Libraries and Information Science self-evaluation: let's get critical!
You love your site and we love your site, but there is a whole world of
people out there who might not even know it exists. When they do find
it, their first impression will either scare them away or keep them
around. Given this, let's take a hard look at the questions and answers
here and make sure newcomers see the site at its best!
Below you'll find several questions randomly selected from this site.
What do you think about each of them and their answers? Are they the
best they can be or can they be improved? Would they look interesting
and inviting to an outsider or are they a little embarrassing?
Upvote the corresponding post here on meta when we're awesome. Downvote
when our content just isn't quite up to par.
Oh, and do comment to let everyone know your thoughts and take part in
this conversation. :)
Anna Lear
Comments
Answer by Anna Lear
What tools are recommended for characterising, assessing or appraising
digital content acquired for preservation by an
archive?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment
to let everyone know.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: I want to not like this question because it feels like a shopping
question, but I think the answers make up for any doubt I have.
- jonsca: @AshleyNunn Thanks for kicking the voting off, I will contribute to it
later tonight.
- Mary Jo Finch: The answers that were elicited seem like they would be helpful to anyone
with a need to evaluate digital content, which is definitely a library
function. It is information that would be hard to gather otherwise since
the field is so new.
- jonsca: I think as in some of the other questions, if we can rework this one to
stave off the "Me, too"s and really draw out experience with backing
evidence (i.e., "Good subjective, bad
subjective",
as, e.g., Programmers or The Workplace strives to do), we'll have some
solid material.
Answer by Anna Lear
How to catalogue
zines?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment
to let everyone know.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: I like the question (when I asked it, I was honestly curious), but the
answers could use some work in terms of explaining processes and the
like, I think.
- Mary Jo Finch: I think the question asks too much - there are whole articles written
about the subject, one of which was suggested in the responses.
- jonsca: I think it's okay, as it would serve a signpost for questions about
other modern cataloging issues. @MaryJoFinch I'm not as concerned about
entire articles, as I think those could be summarized in an answer, but,
on the other hand, if it could cover an entire book's worth of material,
it might be too broad.
Answer by Anna Lear
What is Japan's equivalent of the National Archives and Records
Administration?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment
to let everyone know.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: I don't particularly like this question, as to me it would seem
something easy to find with a quick Google search.
- Mary Jo Finch: Seems like a reference question, which a librarian should be able to
answer with a little research.
- jonsca: As it is now, it doesn't have much depth, but a careful edit could
change it to address specific differences in policy, which might have
some utility.
Answer by Anna Lear
What makes a successful digital scholarship
centre?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment
to let everyone know.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: Dsalo's answer is pretty thorough, I think. The question seems a bit
broad, but his answer manages well.
- Mary Jo Finch: The answer improved the question, which lacked focus.
- jonsca: Agree with @MaryJoFinch, I think we could have gotten in an edit ahead
of the answers that would have made the question a bit less subjective,
but it's still a great resource for someone establishing a center.
Answer by Anna Lear
Establishing guidelines for topical
displays
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment
to let everyone know.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: This is a good question, I think. Could use another answer or two (right
now it focuses on one specific library) but it isn't bad.
- Mary Jo Finch: Agree that more answers would be helpful. The question is a valid
concern.
- jonsca: Soliciting general answers to our questions is probably going to be one
of our hurdles in the immediate future. I think that particular answer
is generalizable, so it's not as much of a problem here. I think we need
to look towards building a solid knowledgebase with general answers, but
also be equipped to incorporate our expert's years of experience in
managing *actual* collections in the field.
Answer by Anna Lear
Can someone suggest a good open source document management
system?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment
to let everyone know.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: This is a broad question and a shopping rec to boot. Not a real fan.
- Mary Jo Finch: Difficult for me to evaluate because it is so technical. I would say the
question was better suited to a programming site, but because there were
so many answers, I am probably wrong about that!
- jonsca: I like that it's helping us branch into a more diverse area, but I
agree, at its heart, it's not very constructive.