The Library of Forking Paths

For this unit’s reflection, I wanted to investigate the term “communities of practice”, and how it can be used to enhance our understanding of community-building within the library. The term was coined by Jean Lave, a social anthropologist, and her student, Étienne Wenger, an educational theorist, in their 1991 book “Situated Learning”. The idea was inspired by work they completed in Africa observing apprenticeships among traditional tailors, where they developed the theory of “situated learning”. Situated learning is a social theory of education that focuses on the relationship between learning and the social environment where takes place, specifically one in which the skill is learned in the same place in…

Like others in the class, I was particularly inspired by the model of “participatory service”, and how it can be used to reinvigorate the connection between patrons and the library. Although “Library 2.0” and the Hyperlinked Service model have a basis in Web technology, in “Wholehearted Librarianship” Professor Stephens argued that Library 2.0 is about creating a meeting place that is “online or in the real world” – Hyperlinked Service isn’t hyperlinked in that it takes place exclusively online, but is hyperlinked in the sense that it is non-hierarchical and linked peer-to-peer. The challenge is, then, to design systems for delivering library services that create the possibility for and encourage…

Hello everybody! My name is Ian Tighe, and although I was born and raised in Half Moon Bay, California, I am currently located in Jackson County in Southern Oregon where I work for our local library system. This is my third semester in the MLIS program, and I hope to graduate in the fall before potentially moving back to the Bay Area, or somewhere new entirely. My academic history beforehand was a little bit scatter-shot as I started out studying electrical engineering before considering an English degree and finally deciding to study cognitive science, which allowed me to take courses in psychology, linguistics, computer science, and biology in addition to…