Brief notes on librarian as (social) designer

Brief notes on librarian as designer. Library disposition:

Traditional

Market

Design

Driven by:

Need

Desire

Outcome

Basic unit:

Knowledge

Information

Meaning

Answering to:

Legacy

Demand

Transformation

Authority:

Professional

Consumer

Process

Means:

Curation

Access

Collaboration

Goal:

Public education

Individual satisfaction

Civic engagement

Serving:

Citizens

Customers

Communities

Guidance:

Scholarship

Marketing

Systems thinking

Mode:

Reading

Navigating

Experiencing

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The shift:​ Library science -> Information Science​ only tells part of the story. Science is an inadequate model, as is information.

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The dominant paradigm: ​Information -> Knowledge​ is incomplete.

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Librarians must be attentive to ​meaning​, not just information/knowledge.

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Epistemology -> Semiotics​ but ultimately ​the core of librarianship is experience design.

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Aesthetics then, becomes a core concern and ​the librarian’s new pedagogical model should be design school, specifically social design.​ [1]

[1] A case could be made for curatorial studies, and although insights from the field would surely aid librarianship, it lacks some fundamental skill sets of design.