Sunday, November 3, 2013

Evolving Internet Reference in Anthropology: What Our Patrons Want and How We Can Help Them Find It- My Thoughts

This week we read, Kotter's Evolving Internet Reference in Anthropology: What Our Patrons Want
and How We Can Help Them Find It, and was disappointed that it did not further address the information seeking habits of anthropologists.  Anthropology is a field in which the culture and reasons for cultural behavior are studied intensively and compared to other cultures. I was truly looking forward to learning about how Anthropologists and students of anthropology seek information.  Sure, we all know about anthropologists and their primary research.  Living among and observing a culture is the key method of obtaining information about a particular culture.  Yet, having an understanding of other cultures and the theories and methodologies of other anthropologists is integral to the study.  Evolving Internet Reference in Anthropology: What Our Patrons Want
and How We Can Help Them Find It seemed to me a glorified annotated bibliography. It is useful but considering that some of the links provided are no longer active and that it was published in 2005, it would be more helpful to understand the information needs and information seeking habits of those working in the field rather than just having a list of resources.  

A quick search in Academic Search Complete brought up the following article Anthropology Libraries and Anthropological Research Today by Bruce Bachand.  In this article, Bachand explores three special Anthropology libraries and then goes further to discuss the information needs of those in the Anthropology field.  Bachand cites Diana Amsden's research that indicates that footnotes and reference in books and journals as well as conversations with other anthropologists is often where most anthropologists begin their research (Bachand, 2013, 183). He goes on to explain how this is enhanced in the digital age by such services as the library databases, inter-library loan, full text searching capability, websearches and Wikipedia, though he states that many of the primary sources necessary for anthropologic research are not available digitally; in fact many of the new sources of anthro (Bachand, 2013, 183).  He provides an explanation as to why books are the favorite source of information but also provides valuable anthropology resources, provides information about ethics and states that futher research is needed into the needs of anthropologists.  He also addresses the ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Anthropology and Sociology Students, which is of great importance for librarians working in the Academic library field.  With recent changes to the educational structure, much more emphasis is placed on meeting standards. It behooves librarians to become familiar with the standards for the subject or the demographic they serve.

If, like me, you are interested in the searching habits and information needs of those in the field of anthropology, please check out the article, very enlightening!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the article find. I will add it to the module for next year.

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