Is a library just a machine for making knowledge?
In such a place, can a piano be a research tool?
Why did a Kindertransport refugee from the Nazis acquire Glenn Gould’s favourite instrument for the National Library of Canada?
Photo by National Arts Centre Archives, Canada
In advance of Australia’s 2017 IAML conference of music librarians, you can read the story of Gould’s beloved Steinway CD 318 over at Library as Incubator.
Check out “A Romance on Three Legs: The Ivory Archives” now.
Last time in this series we talked with Jerome Rivera of New Zealand about the messy realities confronted by frontline staff in libraries around the world. You can see some of that ongoing discussion via the #CodeBrown hashtag on Twitter.
What does an appreciation for messiness and uncertainty mean for the design of future experiences in libraries and their sister institutions? How can we best meet the information needs of the communities we serve?
Joining me this time is Dr. Kate Davis, my colleague at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). Kate is a social scientist based in USQ’s Digital Life Lab, carrying out research into social media and the qualitative analysis of information experiences.
Kate, I’ve heard of UX – user experience – but never IX. What is “information experience” all about?
IX is about understanding how people engage with information. It’s relational – focussed on the contexts in which people need, seek, manage, give, and use information. Read more
I’m featured in Swinburne University librarian Kim Tairi’s keynote for EBLIP8, the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference today, talking about research practice and cultural programming. People so often think of research in terms of the sciences and quantitative data, it was good to think about it from the perspective of a creative practitioner with a humanities background.
Also, Kim sketched me from our Skype conversation above – I don’t think I’ve ever been drawn before…
The word Kim and I latched onto in our Skype discussion is “syzygy” – and before too long, I’ll be telling you why in a blog post on this site. In the meantime, you can find out more about Kim’s keynote online and also it’s worth following her on Twitter – @kimtairi.
matt finch / mechanical dolphin 