memberships and offices to count.
I do recognize that in the standard terminology of the library world, I am a "special" librarian. But when I look beyond the institutional-based definition, I see something different. I am serving students, faculty, and other researchers. I am providing valuable scholarly resources in ways that further people's research needs and contribute to their educational goals. My purpose is to connect with my users, and in turn connect those users with the information they need. Quite simply, I am an academic librarian.
-- Nancy Buchanan, Director of Content Development, Questia Media, nbuchanan@questia.com
